Almost as good as Saving Private Ryan, and bonus marks for character realism.

Rating: 8/10 (24 October 2014)

Fury is intended as a "horrors of war" film in the same way that Saving Private Ryan was, and there are perhaps too many scenes of deeply unpleasant injuries and deaths. However, it has two key strengths. One is the tank battle scenes, which I have not seen done so effectively before. The other is realism; it includes vignettes on the enormous psychological resistance to killing another human being; whether there are atheists in foxholes; and incongruous moments of humanity.
It does include some war film clichés; there's a transformation from "boy" into "soldier man"; the usual "band of brothers" stuff; and the Americans are not nice, but the Germans are nastier (though sadly, this reflects the reality of spring 1945 pretty well). There are also a few "but why didn't they just ..." moments in the plot.
It won't become that classic that Private Ryan is -- Private Ryan earned that status by being the first "real war violence" film and also having a journey as its core plot -- but it's well worth the night out, as long as you have the stomach for the bloody bits.