Some films are consistently good or bad all the way through and you know where you are with those. Films that vary widely in quality throughout their running time are much harder to give a critical assessment to, and Fury is one of those.
The story centers on an American tank crew stationed in Germany in the final months of the Second World War. Eschewing the normal conventions of war movies, where you would expect a certain amount of exposition and scene or mission setting, we are thrown straight into combat with the six man crew. Once I became accustomed to the characters in the tight knit group, I enjoyed the early part of the film. The camaraderie felt realistic, as did the grime and the desperation of man battling for their lives on a daily basis.
However, with the introduction of a new member to the crew – the naive Norman (Logan Lerman) – the film started to falter. His character was a real cliché, as was the arc of his story as he changes from callow newcomer to brave fighter in the final battle scenes. Even more of a problem is an extended scene about half way through the film. Without giving any spoilers, it involves an impromptu meal, and it seems to go on for ever, with most of the characters becoming more unlikeable the longer it went on. I assume that the director was inspired by the very long scenes in the best World War 2 film of recent years, Inglorious, but David Ayer is no Quentin Tarantino!
Immediately after that, though, a mission that ends with a skirmish with a much larger German tank is the highlight of the film. Tense and original, it sets up the final climatic battle scenes nicely. Unfortunately whilst that last sequence is technically well handled, it somehow manages to be simultaneously completely unbelievable and utterly predictable, even down to the order in which the characters involved are killed.
Brad Pitt is good as the sergeant leading the group of men, and of those Shia LaBeouf surprisingly stands out as the deeply religious Boyd. It is also good to see Jason Isaacs (hello to him…) as a commanding officer, though he is underused.
In the end, it is hard to recommend the disappointing Fury, even to the most keen of World War 2 film buffs.
Rating 5.5 out of 10