A perfectly competent war film, bolstered by impressive performances and fierce action set-pieces

Rating: 8/10 (28 October 2014)

While nowhere near as good as it obvious influences, such as 'Saving Private Ryan' and 'All Quiet on the Western Front', 'Fury' is still an effective and competent entry in the war genre, aided by its talented cast and intense, harrowing battle sequences.
'Fury' follows the five-man crew of the titular tank as they travel across Nazi Germany during the later days of WWII, focusing on the atrocities they encounter, and sometimes generate themselves.
Though the performances of all five primary actors are great, the two that stood out for me were Logan Lerman as Norman, who gradually evolves from an inexperienced typist to a battle-hardened warrior, and Joe Bernthal as Grady, a brutish, ill-tempered loader who constantly mumbles. Brad Pitt does his usual leading man gig without difficulty, and Shia LaBeouf and Michael Peña aren't given enough screen time, but work well with what they're given.
The film's numerous set pieces are brilliantly choreographed and stylised but claustrophobic and intense at the same time. The scenes in which Fury's crew take on a German Tiger, as well as its stand against 300 Nazi soldiers, are some of the most effective I've seen in recent years.
Like many of its forebears, 'Fury' strives the capture the insanity and chaos of war, not only that created by the 'enemy in the distance' but also by Allied fighters. Just as Nazi soldiers are displayed gunning down civilians, in several scenes Fury's crew harasses German citizens and coldly executes captured unarmed soldiers. In contrast, there are other scenes where not only Fury's crew, but also German soldiers, are seen acting selflessly. The message would appear to be that war can bring out both the worst and the best in people, regardless of their affiliation.
Sure, it doesn't have as much emotional impact as say 'Apocalypse Now' or 'Platoon' in this revisionist, attemptedly unbiased approach, but 'Fury' still manages to be a hard-hitting, perfectly acceptable modern war film that doesn't shy away from portraying its protagonists in a morally ambiguous light.