David Ayer’s Fury is a well executed war film. The action sequences are fantastic, although the film adds little to the genre overall.
As the Allies make their final push in Germany, army sergeant Don Collier leads his small crew on a pivotal but deadly mission. With a rookie soldier, the crew fight against the odds in their mission to defeat the Nazis…
Writer-director David Ayer has constructed a decent film with Fury. In terms of pacing and action, the film is highly effective. The conflict scenes are visceral, tense, and unflinching. There is not much room for sentimentality in Fury, and the film is better for this.
The relentlessness of conflict is a theme that pervades Fury. Through the character of Norman, the inexperienced young soldier, Ayer aims to depict how the frontline will change a person. In this way, Fury can be seen as depicting a microcosm of the wider impact of war.
The table scene is a perfect illustration of the tensions within the crew. The film seems to suggest that this is the result of the confined environment in which they reside, and the pressures of war for long-serving soldiers. The ending of Fury is a little too neat, and goes against the thematic direction of the film.
Collier appears to speak almost solely in soundbites. Elsewhere, dialogue is more realistic, if a bit difficult to understand at times. In the action sequences, the editing and sound design are superb, as are the special effects.
Fury offers good performances from Shia LaBoeuf, Brad Pitt, Logan Lerman, and the rest of the cast. The film sustains the attention and effectively conveys the brutality of conflict. Although it does not offer too much in terms of originality, Fury is a solid war film.
Fury closed the BFI London Film Festival on 19th October 2014.
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