Disturbingly Realistic

Rating: 10/10 (14 April 2016)

The problem with this movie for most is its strength to others: it's realistic. Too realistic for Hollywood. In a great war movie, the viewer should NOT want to be in the protagonist's shoes, and Brad Pitt's character was certainly not in an enviable position when the credits rolled. As a veteran, I usually hate war movies and find myself yelling "That would NEVER happen" at the screen - that didn't occur (much) when watching "Fury."
Negatives: The growth of the kid (Norman) was too rapid and the bond formed too quickly. He went from a soft, sobbing fool to an experienced, steely-eyed operator in like a day and a half. It just doesn't happen like that. However, I understand for the purpose of the movie it needed to. The only other detracting point was the final battle. Germans racked up a high kill to death ratio in WW2, and say what you want of the evils of the Nazi, but they were good warfighters and WOULDN'T have mounted a direct infantry charge on a tank. Snipers (plural) would have been set up long before the end, but again, it was a necessary part of the story for it to not have gone that way immediately.
Positives: gruesome in an un-fun way. Getting shot isn't just a puff of red mist and someone falling peacefully to the ground – It's chunks of torn meat, broken bones, sobbing and agony. "Fury" was able to capture that in a realistic way. It set the pace immediately – a gory, knife-through-the-eye killing with visceral sounds and an abrupt realization of how quickly the end can come. The majority of the "new" characters introduced throughout the film were killed, oftentimes in a brutal way, very quickly and without warning, as is true with war. I don't think anyone rational walked away from "Fury" wishing they had been part of an American tank crew during World War 2, and that's the point.
Actors: Brad Pitt and Shia LeBeouf were both phenomenal. For point of personal bias, I normally despise Shia and I even have to admit that he acted this role brilliantly. Pitt's character is a complex man who objectively acknowledges the necessity of killing and brutality, but is haunted by it, and flashes of his feelings are seen enough and in such a way as to show believable depth.
Overall, a fantastic movie as long as one isn't picking it as a date-night flick to set the mood, and if it does, you have real problems.