So i watched this movie last night and as war movies go it inst bad. in the last decades all world war 2 movies since saving private ryan has taken on the same film look, esp those with stories that center around the European theater.
The story involves a sherman tank crew and the us invasion of Germany in the final days of world war 2. the violence is gruesome as war is and it really holds nothing back in terms of those kind of visuals. The actors are all very good but the characters are not as fleshed out and i didnt develop a strong emotional attachment to these characters. at 2hrs and 15mins the movie is on the short end when it comes to these types of war movies.but i thought that was good esp for the pacing of the movie. I really enjoyed the inside look into what it takes to operate a Sherman tank. and the battle scenes were entertaining to watch. the pace of the movie is really good as i didnt notice getting bored at any point. Even though Brad pitt is the main star, the actual story centers around the new assistant driver played by Logan Lerman (Norman) and how he was forced from his deskjob into the ultra violent, gruesome, and often times cruel situations of war. Not to give spoilers but i thought the most interesting scene in the movie was not the combat but how the tank crew interacted around a group of german ladies, in the apartment they had commandeered. how they are not necessary bad people. but war, it changes you and often times, makes you act irrational and cruel. so for any war movie buffs out there i would highly recommend this movie and for anyone that just likes movies i can also recommend this movie as it's a well crafted movie. movie movie movie, also since the sony hacks released the dvd screener you can find a pretty good copy of this online.
I haven't really studied WW2 that much, but the combat in it was pretty good, seemed pretty realistic right-up till the part near the end with Germans which was 100% complete BS. The sherman in the movie 'fury' with the 76mm high-velocity cannon which had much better penetration capabilities.
Worth it for the opening scene alone... i saw it in theatre. Wow. The cinematographer is so good.
The visual style is great, those artfully silhouetted shots, together with clear fight scenes where you can see what's going on. Solid directing as well, when they come up against the German tanks, wow, you feel the terror. But it's not "just" a shoot-em up war film.
I like how it doesn't sanitise war too much. There are consequences to violence, the director doesn't shy away from dehumanisation that results, etc... Our video game generation isn't used to seeing consequence of violence, even though we're so used to gore that we're desensitised to it; our avatars re-spawn after they die, they are sprites anyway, with no internal life, so start de-huminised. War is just pwnage and ridiculing newbs. A game. Not in this film.
The subtext and themes of the film are great. Clearly, at least in some part, it's about the experience of soldiers in occupied Iraq/Afghanistan, but not in an overt, finger waving way. That is just the context of the universal violence where there are few good moral choices when already in battle.
It's less hollywood than Saving Private Ryan, and in a way is an antidote to it (even though I really liked Saving private Ryan as a movie). It's not made to lionise nor demonise the US or the troops. It's easier to do in a film set in World War II. Although, as Jacobite points out, it's still, ultimately, a hollywood War film. It's worth seeing.
Here's a solid review from the ever controversial Armond White: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/390758/war-memorials-fury-and-diplomacy-armond-white