REVIEW: Fury

Courtesy of Sony

I’m a few weeks late, but I finally saw David Ayer’s latest testosterone-laden look at the darkness that exists in the hearts of men. The writer-director has apparently moved on from cop stories (Training Day, End of Watch), choosing to focus on World War II tank warfare this time. It’s a mostly successful endeavor, full of harrowing action sequences and an unflinching look at the atrocities of battle.

In the waning days of WWII, the Allies are making their final push through Europe. Victory is all but guaranteed, but plenty of soldiers are still dying because Nazi troops refuse to surrender. One tank crew in particular, commanded by Don “Wardaddy” Collier (Brad Pitt), has seen more than its fair share of brutality, surviving seemingly impossible missions that others don’t make it through.

Over time, Collier’s battle-hardened team (Shia LaBeouf, Michael Pena and Jon Bernthal) has established a rapport and well-tested fighting skills. But when a crewman dies, he’s replaced with a baby-faced rookie (Logan Lerman) plucked straight from the typing pool. With his men’s lives at stake, Collier knows he has to transform the kid into a killing machine, which means destroying his ideals and innocence in pursuit of a greater cause.

With this brutal, unrelenting drama, Ayer forces viewers to witness what war actually means, and what our country forces soldiers to become in order to achieve victory. Imagine the opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan lasting 134 minutes and you’ll get an idea of the film’s intensity.

Even in a scene of domesticity – Pitt and Lerman’s characters dining with two German women (Anamaria Marinca and Alicia von Rittberg) in their apartment – the tension is unrelenting. It might be my favorite sequence in the movie, particularly in the disgusting and heartbreaking ways that Ayer reminds us there is no respite from war.

The filmmaker draws great performances from his cast, even though several of the primary roles are underwritten. Pitt, while compelling, seems to be doing a more serious version of his Inglourious Basterds character. Pena and Bernthal get almost nothing to do, but they hint at traumatic, compelling histories the audience gets to hear little about.

The film’s best work comes from Lerman, who remains one of the industry’s most promising young actors, and LaBeouf, bringing a depth to his religious character (nicknamed “Bible” by his crew) that is often lacking from mainstream films.

Even though the film’s ending veers down a Hollywood-ized path that the rest of the narrative wisely avoids (a studio-mandated change, perhaps?), the majority of Fury is effective enough that it’s worth recommending. Try to see it on the big screen before it leaves theaters.

Rated R for strong sequences of war violence, some grisly images, and language throughout. 

Grade: B+