Appropriately Brutal WWII Film that Lives up to it's Title.

Rating: 9/10 (9 December 2014)

In my opinion there really cannot be enough movies made about the Second World War. There are so many different perspectives to capture. Steven Spielberg captured the nightmarish storming of the beaches in D- Day perfectly. Wolfgang Petersen captured the claustrophobia and peril of life in a German U-boat perfectly in "Das Boot". In this film director David Ayer captures the horrors of tank warfare.
The movie makes explicitly clear that the US Sherman tanks were no much for the German Tiger tanks. They were much bigger and it would take several Shermans to take one out. Operating in one of these tanks would also mean the possibility of dying in some of the most horrific ways imaginable since it was near impossible to escape.
It is April 1945, a month before the war in Europe was won and at this point the Nazi's were pretty much defeated. However, Hitler obviously didn't realize this and he ordered total warfare which meant that the Allies were fighting kids with weapons that had the potential to end them. The SS would hang kids who wouldn't fight. However the Allies had a duty to storm though the heartland of Germany to put an ending to this war.
It is here were we are introduced to the veteran crew of the tank nicknamed "Fury". We have Sgt. Don "Wardaddy" Collier excellently portrayed by Brad Pitt. Imagine his "Lt. Aldo Raine" from "Inglourious Basterds" with more depth and dimension. The two characters share the same love for killing Nazis, first established in a memorable opening seen where Wardaddy ambushes a Nazi on a horse and stabs him in the eye. However at the same time he is also a loving father figure to the people in his tank and has shown a caring side particularly in a brilliant sequence involving him, another soldier, and two German women in a town which I will not spoil. However that scene provides something special in an otherwise decent WWII film.
The other crew members include "Bible" a Christian who lives by the good book played by Shia LeBouef. His presence may be a deterrent for some people but he gives probably the best performance of career. We believe him when he quotes scriptures. Also present are "Gordo" a Hispanic who speaks "Mexican" and "Coon-Ass" a southerner who should have been Section 8 discharged long ago. However the essential character and performance comes from Logan Lerman as Norman.
Norman is a young and innocent typist who has never seen warfare up to this point and we examine his journey as Wardaddy must break him of that innocence. This isn't the most original role in the world. We've seen these character archetype many times before in war movies. However what's interesting is how although he becomes a Nazi-hating killing machine like the rest of his crew, there is still that innocence inside of him.
People have complained of the movie's characters being a too clichéd. However one problem I've always noticed in many war films (especially those with intense combat sequences) is that in the chaos it gets pretty hard to tell who's who. In the confided claustrophobic space of the tank's interior were are able to tell the characters apart and their traits we also feel that we know them as well.
The battle scenes involving the tanks are both spectacular and authentic. Since much of it is shot inside the tank itself, we feel we're fighting along side with them. The director actually managed to get the last surviving Tiger tank involved in the production. There is also an amazing last-stand climax that is a bit clichéd and even a little corny but I could not help but be awe-inspired by it.
As a WWII film goes, this is as gritty and brutal as they come. David Ayer spares us no punches in realistic horrors such as seeing the face of the former tank gunner of the seat or seeing someones head get run over by a tank. All in all this is a worthy installment in it's genre that knows that even when the war is won, some people still have to die.