Fury Movie Review (2 Viewers)

[larso]

The review in the local paper says they spend most of the movie driving around in their 'artillery tank'.....

 

[ChrisTay]

Fury movie

Hi Folks,

"Fury" is the must watch movie for us tank lovers. Much better than the last war movie "Red Tails" which is too bs.

The most memorable scene must be the one whereby 4 Shermans had a face off with one Tiger. Can't wait for one of you to put up a diorama of this. Perhaps finally there is a reason to buy the plastic line of KnC and bash up a few cheap Shermans.

The last part whereby the SS were getting slaughtered by a broken Sherman seems far fetched. And having two Panzerfaust shots at point blank that did not do any damage. Wonder how real is this.

Rgds,Chris

 

[Jack]

The final Battle is for me why I rated the movie an 8 out of a possible 10. I think if they made the movie more accurate in the Tactical
dept. versus less of the Hollywood coated effect Brad Pitt would have been killed off within the first 45 min. of the film.
To gauge my opinion on war movies...... Films like "A Bridge Too Far" is a 10 in my book.

A Bridge Too Far is not really a good insight into your rating system.

What rating do you give The Battle of The Bulge? That is a far more contentious issue. I give it a '5'. Without the Germans singing, I would give it a 4.

 

[Mr Scott]

The final Battle is for me why I rated the movie an 8 out of a possible 10. I think if they made the movie more accurate in the Tactical
dept. versus less of the Hollywood coated effect Brad Pitt would have been killed off within the first 45 min. of the film.
To gauge my opinion on war movies...... Films like "A Bridge Too Far" is a 10 in my book.

I think 10 out of 10 is a bridge too far for this movie; 10 out of 10 for "Von Ryan's Express"; really 9 out of 10 as the hero got shot in the back in the final seconds.

Battle of the Bulge is 10 out of 10 the first time you watch it, subtract a point for every time you watch it and I am down to 3 out of 10!

Cheers

Scott

 

[maddadicus]

Can't you guys just go and watch a movie for the fun of it? Great action flick, full of escapism. Was it totally accurate? No, but I loved it for the action content, the armor and the actors involved..If we rivet counted every war movie ever, none would really hold up. SPR was ok to a point, but really, sacrifice a squad of 10 Rangers to search occupied France for 1 guy...I hate to think what you guys feel about Saturday afternoon cartoons? Oh yeh, you got most of them cancelled..^&grin PS, for those guys who wanted more tank action, Shermans vs Tigers would be all of 5 minutes long. The joust had to stretch out what should have been 10 minutes of all the Shermans dying, if you want real...Michael

 

[zblang]

Re: Fury movie

But he mentions he's going to blow up some KnC tanks! {sm3}

 

[Warrior]

Can't you guys just go and watch a movie for the fun of it? Great action flick, full of escapism. Was it totally accurate? No, but I loved it for the action content, the armor and the actors involved..If we rivet counted every war movie ever, none would really hold up. SPR was ok to a point, but really, sacrifice a squad of 10 Rangers to search occupied France for 1 guy...I hate to think what you guys feel about Saturday afternoon cartoons? Oh yeh, you got most of them cancelled..^&grin PS, for those guys who wanted more tank action, Shermans vs Tigers would be all of 5 minutes long. The joust had to stretch out what should have been 10 minutes of all the Shermans dying, if you want real...Michael

I went to watch it for the fun of it. No rivet counting from my end as again, I thought the uniforms, equipment and vehicles were all spectacular. The first few action sequences were very well done, specifically the attack along the treeline, that was brilliant.

The ending was idiotic on so many levels I don't know where to begin.

The problem is Hollywood is trying to appeal the to the lowest common denominator; "let's have a wild shoot em up ending so the video gamers out there will rave about how great it was, nevermind how moronic the whole premise is of five guys sitting inside a disabled tank like sitting ducks while 200 Germans swarm around them."

To me, SPR is the gold standard, the greatest war movie of all time, the Omaha Beach landings and the assault on the town were both spectacular, I could watch that movie 100 times and never get tired of doing so. I saw it five times at the theater.

To each his own, glad you liked it.

 

[Lo1863]

10 out of 10 for "Von Ryan's Express"; really 9 out of 10 as the hero got shot in the back in the final seconds.

I agree with you totally about "Von Ryan's Express." That was my favorite WWII movie when I was a kid and I still love it to this day. Excellent movie!!

 

[PanzerAce1944]

Well, Good to see that we have some active participation about this movie. My original intent here was simply to pass on to those thinking
about going to see the film that it is worth the price of the movie ticket.... At least IMO !
Not the best WWII movie ever made, but surely not the worst either.I would agree with George "Warrior" 100% that the Battle scenes in
SPR are some of the best ! When you go back and read some of the posts and replies about Fury, what impresses one person may do
nothing for the next guy.....as is the case with most things in life.
Thanks for everyone's participation in this thread. Hopefully it will be a bit of a help to some ! :salute::

 

[gk5717]

I think for anyone who has not seen it, it is well worth seeing, forget the final battle and you have a much better than average war movie. I think the disappointment might have been the movie was so good that the final battle being so rediculous that it took the realism of the rest movie out of perspective.
Gary

 

[Warrior]

I think for anyone who has not seen it, it is well worth seeing, forget the final battle and you have a much better than average war movie. I think the disappointment might have been the movie was so good that the final battle being so rediculous that it took the realism of the rest movie out of perspective.
Gary

Agreed 100%; if you are a WWII enthusiast, then go see it.

