Corações de Ferro

War is hell. It is a macabre sarcasm of Life. It perverts all normal socially-accepted truths. And, in such a hell, only demons can survive -- - only demons can know how to excel.

War Daddy (the inhuman, nearly immortal, soulless, progenitor of all destruction) says it best: "We're not here for 'Right or Wrong'... we are here to kill them."

Perhaps, one imagines that there will be peace and happiness, beyond the unrelenting violence... but, after such implacable destruction, not only of lives... but of Life... what consolation can there be?

Every chicken-hawk, war-mongering coward, should be required to witness this film. It is harrowing. It is cleansing. It teaches that violence begets violence. All that is pure and good, is destroyed by war... and it is only the purity of goodness, that restores goodness after the war is over. One wonders if it does any good to know the fact... for the demons in charge refuse to learn. And their deaths, after a time, proves nothing.

I am filled with unrelenting sadness over this film. Its perfection shall go on, unappreciated. Its unblinking honesty will go on, unheeded. For, there will be other wars (there are many, now). There will be other demons, who's lust for conquest will obliterate everything they know... even/especially the things they profess to love.

Because war is hell, and paradise does not exist in this realm... or, even after. The perversity of war... the final image... testifies to this fact. Life with war, is tainted. A poisoned well does not come clean.

When one watches this movie you need to keep in mind that not all war movies are the same and the focus of the movie depends on who made the movie, how it was made and who is watching it? Make sense...of course not but in a nutshell keep an open mind. Is it about war? Yes some of it is. It is about bonding and camaraderie? Yes of course, it highlights strained relationships in very stressful and violent situations. I enjoyed the movie and being ex military in the 3rd Armour Division you do tend to pick things out BUT I could do that in just about any military movie I have seen especially from WWII to date. Without being too specific I spotted armor and infantry tactical strategies which confused me a bit but other than that I did enjoy this movie. War is ugly and this movie does not miss that point.

This film let itself down in the end but was the first U.S war film Iv'e ever seen depicting the reality, that American soldiers were mostly mopping up Hitler Youth fanatics. Also showing that U.S troops were capable of atrocities, just like any other combatant (from other nations). The best part of the movie was seeing a real legendary Tiger Tank in Action. The one that is used in this movie (the only working one in the World), is Tiger 131 (housed at Bovington Tank Museum). Obviously in real warfare it would have smashed those American tanks to a zillion pieces. The ratio of Tiger to Sherman K.O's is 14 to 1. One Tiger knocked out 50 T-34's on the Eastern Front. The ending is the most fantastical war scene I ever seen. All of a sudden 'Fury' turns into Star Wars but way less believable. How do 100's of Waffen SS soldiers fail to beat a a severely crippled tank. It's highly unlikely that they would have been there at the end of the war (singing along a road). The SS committed beastly war crimes (true) but they were also crack combat troopers. My 10 year old boy stated the pure obvious.! "Why the hell did they not fire the boxes of 'Panzerfausts' they had at hand!" I'm sure everyone apart from the Director, was thinking the very same absurdity. Still there is more to like than dislike, so settling on a 7 rating.

Reviewer after reviewer criticizes this movie for its phony depictions of the war, clichés and unrealistic battle scenes. There is only one significant fact that is crucial to know when it comes to the accuracy of the depiction; Shermans were going to be your coffin in a face-off with a Tiger. If you want serious historical detail then consider watching a WWII documentary. I think the overall depictions were secondary and only serve as the backdrop for the director's real message which was the painful slow process of the relationship that was built between these guys in a tragic situation. I think Ayers did a masterful job at this. You think Brad Pitt is a second rate actor? Watch his facial expressions during the scenes in the room with Logan Lerman and the 2 women; Watch his nervous breakdowns. Watch him in the "Why are you such an asshole?" scene. Watch him as he jokes with his guys about Hitler and chocolate bars. Even with Wardaddy's personal weaknesses, by the middle of the movie you understand why these guys liked, admired and respected him, and I'll bet you do also. His timing and delivery, in my opinion, are better than Tom Hanks on this best day. Watch LaBoeuf's nervous leg, and a list of other endearing nuanced details; He plays a very convincing religious proselytizer. During the tank battle if you didn't feel like your life was threatened then you were probably on xanex. I'm not sure that there is another film that conveys this kind of claustrophobic camaraderie from a tank crew's viewpoint. If there is, I've never seen it.

The goofs and historical inaccuracies are everywhere in this movie. War historian Youtubers pick this movie to pieces. As they should. The inaccuracies and goofs are overwhelming for anyone with an ounce of WW2 military history knowledge. As a military historian myself, I spotted errors within the first 5 minutes, BUT, I enjoyed this movie. It is WW2 war movie entertainment only. Military historians go to ton on this movie/... the inaccuracies are overwhelming... but it is a damn fine movie. The acting is superb. Fantastic film work, and what id o personally like is the German Tiger tank in the movie, is an actual German Tiger tank being the only fully functional restored Tiger in the world.