Fury – review

Fury takes a look at World War II from the battle lines of one of the tanks. It is not swimming in original or even likable characters, but the action is solid, dirty, bloody, and gritty. The actors also give the material their best, which makes it entertaining.

Taking place in Germany in 1945, four men man the tank called Fury. They are lead by Sargent Collier, played by Brad Pitt. A new private is added to their team, played by Logan Lerman. Together, they work to kill Nazis and ideally get through the war alive.

The acting is fine. Brad Pitt and Logan Lerman play characters desperately trying to hold onto their humanity. The rest of the characters are sociopathic. They are stone cold killers and take what they want, when they want it. They even lie to others and themselves in order to cope with the suffering of the war. For example: they tell themselves they have the best jobs they’ve ever had, even though it is a job that causes the death of many other people and can at any time lead to their own demise.

The characters for this story fall into stereotypical war movie characters that have been used so many times; the religious nut, the foreign guy, the psycho jerk, the new kid, and the hard-as-nails Sargent with a heart-of-gold are tropes we’ve seen too many times. It would have been nice if they took more risks.  Fury takes the easy route most of the movie. The exception is the action scenes, which are griping to watch.

The film is certainly worth a watch. I’d recommend a matinee or a rental though. While not the best of the World War II films out there, at the very least it is an entertaining movie.