Freeview film of the day: Fury

David Ayer, who wrote Training Day, found his brand as a director with End of Watch, the 2012 police drama whose selling point was its claustrophobic emphasis on two LA cops in a squad car. For the fire-and-brimstone Fury, it’s five US soldiers in a Sherman tank, rumbling into Nazi Germany in the last days of the war. Brad Pitt decently commands a loyal crew: religious Shia LaBeouf, loudmouthed Michael Pena and cynical Jon Bernthal (“Best job I ever had!”), joined by clichéd innocent abroad Logan Lerman. Ayer successfully captures the explosive, caterpillar-tracked action from long-shot and dashboard-cam, as immersively as a relentless video game. There’s a morally suspect scene where German women are used as R&R by the love-starved grunts. But this is war and, as Pitt says, “A lot more people gonna have to die.”

For more of today’s free-to-air films, see our TV listings

Order your copy of the Radio Times Guide to Films 2017