Fury
Starring Brad Pitt, Logan Lerman
Directed by David Ayer
Brad Pitt leads a group of American soldiers behind enemy lines during the closing weeks of WWII in David Ayer’s action drama Fury.
The faces are grim, the uniforms caked with mud and the violence is powerfully visceral but, at times, over-stylized to the point of artificiality.
The film’s brisk story unfolds effectively and Pitt is backed by plenty of credible talent; Broadway bad boy Shia LaBeouf is charismatic while Logan Lerman conveys the unimaginable terror faced by so many young boys who were beckoned to become men through brutal combat and haunting tragedy. But, The Walking Dead’s Jon Bernthal and Michael Peña often come across as caricatures whose performances could have benefitted from some subtlety.
Obviously, being a war film, the action takes centre stage and this is where Fury falters. Ayer and the post production team seem so hell-bent on depicting the exchanging artillery fire during battle scenes as realistic as possible, through the aid of visual effects, the red and green tracers often look like lasers in a sci-fi flick. This jarring technique, coupled with the movie’s overbearing score, often results in some downright silly scenes that should otherwise be gripping.
Thankfully, the film shines in the quieter moments of human drama. One dinner scene involving Pitt and Lerman enjoying some fleeting respite from the fighting with two German women is delicately handled and exceptionally poignant.
In the end, Fury does a commendable yet heavy handed job of painting the grim picture of war on film.
