Very good film full of wonderful acting performances even if the plot of the story has got something to be desired.

Rating: 9/10 (26 October 2014)

Apparently the first thing you being taught in the army when you are send on to the battlefield is that you have to accept that one day you will die. It can be 60 years from now or if that is your destiny it will be today in the chaos of war. If you except that then the fear of dying turns to adrenaline that actually helps you to survive. We could go further with this train of thought and fall back on Gnostic philosophy of existence where we are considered spark of divinity, soul- light that is trapped in this sinful world of matter only to return into the source where our soul comes from. The reason why women in most religious traditions are treated as the negative principal of creation is because your mothers womb is in reality your tomb. The second you are starting your materialistic sinful carnation in the world of matter, in reality it is beginning of your death as your cells are dying on a daily basis and are reborn once again.
Coming back to the review it definitely takes special kind of a man to become a soldier. The horrors of war that most soldiers go through are unimaginable for most people. This is why successful war movies are so scares and majority of time the balance between the drama, character development and the plot needs to be achieved to make sure that the mainstream audience will be able to empathize with the characters and the story. Majority of time in war movies you have a cinema full of male viewers. It rarely happens that the audience is evenly divided between women and men. This is what the presence of Brat Pitt does to the success at the box office. Writer-director David Ayer created truly something very special in his newest WWII drama "FURY" which might be early contender to the next year Oscar race for the best movie.
Yes indeed! He is also responsible for writing hit movies like "Training Day", "U-571", "The Fast and the Furious" and directed in the past very solid but far from perfect movies like "End of Watch" and "Harsh Times". In "FURY' he accomplishes possibly his best and most technically difficult movie so far mainly with a development of characters where plot became secondary to the realistic depiction of carnage of war. This film offers the viewer a claustrophobic experience of being one of the crew members of US tank under the leadership of Don 'Wardaddy' Collier played valiantly by excellent Brat Pitt.
"April, 1945. As the Allies make their final push in the European Theatre, a battle-hardened army sergeant named Wardaddy commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Out-numbered, out-gunned, and with a rookie soldier thrust into their platoon, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany."
The whole movie despite of lacking a clear plot line and in essence is just three battlefield scenes that showcase the deterioration of our characters and their moral values testing them as human beings who try to survive at all cost. The war creates monsters on both sides and is a clear test of who our characters are inside. Are they moral people or just animals that in heat of the battle forget about their humanity and compassion. The acting is superb from all the principles. Brat Pitt delivers one of his better performances as brave tank commander who tries to make sure that his crew will get through the horrors of war in one piece. Shia LaBeouf goes method in his performance and apparently refused to take showers during the full time of filming as well he pulled his lower tooth to get in to character of companioned religious Boyd 'Bible' Swan who becomes the moral barometer of the crew developing almost love like admiration towards his commanding officer. Then Jon Bernthal and Michael Peña offer wonderful rich support to the lead actors with Logan Lerman playing a rookie that joins the crew. In some way we observe the horror of war through his eyes and the director is hinting that in some way Pitt's character sees himself in this young intelligent man that has a compassion towards his enemy.
The battlefield scenes are realistic in it's violence and often leave us speechless feeling like we are in the middle of actual combat. Movies like "Das Boot" and "U-571" come to mind where the claustrophobic feeling of being stuck in the metal tin can that stands between them and the enemy enhances the actual cinematic experience. Being 134 minutes long as the audience we are truly engaged into this character driven story that has a potential to not be overlooked in next years Oscar race. Very good film full of wonderful acting performances even if the plot of the story has got something to be desired.
For more of my movie reviews go to: www.facebook.com/JanuszMadejTechnique