Fury * * 1/2

Twice now Brad Pitt stars in a World War II story that seems to bear little resemblance to the  facts.  Not that I’d know, I wasn’t there. But then again neither were the filmmakers or  99.9% of the audience.  So I guess it’s anybodies story to tell now.

Fury seems confused.  Unsure if it wants to be an unapologetic  gung-ho cartoonish action-adventure film like the excellent Inglourious Basterds or a reverential and accurate recreation  of the horror of WW II. 

Brad Pitt is the star. playing a character, “War Daddy”, who is a hardened seasoned tank commander but he’s not really the lead character.  Fury is about a young man, Norman, commissioned to join his tank crew. They are in the front line in the latter days of the war when the Allies were deep into Germany and the Nazis were trying to fight back with next to no resources.  Child soldiers are found cowering in buildings, young women found hanging from lampposts with signs around their neck “hung for refusing to fight”.   The vengeful focus of  “War Daddy” is on the SS.  “Gotta kill them bastards”. Which makes sense,  but I really don’t know if there’d be that many of them still around in this final month of the war, never mind the entire battalion of them which they single handedly take on.  

Prior to the final extravaganza we witness individual moments of horror so that we can become disgusted along with Norman.  Except we’re not.  Because we’re never sure whether to be horrified or amused.  Images and scenes have less impact if the intent is unclear even though the imagery is rich, intense and believable.  Meanwhile, other realities are compromised. The interior of the tank is portrayed more as a cocoon than the hell hole it would have been.  The noise, stink and claustrophobia is never really conveyed to us.  But one does pick up other information and is reminded of how inferior the Sherman was compared to the German Tiger tank especially in a tank fight where you see one  take on four Shermans.    You’ll be able to follow the story-line, but you can forget about understanding half of what they are saying.  I've never heard such mumbling and slurred speech.  Anyway, despite it’s shortcomings there aren't too many  war films showing action from a tank crews perspective so I guess one is obliged to say “Tanks a lot”.