Fury

Rating: 8/10 (17 November 2014)

I saw a poster and trailers for this film, and then I heard about things featured, including the only operating Tiger tank in the world being used, so I was most excited to see it when released in cinemas, written and directed by David Ayer (Training Day, End of Watch). Basically, set in April 1945, the Allies are making their final push into Nazi Germany, and in battle an M4A3E8 Sherman tank is captured by the 66th Armored Regiment, 2nd Armored Division, led by battle- hardened U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Don 'Wardaddy' Collier (Brad Pitt, also producing), with his all- veteran crew: gunner Boyd 'Bible' Swan (Shia LaBeouf), loader Grady 'Coon-Ass' Travis (The Walking Dead's Jon Bernthal), and driver Trini 'Gordo' Garcia (Michael PeÃ±a). The tank is named Fury, its original assistant driver/bow gunner was killed in battle, and recently enlisted Army typist Norman Ellison (The Perks of Being a Wallflower's Logan Lerman) is his replacement, but he has never been inside a tank or experienced the ravages of war, so Wardaddy is reluctant to let him join the crew, Grady later nicknames him "Machine". Having been together since the North African Campaign, the surviving crew upon meeting despise the new recruit for his lack of experience and reluctance to kill Germans, especially teenagers of the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) in cold blood, this decision causes Lieutenant Parker (Xavier Samuel) with his crew to be killed in the destruction of their tank. Furious with him, Wardaddy attempts to brutalise and "educate" the young man about the realities of war, violently attempting to force Norman to shoot dead a captive German artilleryman, Norman refuses, so Wardaddy forces the gun into his hand and makes him execute the prisoner. A stronger bond forms between Wardaddy and Norman, when after a battle and capturing a small German town, they meet German woman Irma (Anamaria Marinca) and her cousin Emma (Alicia von Rittberg), Norman presumably has sex with Emma, then the two men join the women for breakfast, during which Norman sees horrific burn scars sustained on Wardaddy's back, and soon the rest of the crew barge in and cause tensions at the table, soon after leaving the house a German bomb hits and kills the women and some American troops. The crew, alongside other tanks, get a mission to hold a ital crossroads, protecting a clear way to supply trains, but a Tiger tank attacks, and following the battle only Fury remains, but it is immobilised after hitting a landmine, Norman wanders off and spots a battalion of three hundred Waffen-SS infantry approaching, Wardaddy refuses to leave, and the initially reluctant the rest of the crew decide to stay and plan an ambush. Outnumbered and out gunned the crew nevertheless combat the Germans with the weapons of the tank and the crew, but one by one, Grady, Gordo and Bible are gradually killed, with a sniper wounding Wardaddy, he and Norman remaining retreat back into Fury, sharing their last words. Wardaddy tells Norman to use the bottom hatch to escape the tank and hide in the crater made by the landmine explosion, Wardaddy stays and is killed by soldiers dropping grenades into the tank, a young German Waffen-SS trooper does find Norman, but he does not inform the other surviving Germans as they move on, U.S. Army units discover Norman the next morning, apparently the German offensive failed because of the actions of the crew, Norman is taken to safety and looks back at the carnage and the destroyed Fury. Also starring Jason Isaacs as Captain Waggoner, Scott Eastwood, Clint's son as Sergeant Miles, Kevin Vance as Sergeant Peterson, Eugenia Kuzmina as Hilda Meier, Brad William Henke as Sergeant Davis and True Blood's Jim Parrack as Sergeant Binkowski. Pitt is great commanding the troops, LaBeouf is well-prepared as the bible-bashing soldier, PeÃ±a gets his moments as the loudmouth, Bernthal is fine being cynical, and I agree it is through the vulnerable performance of Lerman that you get the reality of conflict. The story is nice and straight forward, a crew of soldiers in a tank together going across the country fighting whatever battles befall them, mostly seen only through the insights of the heroes, only snippets of the Nazis, the breakfast scene is long and uncomfortable but interesting to see play out, the appearance of the Tiger tank makes for an exciting scene, many of the battle sequences in fact are marvellous viewing, and it has surprisingly grisly moments too, with body parts and blood all over, all together it is a fantastically thought out and most memorable Second World War drama. Very good!