Fury

For F*** Magazine

FURY

Director : David Ayer

Cast : Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Jon Bernthal, Michael Peña, Xavier Samuel, Jason Isaacs, Scott Eastwood

Genre : War/Action

Opens : 22 October 2014

Rating : NC-16 (Violence and Coarse Language)

Run time: 134 mins

The 2^nd Armoured Division was hell on wheels to any Nazis who found themselves in their path. This film, set in April 1945 as the Second World War draws to a close, tells of the fictional five-man crew of a M4A3 Sherman tank christened “Fury”. US Army Staff Sgt. Don “Wardaddy” Collier (Pitt) leads the crew, consisting of Boyd “Bible” Swan (LaBeouf), Grady “Coon-Ass” Travis (Bernthal), Trini “Gordo” Garcia (Peña) and rookie Norman “Cobb” Ellison (Lerman). A typist clerk who’s never been on the battlefield, Norman struggles to confront the horrors of war head-on as he repeatedly clashes with the men who occupy the Fury with him. Facing off against the better-equipped Nazis, the crew of the Fury must make a heroic last stand behind enemy lines.

            Writer-director David Ayer’s films have not been particularly pleasant, from gritty cop thrillers like Street Kings and End of Watch to the nasty Schwarzenegger-starring Sabotage earlier this year. War is never pleasant and Ayer brings a good deal of nastiness to the proceedings. Fury’s depiction of World War II is unflinching in its violence and brutality, containing many shocking moments of heads – belonging to soldiers and civilians alike – being blasted open. On one hand, this graphic approach adds to the film’s believability and makes it clear to the audience that Ayer is not interested in presenting a sanitized, romanticised view of this period of history. On the other, it often feels exploitative, that Ayer is revelling in this carnage and that the “war is hell” message is secondary to bullet hits and blood splatter.

            “Ideals are peaceful. History is violent,” Pitt’s Wardaddy says pithily. Ayer has achieved a grimy, bloody realism befitting the historical but at the same time, it can’t help but feel like a wholly cynical affair. In this day and age, Americans and others around the world have grown jaded with and tired of war. Ayer’s take on the Second World War is bereft of nostalgia or sentimentality, but this works against it. Some audiences might squirm at the film’s depiction of “the greatest generation” taking sadistic glee in slaughtering German troops; others might just cheer along. There are attempts in Fury to tackle ethical quandaries and questions of faith but these moments are presented with far less conviction than those involving flying body parts.

            Even though the soldiers manning the Fury are far from likeable, the performances are solid, with Brad Pitt leading the charge. Wardaddy, as his nickname suggests, is a father to his men, but he also has a cruel streak and isn’t about to mollycoddle anyone. Pitt is sufficiently believable, apart from his constantly perfectly-coiffed hairdo. Bernthal’s Grady is the resident jerk of the crew and he does get on the nerves, though that’s how the part was written. Shia LaBeouf is surprisingly less annoying than this reviewer expected and his scripture-quoting Boyd “Bible” Swan, dedicated to his faith while raking up the body count, is not quite the caricature he should’ve been. Logan Lerman, sometimes characterised as a handsome but boring young actor, is the standout of the cast for this reviewer. Yes, Norman is the audience surrogate character, the fresh-faced new kid yet to be tainted by the horrors of war – we’ve all seen that one before. However, Lerman’s conviction in the part, combined with how out of place he looks in that environment, gives the film its few moments of genuine heart-rending emotion amidst the barrage of gunfire and exploding grenades.

            Perhaps we’re wrong – perhaps we should be glad that a World War II film pulls no punches and isn’t naïvely jingoistic. But it is too much to ask for a film of this genre to highlight nobility and honour, bring a little of the best of humanity to the forefront, feel respectful? There have been several masterfully-made war films which are violent and bloody but also showcase the dignity and heroism of their subjects – Saving Private Ryan comes to mind. Unfortunately, David Ayer seems to have too much fun blowing bodies to bits to present a sombre, well thought-out historical portrait.

Summary: Those looking for bloody, brutal WWII violence will be satisfied; those looking for respect and dignity to balance that out will not.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong 

Charlie Countryman

For F** Magazine

CHARLIE COUNTRYMAN

Director: Fredrik Bond
Cast:  Shia LaBeouf, Evan Rachel Wood, Mads Mikkelsen, Rupert Grint, James Buckley, Ion Caramitu, Til Schweiger, Vincent D’Onofrio, Melissa Leo
Genre: Action, Thriller
Run Time: 108 mins
Opens: 6 March 2014
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scenes)

Ah, Shia “I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE” LaBeouf. The former Even Stevens star is best known to most movie-goers as the insufferable protagonist of Michael Bay’s Transformers trilogy and has made a name for himself as the embodiment of pretentious Hollywood unlikeability. Between the plagiarism of cartoonist Daniel Clowes (plus the apology via skywriting), lashing out at Jim Carrey for taking a playful jab at him at the Golden Globes and the too-enthusiastic manner in which he discusses going full-frontal, he’s not exactly “the nicest guy in Hollywood”. The arthouse-tinged romantic action comedy-drama Charlie Countryman appears to be part of his endeavour to carve out a career as a “serious actor”.



