One of the most dangerous things a man can do to himself is fully buy into societal standards of masculinity. The incessant drive to “be a man” and do “manly” things leads to behavior that’s as destructive to the self as it is to others.

It would have been easy for “Fury,” a film about a rugged tank crew (led by Brad Pitt) rolling through Germany in the waning days of World War II, to play these characters up as heroic badasses making a noble last stand against Hitler’s forces.

It would have been easy and it would have been so, so boring.

Instead, “Fury” reminds me of the under-appreciated 2011 Liam Neeson film “The Grey,” in that it follows a group of men who have, in some respect, gotten themselves into a horrible situation through the desire to “be men,” a desire that ultimately leads to their downfall.

In that regard, the film ends up being more of a character study about the dehumanizing effects of war and masculinity than a WWII action movie, but there’s plenty of that, as well. Tank combat is much more deliberate than the typical ground soldier or dogfighting stuff we usually get in WWII films, so the action scenes are a bit refreshing.

Like I said, though, that’s not what “Fury” is about. Pitt and his crew have developed these hyper-macho attitudes toward war that have eroded their compassion for anyone on the other side. Pitt shoots to kill any German combatant (no matter how blatant his surrender) and treats innocent German women as sexual stress relievers.

There are a handful of moments where the veneer wears off, and each member of the crew reveals he is a better person deep down, a person who adopted these views about life in order to stay sane in war. The juxtaposition of the sympathetic, non-combat-ready Logan Lerman with Pitt confirms that the writers want these other men to make the audience uncomfortable.

That segues into the one major problem with “Fury:” its heavy-handedness. It’s exceptionally melancholy from the first frame, and it usually isn’t subtle enough to allow the viewer any room for interpretation. It’s admirable that they chose to make their point as clearly as possible, but it could have used some more nuances in spots.

“Fury” is tonally different enough from most Hollywood war films that it’s worth seeing, and it makes some nice (albeit unrevolutionary) points about masculinity. It won’t win any big awards, but it’s a pleasant surprise.