In July of 1998 while I was on vacation in Colorado, I saw Saving Private Ryan, and it changed my life forever. This movie completely redefined my understanding of what it was that American soldiers must endure in times of mortal combat. Up until that point, my idea of war was G.I. Joe and Rambo mowing down the enemy with minimal, if any, casualties of their own. Not only did it give me a newfound respect for the hell that is war, but it also made me absolutely fascinated with the subject matter. From that moment on, I was a bonafide World War II buff. I read books, painted models, watched documentaries, etc. I was hooked.
The only “problem” with Saving Private Ryan was that it was almost too good. Pretty much every World War II movie I saw thereafter didn’t even come close to touching how Saving Private Ryan made me feel. The feeling of shock and excitement. The feeling of terror. The feeling of being sick to my stomach at points. It takes one hell of a flick to make one feel all of those things. After more than a decade and a half, I think I finally found a movie that at least scrapes the surface of what Saving Private Ryan was able to accomplish. That movie is the World War II tank epic, Fury.
In my opinion, this movie can be summed up in two words. Bad. Ass. I haven’t seen a movie that placed me right on the edge of my seat for its entirety since…well…Saving Private Ryan. The depictions of combat and the characters are the two key ingredients that make this movie amazing.
I can honestly say that I was physically exhausted after seeing this movie for the first time. The scenes in which these guys are engaged in combat are extremely tense. You truly don’t know who will live or who will die, who will win or who will lose. I give big credit to the director on that for providing that sense of total uncertainty in the midst of armed chaos.
Now I have never been in battle, nor do I ever hope to be, but from my years and years of consuming tons of World War II history, I believe this movie hits the nail on the head. The sites, the sounds, the blood and guts all seem pretty damn real to me.
During the first big engagement of the movie while they are attempting to rescue a unit of armored infantryman from a hedgerow filled with stubborn German soldiers, I was so on edge that I nearly fell off my seat. When the German anti-tank guns and automatic weapons started shooting at the American Shermans and their supporting infantry, it was an amazing spectacle. I thought it was so cool how they showed the rounds ricochet off the armored plates of the tanks and the green tracers filling the air. This was a good representation that though the war was clearly going to end with the demise of the Third Reich, the Germans were not about to lay down without a nasty fight.
Seeing the American tank crews communicate and coordinate an attack on the hedgerow and its defenses is another thing that makes the scene incredible. It makes it abundantly clear how important communication was among those crews in order to zero in on targets and help each other survive brutal fire. Once you saw the huge explosions (reminiscent of a massive fireworks display) from the Shermans knocking out the anti-tank guns, you could finally breathe a sigh of relief in knowing that the German defenders were doomed.
Also, I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel a little bit of satisfaction when I saw the tank treads crush the already dead German who formerly held the occupation of machine gunner.
The scene when the German kids (that’s right – kids) use Panzerfausts to knock out the lead tank is probably the biggest smack in the face of how ugly and haunting war really is. The tank and its inhabitants catch on fire, and the baby-faced platoon leader jumps out of the hatch only to find relief by un-holstering his sidearm and putting a bullet in his own brain. That is the kind of image that will stick with you.
The fight between the German Tiger tank and the four U.S. Shermans summed up how inferior the American vehicles were when facing these metal German beasts. The Tiger tank makes it looks like child’s play, easily destroying three of the Shermans with what seemed like minimal effort. Though the American tanks dumped round after round into the Tiger, every shell glanced off as if it were a BB gun shooting at a freight train. Only by pure luck and the distractions provided by the other three tanks, Fury was able to remain intact to see another fight.
And then there’s the final scene of the movie. Holy crap was this a spectacle to see. One immobile tank and its crew versus an entire battalion of fanatical SS bad guys made for quite a finale. Though it was a bit far-fetched, it didn’t take anything away from the excitement and entertainment that it provided. This scene can be summed up with the following: Blood, brain matter, the “rat-at-at” of machine guns, and a LOT of dead Germans.
