I know this review is super late — three years late in fact. I only caught Fury on my flight home and was unable to finish it because we landed right as the climax was about to begin. Bummer right? But weeks later, I finally managed to scare up a copy of the movie and surprisingly, I just continued where I left off and fell right into the action as if I never left.

When Wardaddy (Brad Pitt) and the crew of an Easy Eight tank named Fury — Bible (Shia LeBeouf), Gordo (Michael Pena) and Coon-Ass (Jon Bernthal) lose their assistant gunner during the war against the Nazis in Germany, the dead soldier is replaced by a young recruit named Norman (Logan Lerman) who was pulled from a desk job to serve in one of the deadliest wars fought by the armed forces. As he is plunged right into action, Norman, who initially despises his teammates, slowly develops a respect and camaraderie with his comrades. Just as they begin to get along, they come across a mishap that pits them right in the center of an approaching Army of Nazi soldiers with nothing but their wits and their tank to serve as their stronghold.

Fury was a great war movie in the sense that it relied in good storytelling and the strength of its cast to depict the depressing impact of war on both the soldiers and the civilians.

Director David Ayer, in wanting to depict realism in the portrayal of war in this movie, successfully executed the battle scenes with very minimal special effects or even musical scoring. This way, audiences were able to concentrate on being part of the action, so to speak.

The movie had strong relatable characters who suffered from personal flaws, and the actors were able to portray these damaged individuals effectively without overselling the drama. I particularly appreciated Shia LeBeouf’s performance in this film. His portrayal was very subtle but there was a sincerity and conviction in his character that made audiences connect with him better.

Brad Pitt was also great in this movie and his portrayal of his underlying torment was both moving and compelling. Same goes for the rest of the cast.

I loved the style, the intensity and the grit in the overall execution of the film that took no prisoners. It was brutally graphic, suspenseful and stressful in all the right moments and made sure that audiences felt every single thing that the crew was feeling. It was intense, to say the least.

All in all, I thought that in focusing on realism rather than style, director David Ayer and his talented cast of actors successfully paid tribute to the vets who despite the overwhelming odds, pressed on to fight against oppression. It was an ultimate underdog movie that had no fairy tale ending, but left plenty of food for thought. It was a toast to the unsung heroes of war and served its purpose well.