Fury

Director: David Ayer
Cast: Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman
Length: 135 minutes
Country: USA

Fury is, in one word, frustrating. It’s been a while since I’ve seen such an impeccably written, directed, and acted World War II film that was not an exploitation film like Dead Snow or Inglourious Basterds. But in many ways, Fury is the most exploitative of them all. We just don’t see it, because Fury very much belongs to the type of propaganda filmmaking that was coming out of Hollywood in the 1940s, during the actual course of WWII. Saying that though, the film is a lot grittier, meaner, and nastier than any of those Bogart / Wayne flicks. It at once seeks to thrill and to transcend, and whilst the effort is valiant, it doesn’t necessarily accomplish either completely.

The story takes it’s place during the last stretch of World War 2, with the Allies pushing deep into Nazi Germany, receiving as their welcome some of the most violent and fanatical resistance they’ve seen yet. The Nazis are doomed, but they’re not going to go out without a bang. Don “Wardaddy” Collier (Brad Pitt) leads a five-man crew in operation of their tank and home, entitled FURY. The crew have been together since their start in North Africa, and all are weary, tired, and waiting for the war to end. The original driver of the tank has been killed in battle and is replaced by a fresh recruit, an Army typist named Norman Ellison (Logan Lerman). He’s never seen battle, never killed anyone, and in Collier’s eyes is completely useless. But they’ve got to work with what they’ve got, and so Collier begins the process of getting Norman ready for war. What follows is an episodic narrative culminating in a massive battle between hordes of Nazis and the one tank named FURY.

WWII cinema is obviously abundant by this point, having had 70 years to develop and flourish, and so to distinguish this effort from others David Ayer instills a distinct sense of apocalyptic nihilism into his narrative. This combined with the incredibly visceral violence witnessed leaves any viewer with a shell-shock like state after the movie. It certainly sets the movie apart from the comedic violence of Inglourious Basterds, and does much to inform mood. It’s probably the main strength of the narrative, one which is at points lacking in action. However, I don’t think Ayer was aiming to make a deeply-plotted WWII film in the likes of Saving Private Ryan or The Guns of Navarone or even The Great Escape– Ayer is taking his cues from indie cinema, aiming to capture the relationships between the FURY crew.

The film gives Pitt one of his more memorable roles in recent times.

The only problem with this is that, outside of Pitt, Lerman, and perhaps Shia LeBeouf’s character, none of the crew are especially interesting. They fill stereotypes the audience already has of grunt officers- Jon Bernthal’s Grady “Coon-Ass” Travis is the unpredictable violent one, Michael Pena’s Trini “Gordo” Garcia has a nihilistic sense of humour, and Shia LeBeouf’s Boyd “Bible” Swan is the crew’s hardened yet hopeful religious man. All perform admirably in their role, particularly Shia LeBeouf, who has an especially emotional scene in which he prays with an American soldier as he lays dying. However, it is Brad Pitt and Logan Lerman who completely capture the attention of the audience; and whilst they are still stereotypes of a sort (Brad Pitt is a proto-John Wayne, Lerman the nervous novice), they embue so much character and emotion into their roles. The film gives Pitt one of his more memorable roles in recent times.

Despite it’s attempt to show the horrors of war and what war does to it’s fellow man, I can’t help but leave the cinema with the mindset of one who has viewed a propaganda film – we root for the Americans and damn the Nazis, who of course have no humanity nor character. I don’t know if it’s necessarily problematic, as the film is made very much in the mould of a John Wayne WWII gung-ho adventure film with the added dose of a modern nihilism, but in an era where the audience has Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, The Pacific, Schindler’s List, and many other complex and thought-provoking WWII movies, the film doesn’t quite fill the place I think David Ayer wants it to. Regardless of this, however, the film is entertaining and a blast from start to finish.

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