Chicagoan Charlie Countryman (LaBeouf) is in the midst of a quarter-life crisis and takes the advice of his dying mother Kate (Leo) to travel to Bucharest to get away from it all. On the flight there, he chats with the guy in the seat next to him, Romanian Victor Ibanescu (Caramitu) and upon arriving at the airport, meets Victor’s daughter Gabi (Wood). He is immediately taken with the mesmerizing cellist and sets about romancing her, only to discover Gabi’s dangerous ex Nigel (Mikkelsen) standing in the way. Charlie befriends (and shares drugs with) his roommates at the hostel, Luc (Buckley) and Karl (Grint), who eventually get in trouble with Darko (Schweiger), a thug in cahoots with Nigel. Charlie finds himself in an exotic foreign land, out of his depth and caught between love and death.

Charlie Countryman is the feature film debut of Fredrik Bond, director of television commercials and Moby music videos (Moby provides several songs for the film’s soundtrack). The script is written by Matt Drake, who also penned the detestable Project X. It may seem like an odd comparison to draw, but it reminded this reviewer of The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty – albeit a flailing, violent, drug-addled The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty. Both films feature protagonists travelling to faraway lands to find themselves, embarking on the “adventure of a lifetime”, meeting colourful characters on their travels and frequently daydreaming/hallucinating. Both films, while visually captivating in their different ways, are also aimless and self-indulgent, Charlie Countryman actually coming off as the worse of the two.



Charlie Countryman is at its core a more conventional film than it fancies itself to be, attempting to put a spin on the “an everyman aboard” genre by flinging disparate ingredients into the pot. Cinematographer Roman Vasyanov gives the entire film a hazy, dreamlike feel, but the end result is inscrutable rather than seductive and fascinating. Charlie Countryman himself is also a difficult protagonist to empathise with, a bland victim of circumstance dragged through the Romanian capital by the coincidence-heavy plot. LaBeouf seems to be playing himself, but you can’t say he phoned it in seeing as LaBeouf actually took LSD to film the drug sequence, a move that’s either dedicated method acting or yet another cry for attention from an unlikeable actor. It’s also more than a little dumb considering it’s not even the right drug (the film features ecstasy).

There’s an interesting supporting cast here, with Mikkelsen getting some amusing lines as a psychotic criminal of some kind and Buckley and Grint playing the archetypical “those two guys”. Wood, affecting an iffy Romanian accent, is certainly a more interesting female lead than LaBeouf is a male lead. Til Schweiger is, just as he is in every other Hollywood film he does, “the henchman”.



If you’re not a Shia LaBeouf fan (and let’s face it, who still is?), Charlie Countryman won’t make a convert out of you. But the film should be judged separately from its lead actor’s public blunders and even then, there’s very little to recommend. Sure, it’s frequently pretty to look at and the soundtrack with contributions from the likes of Christophe Beck, DeadMono, M83 and the afore-mentioned Moby is hypnotic. But ultimately, Charlie Countryman annoys rather than entrances, its unpalatable potpourri of risky romance, buddy comedy and magical realist travelogue hard to get into.

Summary: The film’s earlier title was The Necessary Death Of Charlie Countryman and while it’s stylish to a degree, this is very far from necessary viewing – whether you’re a friend, a Roman or a countryman.

RATING: 2 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Movie Review                                                                                                                                 12/6/08

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

2008

Starring: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf and Karen Allen

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Paramount Pictures

Piles of rejected scripts, downtrodden writers, and several shrouds of secrecy later, one of the longest-awaited returns of an icon arrives onscreen.

And no, I’m not talking about Superman Returns, but rather the fourth of the well-beloved contemporary classic series, so famous for its old-fashioned action-adventure and humour, and of course, Harrison Ford’s career-defining role. Fans and cynics crowded around the rumours of a fourth film like oversized army ants to any conceivable prey.

That aside, I finally caught the film in a tiny theatre and tried to forget all the criticism, deciding to just go in expecting a good time. It was loads of fun: I was cheering, laughing and clapping all the way. That said, I was the only one in the theatre doing so.

I’ll get on to the plot, then. Ironically, the story that creators Jeff Nathanson, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg tried so hard to protect got leaked out all the easier, with much hoo-ha surrounding an extra who blabbed and laptops that got stolen. This proved all quite unnecessary, because it isn’t the most ingenious plot either.

It’s 1957, and together with his sometime-partner/rival Mac (Ray Winstone), Indy (who else but Ford) is forced by Soviet Commies, led by the sca-reee KGB Col. Dr. Irina Spalko (Blanchett), to help them locate a mysterious corpse in an oddly familiar warehouse. There is the pre-requisite opening chase (which is actually quite inventive), after which our hero barely-and quite incredulously-escapes a nuclear blast.