The equipment, uniforms and vehicles alone are worth seeing, the GI's look very rag tag, combination of greatcoats, 3/4 length jackets, dirty, muddy uniforms, vehicles all beat to Hell, there is nothing pretty about any of it, which is I am sure how it really was at that stage of the war.

Gary makes an excellent point; the movie was very good up until that final battle and the ending was so idiotic that it detracted from the rest of the movie, it was almost like there were two different directors for the movie.


If it does well at the box office and the result is more war movies are made, then it's all good..................

 

[nysoldiers]

Just saw it this afternoon with a couple of friends.....not appealing to our wives.
A good way to spend a rainy afternoon.
The movie was entertaining, especially for war movie enthusiasts, and vehicles and uniforms were realistic.
In simple terms it was a combination of Saving Private Ryan, Inglourious Bastards and Audie Murphy.
Certainly no where near as gut wrenching and believable as SPR. The last scene was "Hollywood enhanced" but at least a lot of SS Nazis were killed!

 

[The Military Workshop]

Went to see it with my wife. Did not expect she would be that interested in a war movie but perhaps to her it was a Brad Pitt movie. Let's just say there was one scene she seemed to like a bit too much !

I had no problems with it and enjoyed it. Obviously final battle a little far fetched but would it have been better and more realistic if they all died in an instant after a 2 minute scene ?

Can't recall a movie with so much tank action and interior shots and made a change from the normal infantry type movie. Good to see it from a tankers perspective.

I thought the tanks, soldiers and action scenes all done very well and even the better half was impressed.

For those who have a problem with the battle scene just pretend it was a faulty batch of panzerfausts !

Fritz made a previous post that mentioned a number of issues about the behaviour of the tank crew in particular the scene with the German women. He seemed to have quite strong feelings that the film was anti American. I did not get that feeling at all and the scene with the women did not end up how I expected after seeing Fritz's comments. In fact my wife and I had no issues with the young tanker and his scene with the younger German woman. I guess this shows how different viewers can get a different opinion about the same scene.

Anyway overall I have no problem recommending it to all.

 

[Terp152]

SPOILERS AHEAD, SO DON'T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE YET...........................YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
Saw it today.

Some of the battle scenes were pretty good, specifically the first one and the entrance into the town.

Also, the equipment, weapons and uniforms were all excellent IMO; granted, I'm, not a rivet counter, but I liked what I saw very much, they did their homework on this one.

It was pretty brutal in places, but nothing like SPR, not even close; comparing the two is like night and day.

I didn't get the Tiger I scene at all; why would that Tiger come out of its spot where it had cover to lock horns with three Shermans? And the way they fought jousting back and forth was a bit hokey too, I expected Guffy to show up with his Chaffee turret blown off and ram the Tiger tank.

And the ending;..............................good lord, 200 Germans armed with panzerfausts attacking a disabled tank, Pitt gets hit by a sniper what, three times and is still alive, then two stick grenades get dropped into the tank and blow up and the tank just shakes a bit here and there and Pitt is still in one piece?

All in all, it was entertaining, I won't be going to see it again, nor will I buy it when it comes out on DVD.

It was good, not great.

Hi George, agree with most of your comments. Thought the "grit/muck" factor of the war well done. And I thought the attack on the German positions in the tree line the best of the movie. But, I have to point out that Auddie Murphy fought alone on a disabled M10 with nothing more than the .50 cal against hundreds of Germans, with tanks, for over an hour. He was credited with killing/wounding over 50 enemy soldiers. So who can say what was possible? Chris

 

[villagehorse]

Good battle scenes. If one Sherman can take out 200 Germans in one encounter and their were 50,000 Shermans made, you do the math.^&grin. Will not be buying the dvd. Great to see the Tiger in action. Robin.

 

[Warrior]

Hi George, agree with most of your comments. Thought the "grit/muck" factor of the war well done. And I thought the attack on the German positions in the tree line the best of the movie. But, I have to point out that Auddie Murphy fought alone on a disabled M10 with nothing more than the .50 cal against hundreds of Germans, with tanks, for over an hour. He was credited with killing/wounding over 50 enemy soldiers. So who can say what was possible? Chris

Yes, the treeline assault was awesome, as was the fighting in the town.

The movie is doing extremely well at the box office, so if it's success means more war movies will be made, then again, it's all good................my cousin wants to go see it, so I guess I'll go again as one of the things about these sorts of movies is you see a lot of things you miss the first time you view it; with SPR, there were things I was noticing that I missed each time I saw it.

I don't think any movie has had that much of in impact on me, just a stunning piece of cinema............

