Fury

Last night we watched Fury, the gritty WWII film from David Ayer, staring Brad Pitt. We were very impressed and then...very, very disappointed.

We went into watching this movie saying "I remember when this cam out, but then I never heard anything about it." For the first 2/3 of the film, we were still wondering why this movie hadn't received heaps of praise. The realism of the war-torn German countryside is stark and unsentimental. There are some wonderful performances in this film, and some moments that highlight those performances beautifully. Brad Pitt is excellent, Percy Jackson's Logan Lerman does a decent turn as the innocent Norman Ellison, Michael Peña was good, as always. I was particularly impressed by Shia LaBeouf, and Jay kept saying over and over again how great Jon Bernthal was.

The most impressive thing about this film, though, is the way the tank serves as the sixth character on the 5 man team. The choreography of the battle sequences using the tank is orchestrated in a way that puts the tank at the center of the action. The action is intense, even when the pacing is (realistically) slow.

And then...

...the film falls apart so fast you are left with vertigo. Without giving away any major developments, I can say the perfect, gritty, realism that Ayer excels at, and spent so much time establishing at the beginning, falls apart in the face of trite the-action-is-simply-on-hold-until-we-get-our-heartfelt-speeches-completed and we'll-just-skip-over-logic-in-order-to-manufacture-forced-tension Hollywood schmaltz. I don't think it would have been nearly as disappointing if the beginning of the film hadn't been so good. The final battle, though, was one poorly-written sequence after another.

High Points:
In one sequence in particular, Pitt's character holds court in a small apartment in war-torn German town. The character goes from being the most brutal thing in a delicate situation to the most humane thing in a brutal situation without changing.  It's a striking moment of filmmaking that demonstrates how situation and perspective color our understanding of character.

Low Points:
The third act of this film fell apart so spectacularly that we spent the entire time screaming "What?!" and "Come on!" at the screen.

Bonus Points:
Shia LaBeouf, as "Bible" proves that he is still an actor that can construct a complex and compelling character.