There's no glory in war

Rating: 8/10 (26 October 2014)

Quickie Review:
Fury follows a Sherman tank crew of four soldiers and a rookie as they take on a deadly mission in Nazi Germany. After being stranded alone, these men unite together to face hundreds of their enemy against overwhelming odds. This movie is small in scope but deep in showing the horrors of war and how it affects individuals. The story meanders from time to time but in the end the consistent brilliant performance by the cast is what keeps you engaged.
Full Review:
I am not a huge fan of war movies but I was excited to see Fury. This excitement was mainly because of Brad Pitt who is incredible, and Logan Lerman who I personally think has the potential to be a star in the future.
The strongest and best aspect of Fury is by far the performances by the actors. Every person, Brad Pitt, Logan Lerman, Michael PeÃ±a, Jon Bernthal, even Shia LaBeouf (regardless of his recent tabloid shenanigans) were all impressive. The characters they portray aren't exactly likable, but despite that you are rooting for them because through their performances you start to understand them. That's another strength of this movie, it shows the effect war has on the soldiers involved. They have had to do some horrific things to survive, the harshness of war has turned them into savages. At the same time you see some glimmer of humanity that they are desperately trying to cling onto. Logan Lerman playing the rookie, new to the war, is the perfect window from which we see these gruesome events. Also the tank battles and violence is not there to glorify war (this is not some 80s steroid-Stallone movie). Instead the gruesomeness is used to depict the brutal nature of war, there is real danger, real lives affected, with innocent causalities on both sides.
This movie is not without faults, and it has to do with the story. Overall the movie is just very predictable, and I don't mean just the ending, it is also the case for certain critical scenes. You know exactly how some of the scenes are going to pan out, so in a way there are some clichÃ©s that can be distracting. Also there is a part in the middle of the movie where the story slows down. Personally I didn't mind that because I thought it was vital to delve deeper into the characters, but I can understand the complaints from others that say that it felt like the movie came to a grinding halt at that point. Additionally it is a pity that the final climatic battle came off being unrealistic even though rest of the movie was depicted very accurately. The climax just went on for too long, making it very hard to believe that a stranded tank had any chance against hundreds of soldiers.
Nevertheless, Fury is a very strong movie with deep characters and perfectly showcasing the nature of war. This is not some grand war epic, it is an intimate story of five men trying to survive a war through the bond they have for each other. I would recommend Fury for the performances alone.
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