<Review by: Sailesh Ghelani>

Directed by David Ayer. Starring Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Peña, Jon Bernthal, Jason Isaacs, Alicia von Rittberg

Set during World War II when the Allies were making inroads on German soil and the situation was desperate for both sides, Fury is a tale of a band of brave soldiers and their tank. A tad predictable but horribly disturbing, Fury shows us the inhumanities of war.

While watching Fury I thought to myself, war today couldn’t possibly be as horrific and brutal considering they use so unmanned drones to target the enemy. But then you realise that it’s only one side that’s not losing men. And then there’s the whole ‘collateral damage’ part of the equation.

David Ayer has crafted a film that shows us that there are no real heroes in war. It’s all about perspective. And war isn’t glorious or proud. It’s full of death, destruction, fear and generous doses of self-loathing.

Brad Pitt plays Sgt. Don Collier, the leader of a group of tank operators. They’ve named the tank Fury. They’ve lost a man in German territory and have little time to grieve. So as they plod along you can see their grief in their teary eyes and horrified or completely blank faces. A company typist named Norman Ellison (Logan Lerman) joins their tank as the driver. He’s green and has never killed anyone. The other men take his case but Collier knows he must teach Norman the ways of war if he is to keep him alive. This he does with perturbing results. Norman ends up full of rage but that helps keep them all alive.

Ayer has not held back from showing the violence and devastation of war. From dead horses to young people hanging from poles and boys being gunned down savagely, you are left feeling sick. This isn’t easy Saturday night viewing for sure.

Moments of tenderness and weakness come and go but the reality is that this is war and there’s no time for love or a life. There’s a particularly interesting scene in the middle where Collier and Norman take some time off in the home of two German girls. They bond but the other men don’t like it. A sort of jealousy perhaps to show us that human pettiness is the toughest foe to defeat.

There are times that you won’t be able to follow the thick accents of some of the men though. Oh and the gun battles are pretty awesome with some of the gun fire actually looking like green and red lasers straight out of Star Wars firing deafeningly and always destructively.

Fury doesn’t show us anything new. We’ve seen it in war films before. Though maybe in not such a hard-hitting and graphic way. But Fury is important in that it shows us yet again that war is the real enemy of mankind.

.