Fury [DVD]

Fury (or The Samaritan as it is known outside of the UK) features Samuel L Jackson as Foley, a man who just served a 25-year sentence for killing his best-friend. Upon his release he realises that most of his friends & contacts have died or moved on. Until he bumps into the son of his best-friend, Ethan (ably played by Luke Kirby) a young man who has spent his entire life thus far trying to imitate the cons his father and Foley used to pull. He wants Foley to help in his latest scheme, defrauding a mafia boss (Tom Wilkinson - Rocknrolla) but Foley is not keen to risk going back to prison. Ethan decides that Foley needs a little persuasion and introduces him to the honey-trap Iris (Ruth Negga). Will Foley pull off this one last job for Ethan? Are things as straight forward as Foley assumes?

Fury is a well-shot affair, albeit middle-budget, set in an unidentifiable era (aside from the one use of a smart phone) the dress, the furniture and the styling are all very 70's. When the majority of scenes are shot through a yellow-filter this gives it a vintage-feel that really suits Foley's 'stuck-in-the-past' mentality.

The major revelation in this film is simply fantastic; when you learn that one of the characters is a lot smarter than you may have initially given them credit for and it really blind-sided me. I genuinely had my mouth open in shock, for this reason alone I will remember Fury for a long-time to come... Samuel L. Jackson provides a believable rendition of his haunted character but it's not his best performance (I enjoyed the Pulp Fiction reference; where a flashback to the 70's see Samuel L. Jackson stood in a black and white suit with an extremely similar haircut in the same pistol-wielding stance as PF) but the real star here is Ruth Negga.

Ends far too abruptly, but ultimately an extremely enjoyable film about Con-men where it's almost impossible to work out who is using who. Highly Recommended!!

First off to avoid confusion, this film is known under two names, in the UK at least it's called, Fury, but it seems the American title is, The Samaritan. Anyway, the World weary Foley (Samuel L. Jackson -Pulp Fiction) is released from prison after serving 25 years for murdering his ex-partner in crime, a choice not of his own doing. Finding all his old friends either dead or with new lifes & want nothing to do with him, Foley tries to get back into normal life & away from his old criminal past. But thats easier said then done, as his ex-partners son Ethan (Luke Kirby -Mambo Italiano) hounds him, to try & get him to do one last big grift. However Foley is not interetsed, so the gloves are off as Ethan pulls no punches, and as new revelations appear, it's going to cost Foley more to ignore the offer.

A film with Samuel L. Jackson's name tied to it makes you sit up & take notice simply for that fact alone, which i did, as his films are generally either very good or at least watchable. I think overall Fury falls into the middle, leaning more towards the latter part of that spectrum imo. Jackson was solid as always, although his screen presence helped him quite a bit. The support cast was very good as well, in paticular Ruth Negga (Fury) impressed as an unkown & Tom Wilkinson's (The Full Monty) Cameo appearance made this a very beliveable affair. The story was good, set mainly at night & in dark dreary locations, this is very much a character orientated movie as opposed to an action based one. So understandabley three quarters of the film revolve around the build up to the end game big finale. So dont come into this thinking it's going to be an all out action flick.

In conclusion, I found Fury to be a watchable movie, good story & good cast, although i found it a little too drawn out for my tastes. The twists & turns managed to keep my attention though, and draw me over the finishing line to the end. It's a Decent movie, nothing stand out worthy imo. It passed the time well, but nothing more.

I can't work out Samuel L Jackson - he's an A-list actor, who repeatedly turns up in these `straight to DVD' type films. Fury has received no theatrical cinema release, no real marketing campaign and little online publicity except simply appearing among countless other releases.

Jackson plays an ex con who's spent most of his life in prison and is now trying to go straight in his old age. Guess what, he doesn't. He gets sucked into a web of blackmail by a face from his past and soon he's involved in a dodgy and dangerous scam. Okay, so the plot isn't that original, but maybe that's the point. There's nothing new here, but that's not so bad.

Fury ticks all the boxes. It has plot twists, shoot-outs and some double-crossing. It'll never be a classic, like Pulp Fiction, but if you like heist, gangster or con-artist movies (as it borrows from all genres), you may get something out of this. Plus it has Samuel L Jackson, who always puts in a good performance.

Not amazing, but enjoyable if you're in the mood.