The Good , The Bad , and The Silly

Rating: 7/10 (26 October 2014)

April 1945 with the war in Europe practically over the men of a Sherman tank named Fury must go on one final secret mission . It was so secret we were never told exactly what it was ! The Good : Shia LaBeouf is the young new replacement for Fury's recently killed crewman . Shia is also the only American soldier left in the army who has not lost his humanity towards his fellow man even if they happen to be the enemy . The Bad : Brad Pitt as the ruthless sergeant who for no good reason forces Shia to murder a German POW in cold blood and thus becoming a war criminal in the process . The Silly : After Fury is disabled by an enemy land mine , Sgt. Brad Pitt decides to take on 300 elite German SS troops rather than simply walk away from the immobilized tank and certain death . Don't get me wrong , Fury is a very tense and somewhat disturbing movie about men in war . It does not glamorize warfare as most movies often do . Other than Shia , there are no likable American soldiers in this movie . Except for the grand finale, the battle scenes seem very real . Four Sherman tanks taking on a huge Tiger tank was exciting . However, in the final scenes Fury is reduced to that of a typical action / war movie . How can one poorly armored tank and 5 men take on so many enemy soldiers before being blown to rubble ? A few SS soldiers drop 2 hand grenades down the tank's hatch but they don't go off . The enemy gunfire seems to stop whenever someone in the doomed tank has something to say . The most unbelievable scene is when Pvt. Shia sneaks out of the tank's trap door in the floor and partially covers himself with dirt . An SS soldier shines a flashlight on him and gives a smile but for some unknown reason doesn't shoot lucky Shia ! ... I once saw a 1943 war movie called Sahara . Sgt. Humphrey Bogart and a few British soldiers he picks up along the way manage to kill or capture a few hundred thirsty German soldiers with a single tank called Lulu Belle . But then again, that was a typical feel good movie that was made during the darkest days of WW2 ...... Fury is seriously flawed and not a feel good movie but still worth seeing . I think the director must have filmed a few alternate endings but chose to go with this one as not to have the movie end on a such a depressing note .. After all is said and done, Fury is better than average ! ............. PWH