Overblown, overlong and short on storyline

Rating: 4/10 (23 October 2014)

Having read so much about this film and heard a lot of good reviews, I went to see it when it opened last night with anticipation. What a disappointment.
Comparing this film, as many have, to other great WW2 films or TV series, such as Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers, is to be thoroughly disingenuous to those classics. Fury is weak on storyline and doesn't hold you as the viewer with any believable grip. It certainly doesn't 'redefine the genre' as many have written.
Above all else, it is a study of the ferocity of war and what that does to the human mind, but that is probably the only element I came away actually thinking about.
But a film needs to be more than that. For me it failed to engage me, didn't allow me to believe in the main characters and could easily have been shorter without impacting the overall impression. Brad Pitt's performance has been lauded, but I can't see why. Alongside performances of those such as Damian Lewis or Ron Livingstone in Band of Brothers, it pales into mediocre.
One man can't make a film, and Fury demonstrates that like few others I've seen. Worth a watch, but its no masterpiece and there are plenty of other films of the genre that will engage you far more.