Great movie

Rating: 9/10 (23 December 2014)

A tale of morality and a tale of duty, that's how I look at Fury. Saving Private Ryan set the standard for all future war movies and Fury does not let down and in some ways raises the bar a little.
Private Ryan these days feels dated even though the opening D-Day beach landing still is awe inspiring in relation to cinematography, but on reflection from that point on up to the end battle, the movie becomes flaky and pointless, trying to put a price on the life of one man over another and justifying the point of the movie for near 60mins.
On the other hand Fury differs in so many ways. Yes it has the dramatic battle scenes like in Private Ryan and boy does it not hold back. Yet it also has a subliminal message about "Why we fight", were as Private Ryan tried to use Philosophy at one point, on a number of occasions Fury reminds you of two truths, the first is that the German people are just as much victims of the war, especially the scenes when the Americans enter the town and the sights they see. The second is that there is no glory in war, only duty. We see on a number of occasions the conflict of one mans pacifism and a mans need for duty. You see it in the eyes of the actors, lack of sleep, and no relief, yet they have to do it as its their duty to end the Nazi way of life and to free Europe, it sets the pace of the whole movie. In fact throughout the movie the characters are careful not to taint all Germans with the same label, Normal German soldiers are treated with some respect as prisoners, yet Nazi prisoners are beaten and potentially executed.
I have read a number of posts commenting on the lack of realism in retrospect to combat tank tactics and procedures, its important to remember that this is a movie, like the Omaha beach landing took hours to complete in 1944, it took Tom Hanks less than 30mins. You have to look past that as its not important. I felt that this movie was different as its rare you would see a war movie based in a tank, especially one set in WW2, but it cuts down on the need for large open spaces and cuts to the chase of what's important.
This movie deserves the 9/10 vote I have given it, it fails to get 10 because of certain oversights the director makes at the end such as the fact when the Germans are spotted, they are marking with a weapon called Panzerfauts which is an Anti Tank weapon. Yet in a scene in the final battle they don't seem to have any except some in a box which is made out to be the last they have. This may not seem important but I do prefer proper continuity in movies and this was a bit silly.
Nether the less, love this movie and recommend it to anyone.