A compelling achievement

Rating: 8/10 (1 June 2017)

It is 1944. US forces are taking Germany back from the Nazis. FURY is the name of one of their tanks, and its crew are Brad Pitt, Shia LaBoeuf, Michael Pena, and Jon Bernthal.
A screen commanding film, Fury is an achievement for Director David Ayer. He rises to the occasion summoning strong performances and crafting brutally vivid images and rousing fight scenes.
The story is told largely from the point of view of a recent draftee, who wants nothing to do with war. He is assigned to Pitt's crew and there is a good scene where Pitt attempts to 'christen' him by handing him a pistol and bullying him into shooting captured Nazi, but the kid is too squeamish to do so.
Despite being in some great movies, Brad Pitt hasn't done much for me in the last ten years. Since Inglorious Basterds, he has become a little monotonous. In fury he succeeds in channelling a convincing real beast which he hides behind his patriarchal composure.
There is an intriguingly lengthy scene where he and his tank crew have breakfast in the home of two German women (complete strangers) , in a half abandoned town. It's not much of a breakfast but it becomes clear that the meal is less important than merely being in a home in the company of women (something that soldiers don't get the luxury of).
Kicking off the last act there is a memorable one on one tank fight between our guys and a German Tiger tank. In the middle of an open field, they fight like man o' war ships in a bay, each relying on strategy more than fire power to bring the other one down. The climax is a suicidal stand off between our guys and a German platoon. Bullets and shells go flying amidst the surrealist lighting of explosions and flames.
The ending we get is an inevitable one, but it is perfectly appropriate for the kind of war movie that Fury wants to be.