FURY - LFF14 - Day Twelve

FURY is a movie that probably gives us the most realistic depiction to date of what is must have been like to be inside a tank in World War Two - the claustrophobia, dirt, fear, and almost obsessive need to trust in your fellow soldiers to get you through.  It's because of this realism and grit that you remain captivated despite the somewhat hyperbolic set-up of the film, in which a single US tank attempts to hold off of an entire Nazi regiment.  

The set-up of the film is hackneyed through and through. Brad Pitt plays the war-hardened, uber-experienced tank commander, "Wardaddy" contrasted with Logan Lerman's nervous rookie Norman Ellison. This is exactly the set-up we've gotten from director David Ayer's own TRAINING DAY as well as movies like GRAVITY. The other three members of the tank crew comprise Shia LaBeouf's religious Gunner Swann, slack-jawed yokel Travis (Jon Bernthal) and dips driver Garcia Michael Pena.  In Act One we see our boys and their Yankee brethren retake a German town.  Act Two sees our boys share a dinner with a pair of German ladies.  I think the director wanted it to be full of menace and tension and unsaid meaning but instead it just feels too contrived, patronising and ultimately getting in the way of the real story - which is the relationship between the men and their tank.  In Act Three, the men are sent behind enemy lines by their commander (Jason Isaacs) and we get into the claustrophobia and extreme peril of tank warfare.  This is what we've paid to see - the utter commitment of the production to show us the horror of war in genuine World War Two tanks with the highest quality of military advisor. 

The resulting film isn't perfect but it is affecting and gives us something genuinely new in war films.  It also gives us Shia LaBeouf in his most winning performance in quite some time - a hopeful thought in a film so devoid of hope. 

FURY has a running time of 120 minutes.  The movie played London 2014 and is on release in the Bahamas and the USA. It goes on release on October 22nd in Belgium, France and Singapore; on October 23rd in Australia, Hong Kong, Croatia, Hungary, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal and Thailand; on October 24th in Estonia, the UK, Ireland, Iceland, Cambodia, Lithuania, Latvia, Norway and Sweden; on October 30th in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Ukraine; on November 13th in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy; on November 14th in Spain, India and Vietnam; on November 29th in Greece; on December 5th in Kenya; on January 1st in Germany; on January 15th in Argentina; and on February 5th in Brazil and Peru.

London Film Fest 2012 Day 12 - END OF WATCH

END OF WATCH is a Los Angeles set cop thriller that turns convention on its head. Instead of a portrait of Rampart-style corruption, cynicism and racism, we get two guys who are genuinely nice, genuinely fun to hang out with, and genuinely want "to serve and protect".  

Even more radically, despite a dire warning from their jaded older colleague (David Harbour), the LAPD has their backs.  Their superiors do not screw them over for uncovering malfeasance - indeed, there is rarely a hint of a corrupt cop in their immediate hierarchy.  Their commanding officers have their backs, and they are the heroes of the department. In other words, while this might be a harsh world of drugs, human trafficking, child abuse and general nastiness, we can trust and rely on the LAPD to see us right.  

This rather controversial message  is sold by the lead performances of Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena as the patrolmen and best friends.  Gyllenhaal plays a refreshingly bright young man, who's tired of banging "badge bunnies" and wants a nice girl to settle down with.  Pena plays his wiser, more settled partner.  They both have a natural chemistry, and frankly I could've just spent two hours rolling with them and listening to their hilarious anecdotes. It's a sterling performance from Gyllenhaal and a break-through role for Pena, who hopefully will be offered more interesting roles from Hollywood than the standard Hispanic sidekick fare. 

The result is a movie that is softer and more heart-warming than TRAINING DAY, despite showing a similarly brutal world.  I was deeply affected by the performances and consistently surprised by the lack of histrionics. I have mixed feelings, however, about the conceit of having Gyllenhaal's character a keen amateur cameraman.  On the one hand, the conceit of handheld cameras and the copcar POV gives the movie an immediacy and intimacy that is impressive. However, the conceit is not sustained - shots are shown that clearly aren't found footage, and that was jarring for me.

END OF WATCH played Toronto and London 2012 and is on release in Canada, the USA, Greece and the Netherlands. It opens next weekend in Hong Kong and Sweden. It opens in Australia on November 1st, in Argentina and Portugal on November 15th; in the UK on November 23rd; in Denmark and Norway on November 20th; in Belgium and France on December 5th and in Germany on December 20th. 

The running time is 109 minutes.

Michael Pena on the red carpet.