Film Treadheads Rejoice; All Others Take Caution
It's a rule of thumb that a piece of fiction should be able to tell everything about itself in its opening moments.
Fury begins with a lone German officer riding a white horse through a field choked by the mass and smoke of dozens of burning tanks. Then Brad Pitt jumps off the back of one of the tanks and stabs the officer in the face until he dies. So, in its opening moments, we have brutal, graphic violence, Brad Pitt killin' Nazis, and extremely poor tactical decisions by the Germans.
That about sums it up, yeah.
Fury is a film with a strange dichotomy. On the one hand, it's an extremely well-crafted film. The screenplay is tightly-paced, with a constant thread of tension which keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat regardless of whether the bullets are flying or not. It has brilliant cinematography, editing, and sound design; one scene depicting a frontal attack by four Shermans with supporting infantry is awe-inspiring in its execution. The soundtrack is apocalyptic and full of pathos, with ominous, chanting vocals and some heart-rending orchestral moments. And of course, all of the principal cast turn in great performances.
But on the other hand, everything that takes place in the film is utterly, fundamentally flawed. It handles the military matters of its construction so clumsily that it's almost laughable. It claims to take place in Germany in April 1945, when the war was all but won, Europe was absolutely swarming with Allied forces, and the Germans couldn't surrender to American or British troops fast enough. For one, this makes the brutality upon which the film is based conflict with history, and for another, it means the dire straights the crew of Fury find themselves in should've been a non-issue. All too often, it seems everything in the film operates in a vacuum: the Shermans are constantly rolling around without any support, are frequently ambushed because of this, and all because they inexplicably fail to coordinate with adjacent units like a real tank unit would. And this is all discounting the displays of tactical incompetence by both sides—too many to list, though the final battle is probably the epitome of ludicrousness.
Is it a good film? That depends on if you can suspend your disbelief through its pitfalls. Understand, though, that this film should not be taken as history.
Film Exciting, but too dark to be palatable.
War movies, or at least the ones that aren't propaganda of some sort, are by their nature, dark and gritty. Fury, however, is a cautionary tale about how there's a line between being appropriately dark and being so dark it is often difficult to watch.
The plot of the film takes place in the last days of World War II, with the main characters part of the Allied offensive bearing down on Nazi Germany. The war is almost over, but Germany hasn't given up yet, and Wardaddy and his men must fight against an enemy that can't win but can still kill them.
The battle scenes are quite enjoyable. Hollywood Tactics does come into play, however, and the main characters often live and die by this trope. Your enjoyment of this film will depend on how much of a problem this is for you, although David Rae makes an interesting point about the practicality of realism.
Unfortunately, while the film is very dark, it also crosses the line at which Darkness Induced Apathy comes into play. Not only are the Nazis shown committing atrocities against their own people, but the protagonists are also willing to commit atrocities of their own, such as executing POWs without remorse.
This thus makes it very hard to sympathize with the protagonists. Granted, there are almost never any clear-cut good guys in films like these, since even the heroes usually kill at least a few people before the end, are more concerned about their men than anyone else, and may not even be fighting for the right reasons, but this goes beyond that. The one person who does not share the somewhat sociopathic attitude of his colleagues is bullied until he conforms, so when he finally is accepted as one of them, it's hard to tell whether you should be happy for him.
As for the enemy, while being caught between those who would kill them for refusing to fight and those who might kill them even if they surrender would inspire some sympathy, they don't show up enough to truly warrant it, apart from one soldier's decision at a crucial moment.
All in all, Fury has its moments, but is a bit too soul-crushing and brutally dark for me to wholeheartedly recommend.