Pitt showcase yes, good movie nope

Rating: 4/10 (27 January 2016)

"Fury" is an American World-War-II themed film from 2 years ago written and directed by David Ayer, the man who directed Denzel Washington to his second Oscar and is also in charge of the much-awaited 2016 film "Suicide Squad". For "Fury, he got to work with Brad Pitt, one of the biggest film stars of the planet, plus a fairly famous supporting cast. The outcome is disappointing. I quite like Pitt in some of his roles, but his participation in "12 Years a Slave" was already a major letdown and this film is nothing different. He does not even come close to losing himself in his character. I always had the impression that I would be watching Pitt. Zero character transformation here from him. But it also has a lot to do with how the film was written, which is in a way we never forget who the big star here is. The shirt undressing scene is about as cringeworthy as Lautner in "Twilight".
In terms of the contents of the film, it was an underwhelming watch too. I may be slightly biased as I have never been too big on war films (without any comedy), but "Fury" offered absolutely nothing that hasn't been done in other war movies already, better most of the time. It's tough to feel for any of the characters and the lack of convincing story cannot be simply made up by boastful special effects, explosions and tanks. So yeah, as a whole this was a disappointing watch, in terms of story and acting, especially the former. People who like empty war films that are style over substance like this one here may have a good watch with "Fury", but everybody else can really skip it. It also felt overlong at no less than 2 hours and 15 minutes, during which it frequently dragged I must say. Thumbs down, certainly nowhere near Pitt's finest career achievements. Actually a contender for weakest, especially with him producing as well. And not a glorious hour for Labeouf, Lerman or Eastwood jr. either. Stay away.