Last, but most certainly not least, the characters in this flick were out of this world good. When we come to think of World War II vets, we sometimes tend to think of sweet old grandpas who did their duty and retuned home to work hard and raise a family. The characters depicted in this movie were certainly a far cry from that description.
Four out of the five main characters (Brad Pitt as “Wardaddy”, Shia LaBeouf as “Bible”, Michael Pena as “Gordo”, and Jon Bernthal as “Coon Ass”) had been serving in the 2nd Armored Division since the outset of the U.S. involvement in the European Theater. This means these battle-hardened veterans had been engaged in front line action for well over two years. From North Africa to Normandy, these guys had seen some heavy stuff together. “Together” being the key word there.
When Logan Lerman (“Norman”) shows up as a fresh-faced replacement to round out the tank crew after their veteran comrade has his face blown off (literally) in the previous battle, they seem to go out of their way to make this rookie feel uncomfortable and out of place among them. With the amount of death and other terrible events they’ve witnessed, who can blame them for treating an inexperienced neophyte with nothing but contempt. His clean uniform and ability to feel pity towards other human beings doesn’t help his cause when he first joins the unit. These men are calloused, unfeeling, hateful, and the only semblance of happiness they seem to enjoy comes from dispatching an enemy soldier from this world.
Brad Pitt thrusts himself into his role as the hardened leader of the group. He proves very quickly that he is one bad dude and that any German who gets in his way will likely meet his demise in a timely manner (See what he tries to force Logan Lerman to do to a German POW after the first battle). As he puts it, “We’re not here to decide right and wrong. We’re here to kill [Germans].” Though he may be one scary son of a bitch, it is also quite clear that he is the main reason this unit has survived for so long. He is a well-oiled crew leading, Nazi killing machine.
Michael Pena and Jon Bernthal do an excellent job of portraying battle-weary warriors who have seen more than their share of action. Bernthal, the big dumb oaf of the group, especially does a great job of depicting a soldier who couldn’t care less about the treatment of German civilians, German soldiers, or the rookie crewmember, Logan Lerman. Besides Brad Pitt, he is by far the hardest on Lerman’s character. However he shows his redeeming side and issues an “apology” of sorts to Lerman and admits how the war has changed he and the other veterans for the worse before the grand battle finale. It’s a short-lived scene, but I found it to be pretty touching in its sincerity. Pena and Bernthal played their roles perfectly, and I greatly enjoyed their performances.
By far, my favorite character in the movie is Shia LaBeouf. Similar to the other veterans, he is certainly hardened by the horrors he has seen on the battlefield, but he seems to have retained a hint of his humanity through it all. With the war name (their word for nickname) of “Bible,” it is pretty obvious that he is a religious man. He doesn’t partake in the pillaging of liberated towns for booze and loose women, but he instead reads his Bible during lulls in fighting. You could make the argument that there is a religious, Bible-beating character in almost every war movie, and that is fair to say. However, there is something about his portrayal of the role that seems to me to be more genuine and likeable. I would argue to say that he is the twinkle of light in this crew that has been consumed by darkness.
Lastly, there is Logan Lerman’s character, Norman. As mentioned above, he is the young greenhorn who had only been in the Army for a grand total of eight weeks. Not only was he young and inexperienced, but his original military designation was “typist.” Needless to say, he was not prepared to hit the frontlines wielding a belt fed machine gun with a battle-hardened crew. We see Lerman grow up in a big way very quickly during the course of the movie. He is so opposed to killing another human being that he breaks down and cries during his first taste of combat. After some “encouragement” from Brad Pitt and co. and seeing firsthand the horrors of what the Germans, more specifically the Nazis, were capable of inflicting on other Americans and even German civilians, Lerman finally sees the necessity of pulling the trigger. We see his character evolve from a boy who refuses to shoot dead bodies to that of a man who is the first to volunteer to fight to the last when the odds are impossibly stacked against him and the crew.
Overall, this movie greatly exceeded my high expectations. If you are a fan of war movies, this is a must see. I can only hope that it doesn’t take another decade and a half to find a flick as powerful as this one.