Genre : War
Director : David Ayer
Cast : Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Jon Bernthal, Michael Peña, Jason Isaacs, Scott Eastwood
Plot : In the last month of WW II, a tank division makes a heroic stand
There is really nothing new in Fury—from the battle hardened commander to the bible thumper and the little green boy, the pretty brittle girls, the brave women, the carnage, the nasty Nazis and the grim countryside. The film is nevertheless engaging and moves briskly through the mandatory plot checklist. Fury, written and directed by David Ayer, tells of Don Collier, a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant who commands a Sherman tank named Fury. Collier has been in many theatres of war killing Germans from Africa. As he tells Norman (the newbie, a typist who enlisted eight weeks ago) he has killed Germans in Africa, in France and now in Germany. He says it will end but many good men will die before that happens.
Collier is given a mission to head a platoon of tanks to protect a crossroads so the allies’ supply trains can pass through. Norman learns valuable life lesson in the course of the heroic stand against a 300-strong German SS infantry.
There are many revisionist portrayals of the World Wars in popular culture — from Rennie Airth’s John Madden books to the hilarious Black Adder television shows. While Fury doesn’t offer anything new in terms of perspective and the carnage does not reach Saving Private Ryan levels, it is straightforward in its intent. These are the good guys led by ultimate movie star Brad Pitt. This is the boy, (Logan Lerman—all grown up from Percy Jackson) who has to become a man. Those are the wicked Nazis—the wickedest of them, the SS who are hanging kids for not fighting, who need to be killed. There is the pretty girl, Emma, who makes some of it worthwhile. Shia LaBeouf has a moustache and quotes from the Bible to prove he is serious about everything.
Ayer did a lot of research to make sure everything was authentic and the look and feel of the movie does transport you back to those times, or what we imagine Europe in 1945 looked like. Smoke and mirrors rule and you can watch Fury to see Commando comics come alive.
Bottomline : What you see is what you get
