Ideals are peaceful. History is violent. This film was brutal to watch.

Rating: 8/10 (2 November 2014)

Fury is an intense film that use war to no clear beyond showing how ugly it can be. It's no way, go overblown patriotic like 1998's Saving Private Ryan does with its music. It doesn't romanticism the war like 2001's Pearl Harbor with its story. It's doesn't make war, an easier sit, acting somewhat like a propaganda film like 2009's Inglourious Basterds does. It's a very dark film with a lot of dark subject matter. It was a hard seat at times. I just glad, it didn't go too far into the horrors, to the point that it makes it really unwatchable like certain war films like 1995's 'Men Behind the Sun 4' or 2008's 'The Downfall of Berlin: Anonyma' due to the repulsion, nihilism nature. This movie belong in the same category as 2001's 'Enemy at the Gate' or 1985's 'Come and See'. It find a reasonable balance. It doesn't turn away audience members away due to the repulsion of war nor does it seem inaccurate or clueless to the horror of war. Directed by David Ayer, Fury is a fictional film about a battle-hardened army sergeant named Don 'Wardaddy' Collier (Brad Pitt) whom commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines during the last days of World War 2 Germany. The film draws a composite portrait of tank crews and the final days of the war in Europe by using stories influenced by the service of veterans in his family and by reading books such as Belton Y. Cooper's Death Traps about American WW2 tank warfare. Ayer went to considerable lengths to seek authentic uniforms and weapons which fitted the final months of the war in Europe. He even got the rare Tiger 131, the last surviving operational Tiger I to portray the enemy tank. It is the first time since the 1946 film 'Theirs Is the Glory' that a real Tiger tank and not a prop version has been used on a film set. While some things are not historically accurate for a story set in 1945, the film is accurate enough. Still, there are a few inaccurate things, clichés, and tropes that anybody can nitpick on. As for story, the movie wasn't giving anything new to the table; after all, there has been hundreds of films like this, previously done before. The third act is basically Saving Private Ryan with tanks. While the plot of the film is fictional, the depiction of the tank Fury and its commander, parallels the experience of several real allied tankers such as the American tank commander Staff Sergeant Lafayette G. Pool. The action scenes mirror that of the real life Battle of Crailsheim fought in Germany in April 1945. The action scenes were pretty intense and gory, but it was indeed scale down compare to those of other epic war movies. What the movie does well is using the story of the transition of cavalry to mechanized warfare. A lot of horse symbolism. The horses symbolize over the course of the film is the difference between European WWII movies and their American counterparts. People don't realize that the German army was like mostly horse-drawn at the time. By the end of the war it was mostly horse-drawn, and there's an innocence about a horse. A horse doesn't know where it is or why it fighting. In a way, all of the horse slaughtering can represent the youth of the two countries. When, they talk about what they've done to all of those horses, and it's very significant in foreshadowing when they let one go. Lots of Christianity motifs. Just like the Bible, it is filled with harrowing violence, inhumanity, corrupted and fallen men, and a message of God's grace. The movie is a very raw film. Lots of tense drawn out lingering nerve biting moments. Some good examples are the scene where Norman Ellison (Logan Lerman) was forced to kill an unarmed prisoner of war in the back & the frightening sexual vibe of the scene with German women where you don't know if they wanted to rape them or not. It doesn't help that song playing in the background at that scene is 'Virgin Slumber Song.' The biggest change to the WWII motif is the idea of brotherhood. In this movie, they really mistreat each other, both physical and mentally. This movie was no lovely dove bromance, 2001 Band of Brothers. The tank crew honest could had kill each other, any moment. All of the actors well-acted in this film. Before filming, Ayer required the actors to undergo a four-month preparation process, where it broke them down. He kept the actors to cold, exhausted, and miserable while filming. Ayer also pushed the cast to physically spar each other, leading to many black eyes and bloody noses. They insulted each other with personal attacks as well. On top of that, the actors were forced to live in the tank together for an extended period of time where they ate, slept, and defecated. It was pretty ruthless. Maybe, too ruthless, as one of the co-stars, Shia LaBeouf went a little bit crazy, and pulled out his own tooth, cut his own face and refused to shower in order to understand what his character would have been through. It really did angering much of the cast and crew that day. The film also caused controversy by shooting a scene on Remembrance Day in which extras wore Nazi uniforms, in which the filmmakers had to make an apology. The movie is beautiful shot. The opening shot, alone, has this Lawrence of Arabia feel to it. Then you got a lot of haunting scenes. Overall, Fury is a well-made depiction of the horrors of war that will keep you at the edge of your seat watch.