Fury is a WWII war movie, written and directed by David Ayer, staring Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Jon Bernthal, Michael Peña, Jason Isaacs, and Scott Eastwood. The story takes place during April 1945, the last month of the fighting in Europe; when the Allies were already on German soil, pushing their way to Berlin. It is the tale of a battle-seasoned US Army crew of a Sherman tank named Fury. Led by a tough commander (Brad Pitt,) keen on getting his men alive through the war, the Pitt character is both a father, a friend, and a sort of God for his team. In a way he is also typical of a Sheriff in the Western genre, just displaced in time and place...
Without going much into the details of story, here is what works and what not in Fury:
The cast presents excellent acting, not the least of which is Lerman, who plays an inexperienced soldier, added to the tank crew as a replacement. His fears, hesitations and gradual hardening are to give the story a sense of consciousness. The battle scenes, for the most part, feel gruelingly real. If Ayer wanted Fury to show that war is no child's play, he is successful at that. But here lies the main issue – throughout the film, and until its conclusion, which I found the least reliable of the entire tale, I kept on asking myself "Why?" Why is this story worth telling? What am I seeing in this war film that is anew; that gives a different perspective unseen before, that will leave me rewarded after over two hours of gore. Though I can make up some excuses, all in all I felt that Fury is no more than a subdued version of Inglourious Basterds; an attempt to make a war film that will be seen as more realistic for the sake of, of what? Thus, though well-made and quite engaging, Fury is also completely unnecessary.