FURY HAS SOUND, BUT WHAT DOES IT SIGNIFY?
Fury, written and directed by David Ayer, is not designed as an anti-war film. Credits at the beginning note that German tanks were technically superior to American tanks, yet in the film the American tanks do better. Featured is a tank unit commanded by Don “Wardaddy” Collier (played by Brad Pitt) that is assigned to advance into Germany behind enemy lines, so there is plenty of gory battlefield action. Norman Ellison (Logan Lerman), the youngest solider, is at first afraid to shoot to kill at point blank range but later, after being mentored by Wardaddy, enjoys shooting in defense from the security of the tank. The film features a needless execution of a German soldier and rude behavior toward two young women in a home that is later destroyed for no reason. Wardaddy and his crew try to ambush an SS battalion from the tank, named Fury, despite limited ammunition. But do filmviewers really need to see another World War II film, especially with such cardboard characters? Wardaddy’s epigram “Ideals are peaceful. History is violent” may have inspired Ellison, who was snatched from a desk job to be assistant tank driver, but such a bromide underscores the depravity of the subject and thus of the film. MH