Fury (8.5/10)

I've watched most of David Ayer's films, both those he directed and also some that he's written. But Fury is probably my favourite one from him.

Maybe it's the subject matter of World War II or maybe it's the ensemble, probably it's the combination of everything; or that Ayer has really improved as a filmmaker. I thought he brought his skills to another level.

There were so many moments of tension that were created so well. One was that one German tank versus three American tanks. I have not felt so tensed up in a cinema for quite a while now.

But tension didn't just come with the action. Even just putting Brad Pitt and Logan Lerman in a room with two women, Anamaria Marinca and Alicia von Rittberg; immediately there was this tension of unease. And the longer the scene got, the more uneasy it felt.

Halfway through that sequence though, I was thinking where was this going. It was only by the end of it that we really knew the direction Ayer wanted to take the audience. But as a movie-making process, it took too long to build and I wondered if that could be done better.

Nevertheless, that was an important sequence as a whole because it showed who the main characters were and what war has done to them. And also it provided Lerman's character that turning point. But then again, that ending got very predictable very fast.

This also was another example of the weakness in writing for Ayer. His movies usually has a very simple plot; at times, too simple. Like for this movie, sure, the bigger picture was winning the war; but what was the bigger picture for these characters by the end of the movie? I can appreciate what Ayer was going for but I just think there's a lot that can be improved upon.

What I thoroughly loved about this movie were the performances by all the leads. Michael Pena, Jon Bernthal and Shia LeBeouf were great in their supporting roles. More so for LeBeouf because he brought layers to his character. Pena and Bernthal weren't giving performances that I've never seen before, but they did take it to another level as well.

But the heart and soul to the movie belonged to Lerman and Pitt. Pitt commanded every scene he was in. He commanded the attention of not just his troops but also the audience. When he stood up at the dining table, he demanded your silence. You could hear a pin drop in the cinema.

And Lerman was the link between the movie and the audience because he represented all of us who has never been in war. He was the most innocent and the one whose humanity was still intact. And Lerman's performance with every beat of the movie was beautiful.

And that ending shot of the aftermath of the night before shone a new light to what was going on. That effect visually was created very well by Ayer. And also when the camera stayed on the face of the character one final time with the reflection of the tank, like I said earlier, Ayer really brought his skills to another level.