[Movie Review] Fury (2014)

Posted on October 17, 2014 by thegrandshuckett in Movie Reviews // 0 Comments

Director: David Ayer

Writer: David Ayer

Runtime: 134 min

Main Cast:

Bradd Pitt as Don "Wardaddy" Collier
Shia LaBeouf as Boyd "Bible" Swan
Logan Lerman as Norman Ellison
Michael Peña as Trini "Gordo" Garcia
Jon Bernthal as Grady "Coon-Ass" Travis

Review: by The Superior Spider-Sam

Brad Pitt killing Nazi’s in Inglourious Basterds was incredible. Actually, Brad Pitt in everything (excluding The Mexican) has been pretty much incredible, so seeing him in a tank named “Fury” in all the trailers was all I needed, despite my general lack of interest in WWII films. My take on this film is probably what you’ve heard (or will hear) a lot of others say about yet another WWII piece.

What I Liked:

Let’s get this out of the way first. This movie’s cinematography, battle scenes, and set pieces were the best of any film this year. It was INCREDIBLE. Fury won’t win any Oscars for scripting, but it has to at least be a strong contender for its cinematography. Seeing a scope view from inside a tank, immediately switching over to a close up view of a tank round exploding a human head, and then panning out to see a storm of bullets flying across a field was a true spectacle. This was war. War wasn’t pretty, and Fury let you know it.

The amount of mutilation was captured so very well that I’m not entirely sure if it was a good thing. The image of a tank round shooting through and removing a soldiers leg with such force that his body flipped will forever stay with me. Seriously one battle scene in this film can make an entire season of Game of Thrones look like a comedy. It was gruesome. I honestly believe this film had more gore in it than even a horror movie like Saw. It’s not for those with a weak stomach, and was the greatest depiction of a WWII battle since the opening of Saving Private Ryan. It was action at it’s finest. Oh, and I must mention the final scene. It began in the afternoon. By the time it was over, so much smog/smoke filled the atmosphere, dead and burning bodies littered the field, and flames engulfed the area. It was like what one would imagine hell to look like. Again, the cinematography was top notch.

Now that I’ve gushed over the awesomeness of the action, let’s talk about the cast. Shia LeBeouf (Boyd), Michael Peña (Trini), and Jon Bernthal (Grady) were the army soldiers who operate the Tank named Fury under the command of Brad Pitt’s character Don ‘Wardaddy’ Collier. They had a fifth member who died just before the start of the film (off screen) and weren’t too pleased when an army clerk named Norman (played by Logan Lerman) was sent as a replacement.

Brad Pitt, as expected did his thing, and Shia LeBeouf was quite the surprise (to me), nailing his role as the religious Boyd. It was a very nice step up from the stuttering fool in those Transformers movies. Jon Bernthal was fine as the jerk of the crew (he had plenty of practice as Shane in The Walking Dead), and Michael Peña was also okay as Trini. Those last two more so just did not mess up rather than wow me with their acting, but the best part of this cast was Logan Lerman as Norman. The trailers tricked you into believing Brad Pitt is the center of the film, but Norman was more the main character.

Norman was a clerk who had been in the army 8 weeks. He did NOT want to be there at all as he could not comprehend war and knew he would be an impediment; but, Boyd told him “war has a way of changing a man,” and it certainly that. Norman went from a man so terrified of killing that a gun had to be wrestled into (yes, INTO) his hand in order for him to shoot an enemy soldier to a man ready to gun down 300 soldiers, even if it meant doing it without his full team behind him. We saw Norman cry, become terrified, grow sick, fall in love, save lives, kill Nazis, and even get a nickname all in the span of just over two hours; and, Logan Lerman transitioned throughout with near perfection. His portrayal of the soft-turned-hard Norman was definitely a highlight of the film.

What I Didn’t Like:

As I was on the train thinking about the things I did not like about this film, I found myself not really thinking about all that much. It would be easy for me to nitpick this film to pieces when it comes to character arcs, plot points, and pacing; but, I knew what it was going in, and it wasn’t a massive bomb like, say, The Expendables 2. This film was not “great,” but that’s due to a lack of original material or, to put it in other words, a played out genre. I mean, you can only see WWII soldiers fighting so many times, whether it be in film, television, or video games. This film did not re-write the book by any means, but it was no worse than any of those other portrayals either. It stands up with the rest of them, so there’s not much to dislike as long as you know what you are watching (a WWII period piece).

So, if I had to pick something that made me think “Well, that’s weird” it would be the final action scene. As I said above, this film had amazing (AMAZING) set pieces and battles, but that final scene took it from a 10 to about a 15. It became very video-game-like (i.e Call of duty) in the way of action and explosions. It was not a deal breaker, but it was noticeably disjointed from the rest of the film