OT: Fury

[Raellus]

Or, Furious about Fury.

Saw Fury tonight. Overall, I thought it was terrible. The first two thirds of the film were just kind of meh, but that last third was so awful, it completely ruined everything that preceded it. I figure I owe y'all an explanation for such a definitive panning so here goes. What follows is a spoiler-filled review. Read on at your own peril.

SPOILERS AHEAD.

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There were a couple of good things about the movie. The costumes were decent, as were the sets. The vehicles were well-dressed, accurate reproductions.

There was one really suspenseful, fairly well done battle scene where four Shermans take on a Tiger I. They got the Tiger and Tiger hunting tactics just about right and the Tiger replica was pretty spot on. It looked better than the T-34 chassis-based model used in Saving Private Ryan.

That's about it.

Now for the bad. Stop reading now if you still think you want to pay full price to go see this terrible movie.

....


There was no plot/story to speak of. The characters were pretty one-note. There wasn't much beyond the basic, clichéd war movie archtypes. The one major minority character- the Mexican-American tank driver- was almost a parody of Hispanic culture. Of the titular tank's crew of five, only a couple of them were even remotely likeable. Pitt's performance was weak. A few times during Fury, I thought I was watching his character from Inglorious Basterds, a far superior role/performance in a far superior film. At least that movie was self-conscious about playing loose with history, and it had an actual story to tell. Fury, on the other hand, had neither.

The climactic battle scene was a farce. I'm still angry about it. First of all, it was basically a rip-off of the climactic battle scene in SPR: one small group of Americans- this time, in a mine-disabled Sherman- protecting a crossroads against a battalion of well-armed and motivated Waffen SS Panzergrenadiers.

First of all, the whole scenario didn't make any sense. There was no explanation why this particular cross-roads was essential to defend. All of my extensive reading on the last month of WWII makes perfectly clear that, with the end so close in sight, Western Allied troops were very averse to taking risks, especially senseless ones. Yet, this lonely five-man tank crew chooses what they realize will be a suicidal last stand instead of heading back to friendly lines and coming back later with the tens of thousands of American troops deliberately battering their way towards Berlin. WHY? This wasn't adequately answered. It was a ridiculous premise for a ridiculous finale.

The Germans basically launched about a dozen human wave assaults against the disabled tank, getting mown down in droves in the process. This literally lasts for like 20 minutes. They don't try to flank the Sherman or use cover to get close to the buttoned-down tank. They just charge is across open space, ignoring the huge hedge on one side and burning farmhouse on the other. They might as well have been zombies with guns and decent 40 times. It was ridiculous. At least three German troops made it onto the Sherman and all were dumb enough to stick their heads in the open hatch- to be promptly shot in the face- instead of lifting the lid and dropping in a potato masher or two. The Waffen SS were many things, but they weren't stupid. Anyone with any competence in basic tactics, let alone combat experience, could have killed the Sherman with hundreds of fewer casualties. I could have done it by myself. By the end of the film, at least 100 dead Germans are strewn around the Sherman. It was one of the most ridiculously unrealistic battle scenes I've ever seeb and it completely ruined any good will might have remained from the first two acts of the movie.

Don't waste your time and money. If you really must see it, wait for it to come out on Redbox or Netflix. It pretty much sucked.