crew takes on a new member. Together they will face terrible moments
and brutal decisions as they try to survive.
Ayer Starring Brad Pitt, Shia LeBoeuf,
Michael Peña, Jason
Logan Lerman
I Liked It – A brutal (and therefore more realistic) look at the
mental and physical demands of combat.
I’ll say it
right up front-this is uncomfortable viewing in some places. Pitt’s
character Sergeant Don “Wardaddy” Collins is far beyond anything
that we would recognize as socially acceptable behavior. Combat has
reduced him to a simple equation-kill them before they kill you.
There is no mercy, no decency, no everyday concept of morality left.
He survives, and he keeps his crew alive by killing anything German.
It’s not a view of the American military that will rest comfortably
with many people. It resonates with much of what I’ve read about
the long-term effects of combat from veterans. Not all soldiers end
up this far down the rabbit hole. Logan Lerman’s green as grass
recruit, Norman, is hazed by the tank team but may hold the key to
their redemption. The language is like the action, brutal and
unapologetic.
With that in mind, the movie is astonishing.
Pitt is brilliant as a man at the end of his tether. Wardaddy no
longer worries about getting home. His focus is in the moment, and
making sure that he lives out Gen. George Patton’s dictum- “No
dumb bastard ever won a war by going out and dying for his country.
He won it by making some other dumb bastard die for his country.”
He intends to kill as many German bastards as come within the range
of his tank, machine gun or pistol. The rest of the tank crew knows
he is keeping them alive and they follow along. In the simplest
terms, these are no longer the sons their mothers raised. They will
commit war crimes, they will steal, and they will take whatever they
want along the way. But they will fight for each other. Always.
The
cast is solid top to bottom. LeBoeuf does well as “Bible” the
tank’s gunner, Peňa is the most approachable of the crew as the
driver “Gordo”, and Jon Bernthal is convincingly creepy as “Coon
Ass” the loader. Jason Isaacs plays an infantry captain the crew
hooks up with during some action near a village. You see Lerman’s
newbie, nicknamed “Machine”, shedding his innocence, while Pitt’s
sergeant finds some small portion of the man he used to be.
The
movie is moving, thrilling, frightening, nauseating and bleak. And I
couldn’t take my eyes off it for the two hour and fourteen minute
run.
Recommended (with the warning)
Stories Are My Life 
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