fury is furious, but so what?

brad pitt's oscar bait movie fury is indeed furious. you can see it in the way his troop of five shoots, kills and slaughters the enemies -- the germans during the waning days of the second world war.

sadly, the film does not offer anything new about war, or its depiction of war. no new insight. no enlightenment.

we have seen it all in such war classics (and my favourites too) and better made films such as a bridge too far, enemy at the gates, the brilliant apocalypse now by francis ford coppola, platoon, clint eastwood's letters from iwo jima, and full metal jacket.

war is ruthless, cruel, and men can be evil and do evil things. the only thing that matters is to kill or be killed. there are no winners, only death and destruction.

so why does hollywood continue to make movies about war? i don't know. maybe to remind us modern men, women and gays never to engage in war again. but it keeps on raging on. it's already part of the human psyche, to engage in a war be it in a bloody battle field, inside the board room, in trade negotiations. for instance, there's samsung versus apple, or katniel versus jadine!

so why bother? indeed.

but the visuals are divine. the cinematography, costumes, set design are so authentic that watching the movie makes you feel like you are in there, in 1945, smelling the blood and the fear, crying and feeling sorry at the sight of the massive destruction and the countless dead, and praying to all gods in heaven that you will never relive it again.

the story is simple, really. brad's group, riding inside a tank called fury, is determined to kill all the germans that stand in the way of ending the war.

perhaps the biggest flaw of the movie is that it did not give us anyone to root for. the characters of brad and his crew are not fully threshed out. they're like cartoon characters motivated only by one goal -- kill the enemy. just like in inglorious basterds (coincidentally, also starring brad pitt whose sole mission was also to kill nazis). i hate to say this, but i enjoyed that pulpish movie by the overrated quentin tarantino and i feel that inglorious is a better film than fury.

none of them, except for logan lerman's norman, the newbie in the group, a clerk not trained for the war, is sympathetic. well, maybe that 's the way it is -- war is cruel and it makes all men beasts.

don't believe the movie's poster. there is no honor nor glory in this film. only war!

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just like a badly written business news story, the movie failed to answer the most important question that will make it relevant: so what?! without that, the news story becomes nothing but a press release masquerading as news. in the same vein, without it, the movie is just an exercise in vanity!

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as for the acting, well. brad is still brad, only older, with a bad hair cut. but still oh sexy and with skin still oh so flawless. alagang angelina jolie talaga. of course not all actors can be daniel day lewis and meryl streep who can disappear into the roles that they're playing. but can't the other half of the uber famous and powerful brangelina brand at least try?

let me point this one out, just like tom cruise, brad is good when he's playing oddball characters like in guy ritchie's humorous gangster flick snatch, where he essayed the role of an irish boxer with a funny, unintelligible accent.

ok. not all oddballs, alright. brad can also be charismatic in other genres. i also like him as the young, promising journalist in robert redford's sentimental a river runs through it, as the guilt-stricken vampire louise in neil jordan's adaptation of anne rice's novel interview with the vampire, and as the underground fighter in david fincher's fight club.

but you get my drift, hopefully.

shia labeouf (hope i spelled it right), in need of redemption after his star dimmed due to a series of missteps and controversies including accusations of plagiarism, should have just continued covering his face with a brown paper bag, the stunt he pulled for his one-man exhibition at a los angeles gallery called iamsorry earlier this year, where he was allegedly raped by a woman!

just like brad, shia simply plays himself in the movie. his performance is as generic as a cold medicine sold in drug stores and seven elevens.

the only worthy performance in this movie is given by logan lerman, who captured our hearts in the coming-of-age perks of being a wallflower, the film where he played a mentally troubled young man experiencing first love, heartache, disappointments, and what-have-you.

this time, playing a bookish clerk with a good heart, logan embodies the soul of someone who would rather die than kill another person even if it is in the name of war. opps, i've already said that, didn't i?

will i recommend that you watch this film? only if you are furious and want to vent it out! (or in my case, i borrowed the dvd copy of someone from somewhere.)

ps: all photos in the post were taken from different websites. no copyright infringements intended. please inform the blogger if you want your pictures removed. thank you.)