Overacted and underwhelming WWII story with a Tank

Rating: 5/10 (2 April 2015)

Five months before WWII comes to an end, in the heart of Nazi Germany, five militants become increasingly agitated at the prospect of being defeated by a soulless movement. Rookie soldier Norman (Logan Lerman) is thrust into the middle of unapologetic battle with war-hardened sergeant, Wardaddy (Brad Pitt), whom is tasked with getting Norman up to scratch with the other soldiers in the tank, imaginatively named Fury.
Every scene seems flooded with mixed emotions fuelled by overacting that doesn't really add up together to form a proper sum. Not to say that the acting was terrible, rather misdirected from shot to shot. The emotion does not read the same in one singular scene. And at times is a complete left field emotion, thrown in to much confusion. Why does Shia LaBeouf look like he is about to cry? Why is he now crying? Why does he look mad, and about to cry?
Another jarring aspect is the use of slang, which is not WWII language circa 1945, more like hip- hop video circa 2010. It's slight, but not at all guised.
Lets run through the many cliché's ever so quickly: Savage horseback murder, Christian Hymns, hardened leader with a rookie whom should not be at the front line, fleeting love story with deadly end, the verbal moment all the soldiers decide to stick together, they all die (and not at once as each one needs their moment to perish) except one (doubt it's the rookieright?) and the enemy wins - the battle - because we all really know that the enemy lost the war.
Its not an epic war drama that offers anything new, informative or unsurprising to a tale that's been told with variable angles, covering a large part of all types of emotions that were felt by anyone who was effected by WWII. The story could have worked in any war setting, even a made up world caught in conflict, as the film did very little to dig into a topic that's been covered thoroughly in a school subject called History. We know it. We want more.
Then the film felt more of an American puff piece about how heroic they are, which is probably why WWII was used as it was probably the last time Americans were seen as a hero in war.
Lets remove history from the story then what we have is a very watchable action film.