I’m Trevor with the Sasquatch Movie Minute with a Wonky Wednesday RETRO look at FURY, a WW2 tank film from 2014, directed by David Ayer, starring Brad Pitt. A badass tank crew battle their way across Nazi Germany.

2 out of 5

I vaguely remembered this film was decent so I saw it on Netflix. Decent was giving too much credit. There are so many moments in FURY that exist as a shallow copy of scenes from SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. The commander’s private breakdown. The sweet moment of normalcy. The last stand. Except in every single case, PRIVATE RYAN made those moments more complex and thematically interesting. FURY just wants to shock you; to drag your nose through mud and tragedy and convince you it smells like art. However, the tank battles are spectacular. David Ayer’s films act tough and they only work when they have some lunacy in them; like SABOTAGE or BEEKEEPER. This dirge-like trudge through WW2 is an insulting mix of machismo action and death.

Best Scene. There is a battle between multiple tanks across a field that was fantastic. It had momentum, it was scary, and it was something I have never seen before. You could actually see how tanks used tactics against each other. The unending kitchen scene was terrible; a lesson on overacting and how to drain tension from a scene.

Best Performance. Michael Pena wisely underplayed his role in this bombastic theater of scenery chewing. Jon Bernthal went the exact opposite way, a batshit crazy performance that worked because it was so big. Everyone else was a stereotype. I am so sick of this laconic badass mode for Brad Pitt, he is not finding anything new here. And Shia Lebeouf’s over-committed acting was painful to watch.

If you are that subset of viewer craving awesome tank action, this is for you. It is not for anyone else.