A grim, muscular WWII tank thriller that leans hard into mud, metal, and moral exhaustion. It’s not subtle, but the performances, atmosphere, and claustrophobic combat make it an effective watch for viewers who want war cinema with brute-force intensity.
Fury
Where to watch: Buy
Movie · War · Drama
Wed · 2h 15m
Director: David Ayer
Starring: Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman
Overview
April, 1945. As the Allies make their final push in the European Theatre, a battle-hardened army sergeant named Wardaddy commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, and with a rookie soldier thrust into their platoon, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany.
Director
David Ayer
Cast
Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman
Curator Review
Verdict
A grim, muscular WWII tank thriller that leans hard into mud, metal, and moral exhaustion. It’s not subtle, but the performances, atmosphere, and claustrophobic combat make it an effective watch for viewers who want war cinema with brute-force intensity.
Best for
viewers who like bleak, visceral combat films
fans of tank warfare and crew dynamics
audiences who prefer grit and atmosphere over historical nuance
people interested in damaged soldiers under pressure
Skip if
you want a nuanced or especially original WWII narrative
you’re sensitive to relentless brutality and despair
you dislike macho dialogue and occasional melodrama
you want a war film with a hopeful or uplifting tone
Overview
Fury is a blunt instrument of a war film: heavy, muddy, and built around the pressure-cooker intimacy of five men trapped in a tank. David Ayer stages the combat with real physical force, and the film’s best quality is how completely it sells the exhaustion, fear, and grime of late-war Germany.
Worth noting
The cast is strong across the board, with Brad Pitt giving the unit a weary center and Logan Lerman providing the audience’s moral entry point. The tank interiors are especially effective, turning every exchange into a mix of discipline, panic, and survival instinct.
Bottom line
It’s also a very familiar “war is hell” movie, and the script can feel broad or overdetermined when it reaches for mythic weight. Still, the craft and intensity are enough to make it land as a solid, punishing WWII drama rather than a merely generic one.
Top Letterboxd reviews
russman (3.5★) · 6175 likes
Brad Pitt's German seems a lot more convincing than his Italian
alex todd 🧟♂️ (3.5★) · 3966 likes
Anyone else think some of the gunshots looked like Star Wars lasers?
SilentDawn (3★) · 2419 likes
I really don't know what to think of this. The acting was excellent, the cinematography was gorgeous, the atmosphere was foreboding and impeccable, and a breakfast scene is one of the finest moments in 2014. Yet, the rest is typical WWII fodder, with an overbearing score, cliche elements, a preachy script, and a soft ending bringing down the film as a whole. Basically, when all is said and done, It's a solid war film, and while I was particularly impressed with the aura of disillusionment and foggy misery; the rest feels like leftovers from every "war is hell" film ever made.
adambolt (3.5★) · 1513 likes
these world of tanks ads are getting pretty creative
Issac (3.5★) · 1035 likes
Every time Brad Pitt took off his helmet and that amazing haircut was shown, I knew right away that I do not have what it takes to join the army.
Themes
war trauma, male camaraderie, survival, moral erosion, combat realism, disillusionment, leadership under fire, dehumanization
Topics
WWII, tank warfare, gritty, bleak, claustrophobic, combat drama, ensemble cast, military realism, mud and blood, psychological tension