Pretty impressive war movie

Rating: 8/10 (2 April 2015)

Okay, so I'm not the biggest fan of war films – my main motivation for watching 'Fury' was that it was filmed in my home town and I wanted to see which bits of my village I recognised! However, I was actually pretty glad I did. I'd heard mixed reviews on Fury – much of the negativity based around how 'unlikeable' the characters are. Well, that may be true, but it was sort of refreshing in a way.
'Fury' itself is the name of our 'heroes' tank – part of a battle-worn American division deep inside Germany in the dying months of World War II. Basically, this tank crew (led by Brad Pit) have seen it all (and killed much of it). They aren't particularly nice people. If they once were then the constant slaughter has taken its toll on them and all they know is war. However, when they lose one of their crew a youngster is added to the mix, who doesn't share their particular attitude to the war.
I suppose you could say that there's not much story here. It's pretty much one (rather impressive) tank battle after the next. Fury's crew were pretty grim, but seeing as all of them have been fighting it out for years and could be killed any day, I felt that that was kind of understandable under the circumstances. Whatever 'character development' comes from Brad and the 'newbie's' characters. One must learn to 'toughen up' and the other must relearn his sensitivity.
It's probably a guy's film, as it does rely on the action scenes to 'wow' audiences. Although, maybe it was just me, but when the machine guns were firing, they kind of looked like either red or green lasers (definitely something out of Star Wars), but that could just be me.
About the only time I felt it slowed down was during a scene in the middle of the film. I'm guessing it was meant to emphasis the two main characters and the change in their attitudes, but I felt it did just drag a little longer than it should.
Overall, 'Fury' is a good watch, but you'll probably need to be into some pretty dark and bleak war films in order to truly appreciate this.