Film Review - Fury

Film Review - Fury 

Starring Brad Pitt directed by David Ayre 

 In 1998  Steven Speilberg changed how we viewed the Second World War with his multi award winning film Saving Private Ryan. From its harrowing portrayal of the D Day landings. To the graphic scenes of death and destruction. The film exposed the grim reality of the horrors of war. 

David Ayre's latest Film 'Fury' continues in that vein with that same raw theme of the intensity and ultimately the futility of battle 

Brad Pitt leads a war weary tank crew in the final trek across Germany   during the final days of world war II. It's a film that lacks any traces of humour or humanity. It shows war at its most brutal. And it paints a picture as scary and as frightening as any horror film. 

Director Ayre has managed to capture the pressure cooker intensity of being under fire in a tank. The opening credits reveal the huge casualties the crews suffered and you quickly become aware of the dangers involved.

Bradd Pitt last foray into battle was in Quentin Tarentino's satirical 'Inglorious Bastards'. This is a far more serious role, and Pitt gives a strong edgy performance as the tanks commander, fighting a war not only with his killing machine, but with his own inner demons hidden from his men by a required hard shell exterior. 

 His rag tag crew make no attempt to conceal their inner fears they are portrayed as physiologically on the edge. And this is only heightened by the  introduction of a new'rookie' crew member played by Logan Leman 

The brutality and cruelty of the allied troops, both in and out of the tank are exposed in one harrowing scene portraying the .'' realities of war  and the image of  the frightened 'newbie' Leman. Being screamed at by Pitt to either 'kill or be Killed' 

'This is is an honest but hard bitten expose of war at its most desperate. The killing fields of Europe are littered with the glorious and some cases inglorious dead. Every inch of ground  that was fought over has its own story. This  film is probably based on some elements of truth  their is suffering and their is inhumanity. The tank crews suffered huge casualties and perhaps that is conveyed in the phsycological tightrope all of the crew of 'Fury' walk 

Their is no feel good factor to a movie like this. It leaves you shell shocked and scared. The final pull back camera shot gives a lasting reminder of the futility and the insignificance of so much  wasted life. The war carries on. The 'Fury' no longer appropriate for the glorious dead  

Footnote : 

In researching for this article I discovered that very little original film

Remains from the original D Day landings Despite the hours of footage filmed. At the end of the day it was all collected to be returned to the appropriate newspapers and film companies for showing. However the officer assigned to deliver these priceless records dropped them all in the sea and they where all ruined. 

The short film which remains was captured by noted war photographer Robert Capa. And is as realistically recreated as possible for the opening credits for Saving Private Ryan 

A gritty dirty depiction of the brutality of war