I wanted to like this more

Rating: 7/10 (26 November 2014)

FURY is a very fine WWII tank movie. I would even go so far as to say FURY does for WWII tank movies what DAS BOOT did for WWII submarine movies. It is a frank and honest portrayal of how road- weary and worn out Allied troops were by the end of World War II, it is not a glorified "patriotic" movie, but rather a grim, dark and dank film about survival punctuated with some intense tank battles.
So, why didn't I like it more?
The answer is simple - I just didn't care enough about the 5 people we spent over 2 hours in a tank with.
Start with Brad Pitt's Sgt. Don "Wardaddy" Collier. Clearly, good at what he does and clever enough to keep his "band of brothers" alive, Pitt's portrayal is gritty, dim and dark (in keeping with mood of this movie). It is a more realistic, restrained character/performance than his Lt. Aldo Raine in INGLORIOUS BASTARD. The trouble is - I rooted much more for Raine than I ever did for Collier.
Add on top of that, Jon Bernthal - channeling an R-Rated version of his character Shane from the Walking Dead, Michael Pena being "gritty" as Trini "Gordo" Garcia and fresh faced Logan Lerman as fresh faced Norman Ellison - all right out of central casting - and we have a group that was really hard for me to root for, or worry over.
Only Shia LeBeouf's Boyd "Bible" Swan was a character that I cared about. I caught myself midway through this movie thinking "Gosh, LeBeouf really can act." I then realized I had to take the surprise out of my voice. Let's hope he builds on this and quits his real life "crazy" act and all those Transformers movies.
As for the rest of the movie, director David Ayer keeps the action moving and stages some wonderfully intense tank battles that makes this movie worth watching.
Just don't get too attached to the characters.
7 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank (of Marquis)