Review of Fury (2014) by Ben L — 24 Mar 2015

I've never been a big fan of war films. They tend to all hit the same notes, and even when they are well done, it is hard to find much originality. The one unique hook that Fury had going for it was the setting. There aren't many films about the crew of a tank, so it had me mildly interested. They did an admirable job of creating the atmosphere of war and setting up how hopeless the situation can feel for the soldiers involved. I appreciated the cinematography and the way they filmed the interior of the tank. Also the actors provided fairly good performances. I really can't fault this film on the look, sound, and feel of the war. In fact my rating of the movie is above average because the quality of the presentation was solid and I can't say I was bored or annoyed by the film in any way. However, I certainly had some issues with the movie.

The first, and perhaps biggest, problem I had with Fury was the way the protagonists were written. I realize these were hardened men who behaved in shocking ways because of how the war had adversely affected them. However this resulted in a cast of characters that I found completely unsympathetic. I didn't like these guys, so as they start to die I was not emotionally affected in any way. Sure they threw in a little vignette for each character to establish why they were a good person, but that felt artificial and manipulative. Another issue I had with Fury is that the film started to drag. It felt like every scene that wasn't in the tank or right around the tank was completely useless. There's one character development scene, that goes on for like 20 minutes, that didn't accomplish anything for me other than reminding me how awful these protagonists are as people. I think the movie would have been off the charts awesome if they found a way to keep us almost entirely inside the tank for the whole film. Give us the same claustrophobic feeling they undoubtedly had but instead they go for walks into the camp, into a village, we are even taken inside an enemy tank at one point for no logical reason. Inside the tank was where I was most connected to the characters, and it is where the action felt more visceral. I didn't hate Fury, it just failed to offer anything particularly special to the war genre of films, and certainly didn't live up to the standard set by others that have come before.