Fury is an American war movie written and directed by David Ayer and starring Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf, among others. It portrays a tank crew going through Nazi Germany during the final days of WWII. Fury (2014) movie review
Ayer, who IMO is a really good director of dramatic movies, demanded a lot from the crew. The six characters that are featured predominantly in the movie went through a four month preparation process. It involved them going through a boot camp that was supposed to exhaust them and break them down both physically and mentally. He also made them verbally abuse each other that created a lot of bruises and bloody nose. He even made them sleep in the tank as well as eat and defecate there to strengthen their bond. When asked about it, Ayer said,
“I am ruthless as a director. I will do whatever I think is necessary to get what I want”
In the actual movie, you can see the grittiness on the face of each one of the characters. You can see the pain as well as the burden they all carry and how it all took a big toll on them. In one dinner scene, you can see the detachment that the war created between the characters and their ability to cope with the environment to lead a normal life. They see war as survival and without it, they are lost in the normal world. Any veteran is free to relate or even refute my take on it.
The banter between the characters is done well. They each have unique backstory that is not overly developed but does play a good role in how they talk. This also helps on how they’ve come to perceive the carnage they experience every day in the line of duty. Pitt’s character is a rough talking no nonsense taking man who inspires his crew and brings them all together.
I liked LaBeouf’s character too who was preachy but not too preachy. He apparently became a devout Christian after the movie finished filming. Some critics said that the characterization is not good. I agree it is not as in depth as it could have been. If it did, the final battle could’ve had more weight to it. If you prefer well rounded characters, you probably won’t see a lot of that here. However, if you like decently developed ones that work well during a time of high stress and brutality, than the movie will fit your bill.
The action is well done and pretty intense. The tank crew had only seconds to decide where to shoot before the enemy destroyed them and left them stranded in an open field. Each action from the crew had a meaning because one slip up could mean their lives. Combine this and the claustrophobia that we the audience feel being stuck in a tank that is being fried upon from all sides and you got a very intense and exciting action scenes.
For some of the scenes a real Sherman with a 76mm gun on loan from the Bovington Tank Museum in England was used. In other scenes, where the director needed to have more control, the special effects team gathered real parts from tank enthusiasts and used it it to construct a tank’s interior that was 10% bigger than the real tank (enlarged to accommodate all the crew). Many of the interior mechanisms worked just like they would in a real tank.
Ayer demands perfection in his movies, but it gives them meaning and that grit that a lot of movies lack. He is not perfect, but in Fury he has proved that his demands create an experience that thrills many movie-goers.
Thanks for reading my Fury (2014) movie review
