It's Good To See A War Film Like This Being Made

Rating: 8/10 (7 November 2014)

Fury is the kind of film that I feel like doesn't get made often. It's a very "Saving Private Ryan" kind of WWII film, although this one has the twist of it being focused on a tank crew. I must say that I enjoyed this film quite a bit.
Fury is the kind of war film that looks closely at the mentality of the soldiers. We see things that are horrifying and make you wonder about the state of some of these people, but we also see the human side. I think it fairly displays the kind of people that go to war. It doesn't say that they are all psychotic killers, but it certainly doesn't shy away from the brutality that is war. We see people being torn apart by explosions or burning to death, and it's all there for us to witness, really shocking the audience by not pulling any punches. I think the themes it discusses and the way it's handled really make the character drama work.
The whole tank crew comes together quite well. We see the characters in different situations and we establish quite well what kind of people they are. Brad Pitt is the leader, Logan Lerman is the wimpy guy who doesn't exactly want to be there, Shia LaBeouf is the religious guy, and so on. There's even an extended sequence in a German home where the men sit at a table eating eggs, which reminded me of the plantation scene in Apocalypse Now Redux, except in this case I think it worked to establish characters further, where in Redux it just screwed up the pacing. By the end of the film, you're with these characters and want them to make it through these events.
I also found all of the sets, props, and costumes to be really good. It all felt authentic (which apparently some of it was according to IMDb trivia) and it heightened the films realism. Its always good to see such good production values in a historical film.
Fury is a great mix of both drama and war that really works. It brings up themes regarding war that can really get you thinking about how terrible it all is. The enemy may seem like pure evil because they're trying to kill you, but they are human too. There might be someone who is a lot like you but just so happens to be on the other side of the battlefield. War is hell, and Fury doesn't try to sugar coat it.