Fury (2014)

In the weeks before my father died the previews for Fury started showing on television and you tell in his eyes that my dad was interested. Now my dad would only go to see a movie in the theater maybe once or twice a year, but you could generally tell when something had caught his eye and that he would soon gather the family up to go the theater, this was one such occasion. Sadly my father passed away before he had a chance to see Fury, so about a week ago my mother, my sister and I went and saw it for him.

I think my dad would have loved this movie, though it took me a little while to get into it, Fury will now always hold a special place in my heart. That is kind of weird in that this is a violent and often profane film, but I think it captures something of how war must be, especially one was savage as the second world war, and perhaps especially towards the end. Fury follows roughly 24 hours in the experience of an American tank crew in Germany in April of 1945, just before the end of the war. The characters are not always the most likable, especially at first, but they grow on you, and are played by a great assortment of actors including Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Bernthal and Michael Pena. Logan Lerman ably grounds the film as the audiences surrogate character, the newest member of the tank crew, a fresh recruit just come from the states. There are some good character moments for everyone involved, most notably an extended interlude with some German woman, and several really good action sequences in this movie .This is also the film that finally put writer/director David Ayer on my cinematic radar screen. A strong war movie with pathos and character, and one that would have appealed to my father. ***1/2