First look–Tanks, Brad Pitt in Fury, another WWII movie already?

Not too long ago it would seem a decade would pass before someone was even remotely considering putting a big budget World War II movie on the screen. Now they’re popping up pretty frequently. Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima in 2006, Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie in 2008, Quentin Tarentino’s Inglourious Basterds in 2009, George Lucas’s Red Tails in 2012, and we just reviewed George Clooney’s Monuments Men here, released in theaters earlier this year. But movies about WWII tanks or tank battles? With the importance of tanks as a tool of war in WWII you’d think we’d see more of these. Although there are plenty of American films with scenes of tanks, is there any that would qualify as a great tank movie?

As movies with tanks go, the recommended viewing list we’ll offer up includes Kelly’s Heroes (with Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland and Telly Savalas), Back to Bataan (with John Wayne), The Guns of Navarone (with Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, and David Niven), and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade has a great tank scene with Indy (and the film takes place in 1938 so we think that counts). Now Brad Pitt is taking another crack at WWII following up his superb performance as a soldier in Inglourious Basterds, with the David Ayer film Fury.

Jason Isaacs, Shia LeBeouf, and Michael Peña also star in this film that delves into the life of soldiers operating a Sherman tank in Germany in the last days of the war. Pitt is a pro at choosing diverse films to work on. Will Fury be another win for him?

If audiences are accepting World War II films into the mainstream, maybe it’s time to bring on more Westerns, too. Please?

Check out this first trailer for Fury, starring Brad Pitt: