Fury — a 2014 blockbuster war film starring Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf — is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most gritty and real depictions of World War Two to ever grip Hollywood.
The just over two-hour long military extravaganza is an intense and unforgiving take on tank warfare.
It thrusts viewers back to 1945, following a seasoned American tank squadron as they navigate through Nazi Germany right in the twilight of the harrowing conflict.
Directed by the acclaimed David Ayer, and boasting the most star-studded ensemble, those lucky enough to watch the action unfold have been left mightily impressed, calling it “criminally underrated”, a “masterpiece”, and a true “war classic”.
Brad Pitt delivers a top performance as Staff Sergeant Don ‘Wardaddy’ Collier, backed by a truley impressive cast including Logan Lerman, Shia LaBeouf, Michael Peña, and Jon Bernthal.
Wardaddy’s leadership sees the unit encounter various moments of hardship, confronting the daunting mental strain that comes from wartime combat.
The film’s authenticity couldn’t be more evident than through the true star of the show, the M4 Sherman tank — also called Fury — brought to life by a genuine and operational Tiger 1 tank on-screen.
It doesn’t stop there, to really add that extra bit of realism, all actors endured an exhaustive boot camp led by real-life Navy SEALs, subjecting them to the extremes of living inside a tank.
Recalling the experience, Pitt said: “It was set up to break us down, to keep us cold, to keep us exhausted, to make us miserable, to keep us wet, make us eat cold food, and if our stuff wasn’t together we had to pay for it with physical forfeits. We’re up at five in the morning, we’re doing night watches on the hour.”
Ayer has built himself a reputation of really putting his cast through it on set, pushing them to their limits, and even encouraging intense physical altercations to give them that true feeling of camaraderie (as well as possibly sporting a black eye or two to really add to the doom and gloom).
All this has led to a never-before-seen realism, something that has gripped fans of the 2hr 14min classic.
In a review on Rotten Tomatoes, one user said: “Fury was an entertaining war film with a strong story and well-executed action sequences.
“The intensity of the tank battles and the gritty realism really pulled me in, giving the film an edge that kept it compelling from start to finish.”
Another added: “An admirable depiction of war. It’s less of a grand battle spectacle and more of a portrayal of warfare on a smaller, more intimate scale.”
One more positive taken from the movie was of course the incredible cast: “The story of war, brothership and family packed into five incredible actors who absolutely killed it on screen.”
If you’re interested in watching Fury (2014), despite being recently taken off Netflix, it is available on Amazon Prime Video.