 

[Toy Soldier Brigade]

Saw it today, enjoyed it. Loved the tree line scene. The grit and gore were just enough to give you some sense of what combat must have been like then. The sound of the 88 mm rounds whizzing by was well done. Small detail, but I liked how they used the MG42 firing closeup shot. That was a scary weapon.

 

[larso]

Saw it tonight with forum member Jack.

I kind of divide it up into 5 parts (spoilers!!!).


The opening scenes with the new boy seemed a bit overdone. Yes the US replacement system in the ETO was awful but the 'welcome' he got seemed just too harsh - especially the cleaning the tank scene. Forcing him to execute the German was confronting, though this was frequent practice with enemies with your sides gear. Raymond Gannter in Roll me Over recounts a very similar event (without the drama here) and Frank Irgang (Etched in Purple) has an example of Germans killing US troops with the Lugers they'd been caught with (I've found it in a second memoir too, though I can't recall the name). The invitation to take the girl didn't rub me wrong but the arrival of the other three tank crew and the ensuing angst really put me off side. War makes men a bit feral but this just didn't work for me. I almost had the urge to walk out? Pitt was either an ogre or a legend - all on the same day. Just a bit too complicated and for no reason.

Either side though was the treeline attack and the Tiger duel - both were awesome! There was real tension and it was great to see the action on the inside of a tank. Indeed, all the scenes of the tanks in operation were excellent. Everything looked like it should, armoured cars, halftracks and expecially the Bovington Tiger! The bomber formation overhead was also a good touch. The depictions of the Hitler Youth and lynchings were pretty accurate in my opinion.

The last battle was perplexing. Most viewers won't care but it defied belief on several levels. At the end I really liked 2/3rds of it and couldn't understand the point of the rest. I'm not really sure what the point of the movie was - it kinda undid its own good work? Still, I hope it makes a lot of money and others will have their own go at this genre.

 

[bradleyl30]

I saw it with my father on Saturday who is a Vietnam War vet, the reason I study so much military history, have seen so many war movies and of course my all around most significant hero figure.

We both really enjoyed it, but some reviews here and other places that reminded us that there was some "Hollywood" helped me have my suspension of disbelief dial turned way up. Still, the final scene was a disappointment.

I did try to take into account that it is set in April 1945 which means the Germans were in an incredible state of disarray and many units were filled with conscripts and much equipment was unreliable at that time.

I also tried to remember the points about Allied manpower made here as well as the fact that many US divisions had suffered up to 300% casualties at that time.

My last expectation setting is that those of us who are educated on this subject are the minority and that the actual audience it is intended is broader than we are. Which means they have to overplay some points to make sure the average audience member got it. Still, even with these caveats that last scene still annoys me.

Some things that occurred to me were:

Why none of the Pak 40s scored a hit? They closed in on the manual aiming wheel a couple of times in close proximity to the electronic (more advanced) site and aiming mechanism of the Sherman. Maybe that is a point they were trying to make. Still, it would have been more realistic for one of the Shermans to get hit in the tree line scene to me.

I loved the closeups of the MG42s firing, but why are running up to a tank and firing that at it in the open. Were they trying to distract them or keep the crew from firing out of the hatches?

I actually found the drama of the prisoner executions, relations with women and amongst the crew as important parts of the movie. It was not about tactics or strategy, but the human experience.

The jousting of tanks was a little annoying, but my dial was turned up enough to still enjoy it. I definitely got the message behind it - our men were at a disadvantage and over came it thru bravery and intelligence as well as numbers. But that resulted in a huge price in lives and mental/emotional trauma for the crews.

My understanding is that Hollywood gives us a very distorted view of German officers. They always send their men to die, but in much of what I have read (e.g., Steel Inferno, etc.) in fact they usually led from the front to their own detriment in many cases. In many ways the German army was more egalitarian than much of its opponents. Again, what was it like in April 1945 when many of the veterans and field officers were dead and conscripts were being combined with political appointees, staff officers and other rear echelon leadership? Reading the end of Panzer Commander and other memoirs they do describe a great deal of stupidity, fanaticism and other aspects that would have shocked the men who led the "Blitzkrieg."

Lastly, I tried to be open to the final scene by reminding myself the Germans, and especially the SS, were willing to take incredible casualties to secure objectives. They essentially worshiped aggressive attack (i.e., the Prussian Way of War described well in Death of the Wehrmacht) You combine this with poorly trained (at that stage) but fanatical members (not sure how accurate this was this late in the war) and it is a recipe for a disaster.

To sum up my dissertation (really needed a break from the stress at work right now, so thanks for indulging me if you read this far!) I enjoyed it for a Hollywood war movie. I think they got a lot right, and can understand needing to over-dramatize stuff for a broader audience and make some important points. I would have liked the final scene to be more realistic, but I forgave the escape hatch scene when they used it to offer a little humanity to the evil SS (i absolutely believe in aggregate they were evil, but evil is never monolithic.)

Great to see how much effort they went to in order to make it pretty authentic and appeal to people who will not read the 45 volumes of military history and tactics that I have.

Yours,

Larry

 

[bradleyl30]

Ooops, big time spoilers in my post below! Read at own risk!