by Joseph Rossi
Brad Pitt leads a group of men into the heart of darkness.
David Ayer’s new film Fury takes the director off the mean streets of L.A. and into WW2 Germany. And the change suits him well. This is a character study set among tank warfare. This is a film that takes us into the trenches; dragging us into some of most horrible conditions I have ever seen in a war film since Saving Private Ryan.
The film follows the crew of a panzer tank as they make their way through Germany at the tail end of the war. All of them, except one, a typist played by Logan Lerman, is a seasoned solider. And he makes for an interesting counterbalance to the rest of the ensemble.
Brad Pitt plays “War-daddy”, the leader of the crew. Once again he proves to be one of our great leading men. He conveys a sense of honesty and authority that only a few of today’s high and mighty can pull off. The rest of the crew are played rather convincingly by Shia Lebouef, Michael Pena and Jon Bernthal. The casting of these men are spot on and the excellent script by Ayer himself allows them to develop their characters into individuals rather then glorified background players. Everyone has something to do here and no one is wasted.
The battle scenes may be great (which they are), but the quiet scenes, the conversations, are scripted so well that we actually get a real good sense of what the war has done to these people. Like many of Ayer’s films that involve cops, corrupt officials and criminals, the major theme of “the job above all else” is present here. All this crew has is this tank and it has become their lives. They’ve become killing machines, waiting around for the next battle to come around. This is a great film that deserves to be seen and remembered.
