Doesn't always work, and yet still very enjoyable.

Rating: 7/10 (28 October 2014)

Fury is a war movie with many war movie tropes and clichÃ©s. The cast of characters, for example, is one big clichÃ©; there's the hardened veteran who's respected by everyone he commands, the Christian guy who keeps spouting bible verses, the bulldog who is so brimming with testosterone that he almost becomes a parody of himself, the Mexican who keeps getting told off for speaking Spanish, and of course the new recruit that they all bully until he proves himself worthy of their respect. So it's interesting that the movie decides to take a character-driven approach seeing as all the main characters are shallow stereotypes. Fortunately it kind of works in being a vehicle for the movie's themes.
The biggest theme of the whole movie is certainly anti-war. It shows the brutality of it in all it's gory and psychological glory. It's a heavy movie to watch, both visually and emotionally, and that cast of characters are what helps push this along. But first the gore and violence. I mean, it's a war movie, this level of violence comes with the territory, however I'm shocked this got such a low rating (15 in the UK). The new recruit's first task is to clean up the mess of the guy he's replacing, whereupon he finds half the guy's face splat on the wall. The journey to his first mission ends up with their lieutenant getting set on fire and ultimately shooting himself in the head to make the pain stop. Yeah, this isn't a movie for the light-stomached.
But back to the character focus and how it aids the themes. While the movie might be visually challenging to watch thanks to all the gore and violence, it's also hard to watch because of the emotions and psychology at play. It's these emotional situations that really lift the characters out of their pigeon-holed stereotypes. Again, focussing on the new recruit who was never trained with a weapon or how to kill, he struggles to kill the German soldiers. Taking a life is taking a life even if it is a you-or-me situation, and he's adamant to keep his conscious clean. He's also bullied on by the other members of his crew because of his "weak" mental state, when in actual fact it's them who have grown apathetic and desensitised to the horrors of war.
The acting is the single-biggest driving factor of the movie. The characters may be weak, the plot simple, and the themes and ideas mishandled, but the sheer quality of acting on display makes sure that you never really notice how weak the characters are. Each and every actor shares a great chemistry with his fellows that instantly lends to these four guys having been together as long as they claim. Each one also manages to individually add a surprising depth to their otherwise two-dimensional characters. Brad Pitt's Don is indeed the hardened veteran he's made out to be, wise and commanding respect wherever he goes even though he's not the highest ranking soldier. However he is also a bully, running Norman hard and against his ideologies. But he's human as well. He's respected because he's a nice guy deep down and he's committed to his cause. A two-dimensional character he is not.
Every major character is given this same amount of depth by their actor. Logan Lerman's Norman may be the weedy greenhorn, but he's not a pushover nor is he socially challenged. He often goes toe-to-toe with the other members of his crew, giving as much as he takes, in defence of his stance. Shia LaBeouf's Bible (the Christian, if you couldn't tell) isn't your regular goody two- shoes that type of character is often portrayed as. He doesn't join in with the bullying as much, but he doesn't do anything to stop it, and in fact sides with his crewmembers even when they're being unreasonable. Of all the crew though, he's the one who gets most attached, so whenever another crew member dies, he's the one to add that emotional weight. I don't care what anyone says, LaBeouf is an astounding actor that deserves more credit - personal life be screwed. Jon Bernthal's animalistic Grady is every bit as macho (and slightly dumb) as his stereotype requires, but is again still human. He never quite reaches into parody land, and his short heart-to-heart with Norman near the end goes a long way to show that he's not just a brute. Michael PeÃ±a unfortunately gets the short end of the stick with the under-developed Gordo. Much like his Mexican stereotype, that's about all that's particularly memorable about him, and other than straggling the line between Bible's good nature and Grady's masculinity like a happy medium, he doesn't have a particularly well-carved out role within the crew (other than being the driver).
Fury is a suspense-filled, nail-biting war movie that will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat. It's the first movie I've seen that gives proper credit to the armoured regiments and this alone makes it stand out from the sea of WWII movies that are out there. The characters are weak, but the fantastic acting gives them the added dimensions they need, and the messages and themes are good and come across really well, but they sometimes become a detriment to the overall movie. Critically, Fury is a movie with many faults deserving of no more than a "good" 7/10, although I personally enjoyed it enough to maybe have rated it higher.