Fury (2014) Review

Fury (2014)


David Ayer, director of Fury (2014) sets the tone for his movie in the opening scene. We see a horizon at sunset with a solider riding a horse appearing from over it. A well lit shot, silohetting the solider, the calming nature of this initial scene leaves us here. Not a minute after this, the soldier (we discover is an SS solidier) is shot dead, by Don 'Wardaddy' Collier (Brad Pitt). Ayer, throws us into the brutal and unrelenting nature of the tail end of WWII as we follow five soldiers and their tank.

David Ayer ditches the conventional handheld camera and opts for smoother takes. We get full force battle scenes contrasting with the quieter ones, suggesting the unpredictabilty of war. One of the strongest points of this movie is the way in which Ayer presents the ideology of brotherhood in his five main chacacters, you truley feel a bond between them. Though this theme is not strongly developed and is brushed over.

Logan Lerman gives a good performance, playing inexperienced, morally conscious Norman Ellison. We see him thrown in at the deep end, having never killed anybody and still completely sensitive to idea of death. Shia Labeouf's comments 'wait until you see what one man can do to another man'. And from here his character begins to develop. What bothers about his story is the 'coming-of-age' aspect to his role. Particularly in the scene in which he meets German girl, Emma. Suddenly, he seems almost accepted into the group, his acceptance is furthered when he mutters 'fucking Nazi's' as though, anger and the ability to brutally kill are what makes him a man. Again, a theme that is not deeply explored.

This film has very little in the way of structured narrative, choosing instead to just quickly unold events. A comment on life in the army perhaps? Other than Norman, the characters have very little in the way of development, not to mentioned how cliched they are. This film is typical mainstream blockbuster, created, I feel, for fans of fast action and louds noises. Itis enjoyable as a whole, enough tension to prevent boredom and enough gore and brutality to shock. For me, it just lacks anything more than this, themes that could have been (possibly should have been) be explored are left shallow and bypassed.