海角大神

Writer/director聽David Ayer (End of Watch) goes back in time to the final year of WWII in the upcoming historical drama/thriller,听Fury. The initial trailer for said war movie, which can be viewed聽above, offers a small taste of Ayer鈥檚 trademark down and dirty filmmaking approach, while also briefly touching on the聽300-esque conflict at the heart of the film鈥檚 narrative (as featured in Ayer鈥檚 original script) 鈥� wherein a Sherman tank crew of five Americans battles hundreds of German soldiers from behind enemy lines.聽

The first聽Fury聽trailer, however, is arguably most聽effective at establishing that Norman Ellison (Logan Lerman) 鈥� seemingly the youngest and least-experienced member of Sergeant Wardaddy鈥檚 (Brad Pitt) tank crew 鈥� serves as the guide for the audience, into this cinematic recreation of the final, violent, days of the second World War. Beyond that, the footage also touches upon the聽sense of聽brotherhood among the men of聽Wardaddy鈥檚 team 鈥� something that was alluded to during interviews with the cast in a previously-released聽sneak peek video聽for the film.

Similar to the storyline in his聽U-571聽script, Ayer鈥檚聽Fury聽screenplay looks as though it strays away from the facts, in order to stack the odds against the film鈥檚 protagonists 鈥� and create a聽鈥渇ew versus many鈥� melodramatic setup that tends to be popular with moviegoers, but is also capable of providing worthwhile entertainment, if handled well. By comparison, the film鈥檚 aesthetics, such as the production design by Andrew Menzies (3:10 to Yuma), seem to be more grounded in realism 鈥� though, no doubt, those who specialize in WWII knowledge will have the final say, on that aspect of the movie

Ayer is better known聽for his writing (Fast and the Furious,听Training Day) than for his directing (Street Kings,听Sabotage). That has a lot to do with Ayer鈥檚 tendency to be rather inconsistent and hit/miss with his execution as a director, which is why he has聽a number of poorly-received聽commercial titles, as well as a handful of聽accomplished personal filmmaking聽efforts to his name.

Judging by the trailer footage and details released so far, though,听Fury聽is a project that Ayer really聽poured his passion into聽getting made聽- which is good news for the moviegoing public, as well as studio heads who鈥檝e positioned the film to reach theaters in the middle of the upcoming awards season race. Indeed, between that and being armed with a supporting cast that includes such reliable character actors as聽Michael Pe帽a (reuniting with Ayer after聽End of Watch) and Jon Bernthal (The Wolf of Wall Street) plus a subdued Shia LaBeouf in tow,听things are looking good for Pitt鈥檚 onscreen return to WWII.

Sandy Schaefer blogs at Screen Rant.