Later, he’s approached about a missing old classmate, Prof. Harold Oxley (John Hurt), by greaser Mutt Williams (LaBeouf). Apparently, this all has to do with the myth of the lost city of Akator, and the titular Crystal Skull. An amusing close brush with the KGB later, Indy and his newfound sidekick go to South America in search of Oxley and the skull. He manages to get themselves hunted down by undead soldiers in an ancient temple complex and later gets kidnapped by the Soviet expedition, but is inexplicably reunited with former paramour Marion Ravenwood (Allen in a spunky reprisal of her role from the first flick). From here on, plot machinations lead to fencing duels, jungle chases down waterfalls, a furious attack of the ants I mentioned earlier, the expected supernatural encounter and an ending that is not anti-climatic per se, but is still pretty much a letdown.

For those who remember the era, the flick has a wonderfully nostalgic 50's flavour, what with McCarthyism, old-fashioned diners and greaser gangs, nuclear testing and the fascination with science fiction that’s more “fiction” than “science”. It’s also excellent exposure for today’s generation to peek into a time when muscle cars, leather jackets, pleated skirts and knitwear sweaters were all the rage.

Hearing John Williams’ seven-note trumpet theme and seeing Ford back in that creased leather jacket, battered fedora and wielding a bullwhip after so long is exciting to almost anyone, since the character is such a pop culture icon. A strong point is that film acknowledges the passing of the years, with Grail-hunting Nazis giving way to Reds seeking power over minds. Even though Ford is now 65, he still packs quite the punch. Ford is right in his element, considering that most of his recent roles contain traces of Indy anyway. His face might have creased and his hair may have turned grey, but his acting chops have only gotten better. Wry jokes about his age and a hilarious incident involving Indy’s fear of snakes, as well as loving mentions of characters we miss (Sean Connery’s Henry Jones Sr. and the late Denholm Elliot’s Marcus Brody) bring back some of that flavour from the Indy films of yore.

While many of the new characters prove unnecessary at times, there are moments where the talent of the big-name cast truly shines through. Cate Blanchett visibly relishes her every moment wielding a rapier and wearing the frightening hairdo and starched uniform of Irina Spalko. Playing a stereotype, complete with a Boris-and-Natasha faux Russian accent, is something new to the Academy Award-winning actress, but this is certainly a role that she pulled off with much aplomb. Shia LaBeouf’s turn as the “kid sidekick” shirks some of the conventions associated with that term, and he doesn’t simply tag along for the ride but offers plenty of fun and character dynamics. An especially memorable moment is his rapier duel with Spalko on two moving vehicles, while his mother chides him about his fencing pose.

Speaking about Mutt’s mother, she is of course Marion. Instead of pulling in a new love interest, the film’s use of the character is excellent. A few wrinkles aside, Karen Allen looks almost just as she did in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and her hilarious love/hate dialogue with Harrison Ford provides some of the film’s funniest moments.

Other characters such as Mac, Howard Oxley and the requisite evil henchman Col. Dovchenko (Igor Jijinkine) all get their time in the limelight, but seem disposable at best.

Sadly enough, the gist of the plot also falls into the same category. Historically, stories of “Crystal Skulls” have littered the occult and puzzled archaeologists around the world for years, most experts reaching the consensus that the few found are mere hoaxes. Therefore, this reviewer thinks expanding on it is futile in the first place. Once the film takes off (pardon the pun) into territory best left to Agents Mulder and Scully of the X-Files, there is no saving it. In fact, it makes me wonder if the next film might involve Easter Bunnies and the Loch Ness Monster. Even though most of the stories in the Indy franchise are rather far-fetched, they are still somewhat built upon historical relics or well-known legends. Any reference to ancient civilizations in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is simply cleverly-conceived conjecture. This makes the movie decidedly, as my Dad so put it so succinctly, “un-Indy” for me.

Famous for overusing computer graphics imagery (CGI) in the much-derided Star Wars prequels, George Lucas does the same here, despite earlier promises that the movie would be an old-fashioned adventure yarn. While it is not as noticeable as in The Phantom Menace, the use of CGI is almost just as excessive. On the plus side, though, the Lucas-owned effects company ILM has to be given proper kudos-the ants look scary enough and the nuclear blast is disturbingly spectacular-but what made the first three movies special were the innovative effects in an age before CGI, and spectacular sequences that still hold up to scrutiny today.

However, when real-life sets designed by Guy Hendrix Dyas are used, the result is reasonably awe-inspiring: Indy’s period-furnished home and Marshall College’s classrooms and halls sure bring back the memories, moving stone staircases in the temple complex provide sufficient tension and the warehouse piled to rafters with crates looks amazing in the flesh (it was a matte painting in the first film).

All in all, the film is a fun ride that never lets up and has many enjoyable instances. As a big Indy fan, it pains me to say this: but with just as many a weak moment, it’s not the 65-year old Ford that buckles at the knees, but the story’s core that does so instead.

RATING: 3/5 STARS

By Jedd Jong