FURY
Columbia Pictures
Reviewed for CompuServe Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes.
Grade: B
Director: David Ayer
Screenwriter: David Ayer
Cast: Brad Pitt, Logan Lerman, Shia LaBeouf, Michael Peña, Jon Bernthal, Anamaria Marinca, Alicia von Rittberg
Screened at: AMC Empire, NYC, 10/9/14
Opens: October 17, 2014
Ask the typical, average high school kid which two major powers were enemies in World War II and you’re likely to get the reply, “The U.S. and Russia.” (The slightly more sophisticated may say “The U.S. and the Soviet Union.”) The years 1939-1945 are ancient history to many and most Americans today were not born when the big war was fought. This is why we must pay homage to all filmmakers who indulge in showing us just how cruel “ancient” warfare is. Seventy-seven million people were killed as a result of WWII, twenty million in the Soviet Union alone. Once high-schoolers find out that Germany was our rival (“Hey, I thought they were an ally of ours”?) they’re ready to see “Fury,” David Ayer’s graphically violent picture which alternates scenes of mayhem with more quiet moments of what might generously be called introspection. That the principal characters in ”Fury” are too exhausted to do too much introspection is a given, a fact that will delight the younger crowds at the multiplex.
Brad Pitt stars as Sergeant Don ‘Wardaddy’ Collier, in charge of a small regiment of tanks. Collier rides in the tank called Fury, an actual WWII vehicle borrowed from a museum for the film and one which, in this movie, does quite a job of mopping up German soldiers and SS patrols alike. The action takes place within Germany as Collier’s team is assigned the role of taking town after town, destroying all fighting forces in their path, presumably to allow allied troops to march into Berlin without taking flak from neighboring areas and hopefully beating the Soviet soldiers to the capital. Ayer, who had previously been at the helm of LAPD TV stories and “Training Day” covers the war in April 1945, just four or five months before the official German surrender.
Thankfully the movie is not in 3-D, which is not needed as the action appears authentic enough. Some of the film takes place within the tank “Fury,” and is reminiscent of similar scenes in Samuel Maoz’s movie “Lebanon” and also “Waltz With Bashir,” an animated take directed by Ari Folman. While Brad Pitt is the star, Shia LaBoeuf, listed second, has only a small part. The character to watch most closely is Logan Lerman in the role of Norman Ellison, a young draftee who thought he would snooze out the war as a clerk-typist but is sent to the front despite virtually no training. We see the war through his eyes. What training he does get is though Collier’s tough love, though the bullying he receives from the others in “Fury”—Michael Peña as Trini ‘Gordo’ Garcia and Jon Bernthal as Grady ‘Coon-Ass’ Travis. If you want to know why Soviet citizens trembled when they were told to report to the Russian front, this is the movie that will convince you, given the huge percentage of fatalities incurred by allied troops actually in Germany.
The Bible is quoted time and again though these guy don’t look particularly religious (but there are no atheists in foxholes). The most memorable “quiet” scene takes place inside the modest home of two German women, Irma (Anamaria Marinca) and her younger and more beautiful cousin Emma (Alicia von Rittberg). Incredible though it may seem, when young Norman plays the piano, Emma joins him in song, soon leading the virgin into her bedroom either because of an electrifying attraction or fear of being raped. (When Brad Pitt takes off his shirt, revealing a well-toned body, rape must have been on her mind.)
On the negative side, characters other than Logan Lerman’s are not well defined; they’re stereotypes, and their dialogue, some with heavy southern accents, is occasionally difficult to understand. But the picture is of merit in using all of cinema’s advanced technologies to scare the hell out of its audience, and could convert even some rah-rah conservative moviegoers into being antiwar.
Rated R. 134 minutes. © Harvey Karten, Member, New York Film Critics Online
Story – C+
Acting – B-
Technical – B+
Overall – B
