Fury - Review
This review of Fury is spoiler-free!
War films are a very finicky nature in Hollywood. Sometimes you can get a great movie that knows the material it is showing on screen and takes it seriously. It doesn't try to over-romanticize war and shows honor and truth to what is portrayed on screen. Then on the other side of the spectrum, we have films that are trying to be more in the vein of a rah-rah style film focused on being a cheer up and patriotic piece for American viewers. Fury isn't necessarily either of these styles, but it most definitely leans in one specific direction. David Ayer's fictional war film is intriguing and I'm glad I get to talk to you all about it.
Fury takes place during the year 1945, as the Allies are making the final press into Germany and the overall European theater. Don "Wardaddy" Collier is the leader of Sherman tank crew and offered a deadly mission behind the lines of the enemy. Taking on a new soldier who is thrown into the unit with no experience, the men are notably nervous. As they hope to strike at the retreating Nazi army, they're faced with overwhelming odds as things begin to build against them. Fury's story is extremely generic and definitely a war film that tends to not really care about focusing on the details that deeply. It's fairly cut and dry as to what the film is about: we're the Americans the Nazis are the enemy. For me, the story was nothing special.
As for characters though, this is where the film could pick up ground for me. Starring Brad Pitt as Don Collier, the tank commander, we have a good lead in a film that desperately needs it. Sure we have a great supporting cast in Shia Labeouf, Michael Pena, and Jon Bernthal; it just feels like they're playing the usual stereotypes we've come to know from war films. The only standouts are Collier and Lerman's Norman Ellison. Pitt really has to care the load and make the film enjoyable, and he only barely makes this happen with his star power and talent as an actor. Lerman feels a bit too forced as the new kid to the crowd who gets bullied and has to toughen up for the war. Overall for me, there wasn't a true standout in this cast besides Pitt who in any effect should have been expected to perform well.
For me, there's just so many things that don't land with me that make the more powerful and tense moments less impactful as a whole. Firstly, the Fury tank crew is constantly being sent into situations they shouldn't be able to win. They're always being told, "hey we need you to do this, it's probably impossible and you get no backup but we need you to do it." In fact, we hear a line of this kind throughout the film multiple times from the same character and it just grew inevitable and expected. The other major issue I have with this film is that it does heavily lean into the territory of not caring about the story it's telling. What it really feels like to me is that David Ayer wanted to make a World War II story and decided that he was going to make it up and wing it as he went. What we got was in my opinion, just not all that great and felt a bit too phony.
So as you all can see after reading this article, I really wasn't a huge fan of Fury. Others online love the viewing of an area we haven't really seen in much historical military material: tank crews, but it really just doesn't do anything new for me in the war genre. We know right away where the story is going, and it really never tries to sway us from thinking on this. At times it seems like the story feels it's getting too dark and attempts to interject light, but it never really works and just feels out of place. David Ayer has been a back and forth director and writer for me, and here is another case of him simply not landing. Some of you may enjoy this film, but I really just can't recommend Fury.
