Fury

Fury, the latest film from writer/director David Ayer is the perfect example of a person sticking to what they know. David Ayer's films have all been about law enforcement and the perks as well as the perils that come with doing that job. He's been very successful, or at least entertaining at showing that life. Fury has him now taking on tank warfare in WWII and it's a big fat swing and miss. The movie was predictable, uninspiring, and lacking any real depth. Because Fury should have never been made I give it a bucket and a half of Killer Korn.











David Ayer wrote Training Day and wrote and directed End of Watch so he got a pass from me. That pass got destroyed when I saw his horrible film Sabotage, which he also wrote and directed. He seemed to have a serious love affair with police so when I heard he was doing yet ANOTHER WWII film to go along with ALL the other WWII films, I was curious because I enjoyed End of Watch so much. I had completely forgot that Sabotage was pure trash. Let me tell you the biggest problem I had with Fury, one of them anyway. It was with the marketing. If you saw the trailers then you saw the movie. The trailers showed you EVERYTHING, making the movie completely predictable from a story standpoint. Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing took me by surprise while watching Fury because I knew what was coming. Second issue with this film was Brad Pitt playing the leader of his Sherman Tank squad, Don 'Wardaddy' Collier. If you saw Inglorious Bastards then you have a pretty good idea who Wardaddy was modeled after. Brad brought back Lt. Aldo Raine minus the stupid accent. Rounding out the cast is Shia LaBeouf as Boyd "Bible" Swan, Micheal Pena as Trini "Gordo" Garcia, Jon Bernthal as Grady "Coon-Ass" Travis, and Logan Lerman as Norman "Machine" Ellison.

Don's crew was just what you've come to expect from a movie about the second world war. One quotes Bible scripture, one is truly messed up in the head from war, one is the seemingly sane one, one doesn't quite belong on the front lines as he was trained to type 60 words a minute and has never seen a razor let alone hold a machine gun, and then there's their leader. A fearless, determined, brilliant leader who doesn't duck for cover like everyone else when mortar rounds are exploding around them. It's like they chose to rip off characters from Saving Private Ryan but got lost somewhere along the way. Now four Sherman tanks are given a mission, to hold a crossroads until a larger force can be mobilized. Out of a tank skirmish with a German Panzer tank only one Sherman escapes (guess who's) and heads to the crossroads. As the trailer indicates, the tank loses a tread but the guys stay and fight even though Wardaddy orders them to leave. You can guess the ending can't you?

The look of the film is a muddled mess. The color palette is dark, there is virtually no color anywhere and there's a ton of fucking mud everywhere yet it never seems to rain. The movie is devoid of almost any kind of humanity and while I know it's a war film there have been others that have delivered that necessary touch of decency. The one attempt at that makes no sense and falls completely flat. There was some cool scenes in the movie thanks to cinematographer Roman Vasyanov, I just wish there had been a few more. For a film centered around a tank and her crew, you'd be forgiven for expecting more tank battles than just the one. The music by Steven Price is fantastic. His music for Fury proves that what he did for Gravity was no fluke. There are moments where you "hear" Gravity musical cues but for the most part it provides the film with the emotion it's lacking on it's own. It is a job well done. I'd skip Fury if you haven't already seen it and wait for it on DVD unless you don't mind predictable bangs for your buck. I'll see you at the theater.