***
DVD Release
In the final months of World War Two, the Allies had broken into Germany and making their way towards Berlin. Despite their advance, the Allies still found themselves outgunned and outmanoeuvred by far superior German Tiger tanks, leaving the US Sherman tanks vulnerable targets.
The eponymous 'Fury' is the name of Brad Pitt's battered tank; a blood-smeared, claustrophobic space packed with four hardened veterans, and one new recruit, Norman (Logan Lerman). A clerk and new to the army, it is through Norman's wide eyes that we see the horrors of the final months of World War Two, and Lerman, who I had previously written off as an actor, actually does pretty admirably in a role that sees him develop from idealistic newbie, to blood- and mud-smeared soldier. And there is certainly no shortage of blood and mud on display, with director David Ayer seemingly believing that the more gore and bodily mutilation seen on screen, the more realistic and shocking it will be. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and in some cases the loss of heads, limbs and sheer amount of burning bodies, becomes tiresome as opposed to shocking - I feel as though Ayer could have done with someone telling him that 'less is more'. There are, undoubtedly, some good set pieces, and you can almost feel the cold and the wet seeping through the screen, but there is so much blood on offer that it inadvertently mimics a slasher-film. Parallels can obviously be drawn between Pitt's Sergeant Don Collier and Tom Hank's Captain Miller, but whilst we care about Miller and his shaking hands, Collier is a bit... Well, he's not very likeable, which is problematic in a war film when you need someone to root for.
Despite Ayer's determination to portray the hell of war, with blood, bodies and mud in practically every frame, the film has some fundamental flaws that leave it floundering in a sea of far superior war films. Firstly, and perhaps strangely, the tank battles often end up looking like scenes from Star Wars as the tracer bullets are coloured in red and green, making them look like laser beams shooting across muddy fields. Also, some of the explosions are so obviously fake, almost firework-esque, that it becomes pretty distracting and, for all the realism of people having their faces shot off, this prevents a fully immersive experience. The finale is also, quite simply, preposterous. It's difficult to write about without giving much away, but essentially the crew find themselves in a situation where they could turn and run, or stay and fight, and the reasons are so annoying you can't feel much sympathy for the outcome. Similarly, Norman's sudden affection for Don seems totally unfounded, seems as he's been nothing but horrible to his new recruit the entire time! Throughout the entire film, we've been made aware of how fragile the Sherman tanks are, and yet in the final set piece, the tank containing our heroes seems to last forever. It's a disappointing and wholly unlikely conclusion.
I cannot be wholly dismissive of the film despite the numerous issues, because it is very atmospheric, scenically shot, and supported by an almost operatic soundtrack. The story isn't that bad either, until the final showdown, and the cast are fine... It just feels like nothing special. It would be unfair to say I didn't care about what was happening, but with far superior war films out there, this added nothing new to the equation - it relied too heavily on surface, and there was nothing much underneath.
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