Fury starring Brad Pitt was a really good film. It had a couple of things in its favor from the outset – it was a period film (set in World War II) and it was a war film. Explosions, shooting, mud, heroics… what more could a guy want in a film? I was also struck while watching it that Pitt has successfully made that transition from eye-candy to a really good actor. Not surprisingly, it appears he is going to age very well and will get more serious consideration as an actor as he takes on more mature roles.
Speaking of acting… this film was loaded. I was pleased to see Jon Bernthal (Shane – the bad guy, jerk-wad in The Walking Dead) show up as a hard-to-understand cajun bad guy, jerk-wad. I would love to see him in a different role but he sure is good at this one. Shia LaBeouf blew me away… this has to be his best performance. I didn’t really buy him as the savior of the planet in the Transformers films, and haven’t believed him in a role since Holes . (I take that back, his portrayal of Jack Bondurant in Lawless was a seriously good job.)
Michael Peña is a character actor that typically only plays one character regardless of the film, but it works. Logan Lerman played the pivotal role of the green noob, Norman and did an excellent job.
Sure, there were not a lot of surprises in the film (one that sucked pretty badly) but it didn’t matter. This film wasn’t about surprise twists – it was about heroism and gut-wrenching drama. On that front – it succeeded.
RATING 9 out of 10 
by Chris Doelle
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