The best war movies are easily capable of grabbing you by the collar and plunging you directly into the thick of the action, and while David Ayer’s Fury definitely accomplishes that goal and then some, it’s the off-camera battles that threatened to steal the buzz away from the film itself.
Notorious method actor Shia LaBeouf became so consumed by his commitment to the project that he refused to bathe in the name of accuracy, repeatedly opened up a cut on his own face to add an unnecessary realistic layer of immersion, while he also pulled out one of his own teeth and converted from Judaism to Christianity for the sake realism.
Then there was the stuntman who was accidentally stabbed in the shoulder, as well as leading man Brad Pitt being forced to break up a brawl that erupted between LaBeouf and Scott Eastwood, the latter of whom also irritated the A-lister when he kept spitting on the outside of the tank at the center of the story.
Ayer deliberately tried to break his cast, and he came very close to succeeding it would seem. Was it worth it? Possibly, given the strong reactions from critics and decent box office accrued by Fury, but there’s surely a line in the sand that has to be drawn somewhere.
Either way, what can’t be denied is that Hulu subscribers have been coming under fire from the film’s renewed popularity, with FlixPatrol revealing it to be one of the top-viewed titles on the streaming service. It’s currently ranked in fifth, but it may yet rise higher.
