Stop WHATEVER you’re doing right now and get tickets to see this film. Mad Max: Fury Road is just too good to pass up. This is a BIG screen film. I even saw it at the main screen at the Chinese Theater, IMAX, Real LASER 3-D, and I was impressed on all counts.
Same premise as the earlier films: dystopian future, mostly nothing but a desert wasteland everywhere, water and fuel are in short supply, but now so are fertile women. Max has a tragic past that haunts him. He encounters a group of people trying to escape the grip of a tyrannical ruler. They are pursued fervently by him and dozens of madmen driving even more insane vehicles. Mind-blowing action unfolds before your eyes.
In what is sort of a reboot of The Road Warrior, and sort of a new film all around, Mad Max: Fury Road elevates the action genre with what must be unprecedented practical auto chase sequences. Yes, from a brief interview of director George Miller I read online, the vast majority of these sequences are all done as you see them. No green screens, no vehicles on wires. It makes all of these chases far more impressive and spectacular. The complexity of enacting these scenes is painful to contemplate. But to answer any possible queries about if the film is ALL chase? No, Graham, it’s not. There is plenty of down time between the action to tell us what’s going on, who these people are, and what they’re about. It’s more than just one big desert chase scene. But let’s face it, those trailers are what got you into the theater in the first place, right? DAMN right.
The direction, the cinematography, the camera pushing in, swooping around – it all adds to the incredible kinetic euphoria that will make you feel like a crack addict in desperate need for another fix. The film is sort of book-ended by two chase sequences the likes of which you’ve never seen, even if you HAVE seen The Road Warrior. Listen, if you loved that action classic, think about the same smart director with 34 more years of experience, more money and control, and a commitment to using as little CG as possible, and think about what he might be capable of. Now go see Mad Max: Fury Road to see the answer to that.
The amazing Tom Hardy is Max, haunted and trying to survive on his own. He really doesn’t need or want anyone else around. The perfect Charlize Theron is Furiosa, trying to get a group of women used as baby-makers out of the grip of Immortan Joe, who just wants to try to make more perfect sons that are so very rare. Immortan is played by Hugh Keays-Byrne, the very same actor that played the villain, Toecutter, in the original Mad Max. That’s cool. And Nicholas Hoult is Nux, the guy in the trailer you see yelling “What a lovely day!” Everybody is spot on.
I am hard-pressed to find any fault with this film. Yeah, I know. That’s saying a lot. I’m sure to see it again soon, so perhaps I’ll notice something after a second, or third, viewing. And yes, seeing this a third time in the theater is very likely, indeed. I hadn’t planned on seeing this in 3-D, but it turned out that way, and I have to say, this new Laser 3-D is impressive. The definition and contrast are intense and kind of beautiful, so I am even going to recommend a 3-D screening if you can. And of course, I am giving this the unprecedented full FIVE kittenhands.
If you like action movies, you are going to have such a good time with Mad Max: Fury Road.
~ Neil T. Weakley, your average movie-goer, thinking Hollywood just blew it’s wad for the Summer. Gonna be hard to beat this.