I saw Fury last night in theaters. I almost didn’t make it due to some friends cancelling plans. Fortunately, another friend didn’t get the memo and showed up at the theater. So… I rushed out to join him instead of working on fixing my two lemons of computers or playing with my new tablet.

Let me just say now, I am so glad that I got my ass out of the house and over to see this movie!

I almost can’t gush enough about Fury. It may have been the best war movie I have seen since Saving Private Ryan. In fact, I’m pretty much ready to go see it again right now.

The Soundtrack: I always enjoy when there are moments actually made memorable by the music. When a movie or show has a soundtrack that really matches the theme of the overall movie and the feel of the scene, it becomes memorable. I must applaud Steven Price, I’ve never heard of him before, but I hope to experience more of his works in the future. Also, for the World of Tanks junkies amongst you, you’ll recognize the main theme as the one that plays currently on the World of Tanks selection screen.

The Acting: Even Shia puts in a great performance. The new crew member to the tank, Norman, does a great job of feeling like an empathetic human being that isn’t a veteran of war. He doesn’t come across like the jerk face that the translator from Saving Private Ryan did.

The Visuals: When the first anti-tank round flies past the Shermans, I held my breath. As the next round loaded and got ready to fire, I gasped. Really, the action scenes were incredibly vivid and intense. If you try to look at it from a realistic war or tactics stand point, you’ll probably get annoyed. The tank battle later does have tactics that I assume might be real. But don’t read into those things too much. Just get swept up in being a part of the tank crew of Fury.

The Plot: So there isn’t anything all that exciting or crazy about the plot. Its just, here are some military guys and they get some orders to do some normal military things. Its not about the plot, its about the characters and the situation at the end of April 1945.

The Pacing: This is probably where the movie shines most. The action scenes are succinct and very well shot. The character development isn’t forced in the slower parts of the movie. There’s also a really great scene right in the middle of the movie where you get a long chance to catch your breath and just soak in what it might have been like for the GI’s and their interactions with the German civilians.

In the end, this is a movie that was worth seeing in theaters. It is worth seeing a second time. I am really thinking about going to try to see it again before it leaves theaters. Definitely catch this on blu-ray or something later, even non-war movie buffs might just like the character interactions.