Fury

Fury - 134min - R

 

War movies are made to remind us how horrible war is. Another reason to make a war film is to highlight the real life events of a heroic individual or group of individuals. This film was painstakingly dedicated to the accuracy of the setting of the end of World War II in the heart of Germany. Being a Bradley gunner myself and a member of a crew in the Army, I have to say that the tone of the film captures what you feel in combat. This movie gets a yellow light in the final total for not providing anything to walk away with.

Toward the end of World War II a tank crew lead by Don 'Wardaddy' Collier (Brad Pitt) is working in the final push into Germany. His crew of four include Boyd 'Bible' Swan (Shia LeBeouf), Trini 'Gordo' Garcia (Michael Pena), Grady 'Coon-Ass' Travis (Jon Bernthal) and Norman Ellison (Logan Lerman). They are sent up against impossible odds as they try and hold a crossroad to protect the Allied lines of support.

One particularly interesting point was the transition we see in the character of Norman. He enters this battle as a fresh recruit who hasn't seen battle. The first opportunity he has to kill someone he doesn't and it cost them four lives. Wardaddy brings him to an unarmed German and forces him to kill him. This is Norman's baptism in blood. The second time targets are presented to him, they are suffering from phosphorous burns and are burning alive. Norman sees their suffering and performs a mercy killing. He is now used to killing as demonstrated by his final choice to kill which is in wrath.

I was a gunner like Bible. His war experience was different than mine but we are still performing the same job. Like him, I am marked by the experiences in the Gulf War. If nothing else this film does capture the way war changes a person forever. Shia LeBeouf's antics may have been a problem on set, but on screen he did a great job of bringing that character to life. You can see the darkness that marks his soul.

Bible says in the film "Wait till you see it... what a man can do to another man." The horrors of war are not entertaining. This film feels like a project that was created to play in the setting of World War II.

I went with @wydeopen and he asked me where this film fits in with other war movies. I would have to place this somewhere on the bottom of the list. There is nothing it teaches us and it gives us nothing of historical significance. I walked out feeling empty.

The Director (David Ayer) has mastered the ability to capture settings that are dark and gritty. I think his talents will be well used in his upcoming project, Suicide Squad. As a storyteller, he does a good job of presenting a dark feel to his films. He has a good eye for action and tension in scenes. 

Looking at this review I haven't written with my usual humorous flare, I think its a reflection of how I felt about the movie.  Were there any movies that made you feel like that?   

The Three Musketeers

The Three Musketeers – 110 min - PG13

Take a story that has been done a few times, and add in a new mix of pre steam punk and you have the new Three Musketeers movie. The mix of archaic futuristic technology (I think I made up a term there) and the very stylized fight scenes make this the visual extravaganza that you expect. I was mildly entertained by the CGI shininess but overall this movie left me with a Wild Wild West feeling and that’s not a complement. I wonder what Mr. Dumas would have thought about the result of his work. Could he sue for defamation of character? As much as this story has been redone, just being the eye candy explosion is not enough to make this story worth wile. Other people have done much better with this same story. Red light is the best their cutting wits can muster.

I am sure that everyone is familiar with the story by now. D’Artagnan (Logan Lerman), a young boy with some skill with a blade goes to Paris to join the Musketeers. He runs into Athos (Matthew Macfadyen), Porthos (Ray Stevenson) and Aramis (Luke Evans) and challenges each to a duel. He finds out that he has challenged the famous three Musketeers and is now in a tight spot. Luckily the Cardinal’s (Christoph Waltz) men come and arrest all of them. They join forces and take on the guards and become fast friends. The cast did a good job with what they had to work with and Walz did a great job as the bad guy again.

The main story line is the same but the sub plots are quite different and varied: they uncover a plot by the cardinal to split up the royals; they get revenge on a person from their past; start a war with England. None of these are very interesting and are nothing more than an excuse to use more CGI effects.

Paul W.S. Anderson was the director for this and it is one more in his resume of eye candy blockbuster films. It seems like he feels that a story is that wee little thing that you deliver gratuitous visual effects on. It’s a shame because he does have a good eye for the large effects. He needs to join forces with someone who can tell a good story. Andrew Davies has plenty of writing credits under his name but his touch seems to be absent from this film. Alex Litvak has only two works that I can find so his experience at writing still needs to be explored. I am hoping this is not a representation of his future potential.

Spoiler Warrning!!! Only The Musketeers are welcome here. Click on these words to reveal the spoilers.

It was fun watching some of the theoretical machines of Leonardo Da Vinci. I am a Sci Fi fan so suspension of disbelief is one of my strong suits. It was hard for me really get into the tech aspects of the weapons and air ships. It was fun but only for a bit and not enough to really base a movie on.

The almost super powers of the musketeers were hard for me to enjoy. It seems less like someone who is very skilled with fighting skills and blades and ore like they had superhuman powers. It was almost like a super spy movie than a swashbuckler.

One person who I thought could have done better was Orlando Bloom. I think I did not like him because of his character more than the acting. It was a flat performance -- almost like he was trying to be overly flamboyant. He can do better than this.

What movie would you like to see remade with some eye candy effects?