Fury captures the horrors of war perfectly

Rating: 9/10 (15 October 2014)

Fury pits a tank filled with five American soldiers at the tail end of World War II as they struggle to fight off a small army of Nazi soldiers that are closing in on them. David Ayer directs this brutal and grim war film with no romance to it. Ayer's film is grim, bloody and unrelenting and fully captures the absolutely horrific nature of war. Brad Pitt's Wardaddy is far from Lt. Aldo Raine in Inglorious Basterds, he is a man who is truly run ragged by this war. So much so that it is all the character knows. Followed by his brigade of miserable men played by the likes of Michael Peña, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman and Jon Bernthal, Fury depicts not only the atrocities of war but the ideology of brotherhood with this film. Each of these actors, especially LaBeouf, give their all in roles that are merely supporting on paper. Ayer has an extremely keen eye for chemistry on screen and he directs each of these actors to deliver performances that are well beyond anything that could be scripted. These men truly feel as if they are brothers in arms and you buy into every second of it. The film on a technical level is terrific. Ayer ditches his hand held method for still shots and dolly rigs and it pays off ten fold. The film is visually stunning, a pure grit to the desaturated frame is present from start to finish. As I touched on before, Fury is a violent war film much so in the vein of Saving Private Ryan and Lone Survivor. You are subjected to every bullet wound, every explosion of sharp shrapnel, every wound with the utmost visceral imagery. It is disturbing yet necessary for a film like this. Deapite these dark tones and brutality, Fury does feature lighter moments especially with Logan Lerman who gives a seemingly bare-bones performance as Norman Ellison that is subtle but extremely effective as he slowly becomes desensitized to all the violence around him. His performance is constantly evolving along with his character, letting us see layer after layer until he comes full circle in a bloody final act. The best way to describe Fury is by comparing it to Wolfgang Peterson's Das Boot just with a tank instead of a submarine. Its claustrophobic, up close and personal, making the scenes of harrowing violence even more effective. Overall, Fury is a brutal war film that shows war exactly how it should be shown. Its disturbing, its violent, its scary. Fury really hits a home run between the sweeping cinematography, the phenomenal performances and the near perfect direction, it is one hell of a film that shouldn't be missed.