Movie review: “Fury”

Patrick Wiggins

Reporter

When I first saw a preview for “Fury”, directed by David Ayer (End of Watch), I immediately thought it could be the best World War II movie since “Saving Private Ryan." Now that I have seen it, I still stand by that.

With a runtime of 134 minutes, I never felt like I was waiting for the movie to end. That being said, the movie is not all action-oriented.

The beginning felt somewhat slow, but that is to be expected when there are five main characters who need to be introduced and undergo development. During this time, I felt some of the actors were a bit difficult to understand, but once I became accustomed to their accents, it became easier.

If you are hoping to see a war movie with a lot of action, you will have to be patient for it. The first action sequence is enough to get your heart pumping, but then it dies down for what seems like awhile. There is a point where there isn't even a lot of talking, just people doing different things around the house. While it felt long, I appreciate what the director was trying to do.

When people talk about brutalities of war, they don’t always mean the battles. It could be about the destruction of towns, homes the death of civilians. “Fury” really captures that by showing characters break down and maybe act differently than they normally would, all because of the stress of war.

Like I stated earlier, if you want to see “Fury” for the action and battles, then the third act will reward you nicely. Once the final battle begins, the movie does not stop until it is over. The last fight sequence is a roller coaster, running from laughter, to fear, to jubilation and finally to horror.

If you’re wondering, you do get to see a tank battle between three American Shermans and a German Tiger, all of which were taken out of museums to be used in the filming, including the only operational Tiger tank in the world. I won’t give away any spoilers from the battle, but the style in which it was won is very accurate.

Overall, I was very pleased with the movie. So much so, I may see again before it leaves theaters. There is only one scene I remember that felt forced, but it is only a few seconds long and does not hurt the movie. I would recommend seeing this, especially if you are a fan of movies from this time period.

“Ideals are peaceful. History is violent.”

-Wardaddy (Pitt)

Overall: 8/10