Mad Max: Fury Road

Rewatching this before Furiosa felt like a cornucopia of action, eye candy and quite simply, madness. It's a film that has a simple plot and premise but is heavy on pretty much everything else from dedicated actors sinking into the madly written lines and plot, gorgeous cinematography, an excellent audio score and the excellent use of practical effects. Seriously it uses such a blend of practical effects within special effects that compliment each other so well you start to believe they're actually in these crazy chase sequences including a ridiculous one through a live sand storm that was wicked to watch unfold. My only complaints would be it could have used a little more complex plot and Max himself could have been in the movie more as a protagonist instead of feeling like a supporting character in a movie with his name in the title. Other than that it's a wild ride from start to finish with almost near non stop action to keep you invested until the climactic, while partially abrupt, finish.

"Mad Max: Fury Road" is not the sort of film I enjoy and I after watching it, I am not a huge fan though I deeply respect the filmmakers. The reason I even saw it was the insane reaction the public had to this one...and the critical reviews were all surprisingly good. I wanted to see what all the hubbub was about...and try to understand why folks liked it so much. My take on it is that if you enjoy a film that is non-stop amazing action, then this one is for you. As far as the story goes, it's plot is super-thin--but the movie is handled so well and the stunts so amazingly insane that you don't mind. Worth seeing--but I sure wouldn't like to see a lot of films like this. Additionally, it was VERY refreshing to see a film where so many women are NOT mindless objects to be killed or protected--several are about as strong and heroic as Max himself--and no doubt this is why women seemed to like the film so much.

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is the finest piece of pure action spectacle that I've watched since THE RAID 2 and JOHN WICK. It feels like the MAD MAX film that George Miller always wanted to make, and in many ways it's a virtual remake of MAD MAX 2: THE ROAD WARRIOR, except with a grossly inflated budget and CGI effects used to enhance rather than dominate. Now, I love THE ROAD WARRIOR and always will, but MAD MAX: FURY ROAD truly is an action film for our times.

I know that some will hate it; the story here is action and action alone and there's little else to get in the way. It's one long chase film and the amazing thing is how they manage to sustain the momentum for a good two hours. Exemplary cinematography and quite wonderful direction is what makes this work. With bad direction it would have been a real chore to sit through, but instead we get tons of suspense, great fight scenes, and incredible spectacle. This is the kind of film you watch to see stuff that's never been done before.

Tom Hardy feels like an obvious fit for the role and brings some working class style charisma to the part. As many have commented, Max is often a supporting player in his own film, but Charlize Theron as the real lead is excellent too, so that's not important. Even Nicholas Hoult in support is fantastic. I loved the way that the bad guy is played by Hugh Keays-Byrne, who was the villain in the first MAD MAX all those years ago. Overall, though, this is a film not about the people, but the Namibian desert landscapes, the modded vehicles, the speed, the violence, the overall thrill of the chase. And it's pretty much my idea of a perfect film.

Cold-blooded, botanically medieval, crusades-like, and horrifically thrilling—that's Fury Road. As for Max, it looks like he's the same archetypal Bane, only this time, he's more immune to "I'm not afraid, I'm angry." He's silent, and angry, and frustrated. He's Rango-like, reflective of the quest to solve the water-mystery. With everything red, orange, and yellow, it seems like you're viewing 300 blended in Saw, and over-the-top F&F.

George Miller revises his ideological construct in the most exhilarating, dreadful, and striking manner this time. For all I know, the audiences spoil themselves with "cinematic orgasms," if that's a thing, throughout the movie. They're not afraid of the porcupine-trucks, maybe a little on the edge of madness, but that goes without saying. Here's a hint as to what it was like: Bane and Miranda beating the beep out of war-painted, anti-Christian, Hulu tribe—only this time, it's some dark, full-raged action with mountain bikes, and trucks, and springy tentacles moving idiotic half-Willy, half-Wonka The Da Vinci Code Bettany's horrendous versions. Miller puts his tribal culture in the crux of action, which reveals an unorthodox, authoritarian, and devout portrayal of enmity. The sport-arena action is complemented by prayers in Citadel, banging of drums, skeleton-wheels, and skeleton-feels. It has a bizarre feeling—you're dredged into the modernity of Prometheus and antediluvian era of the Exodus.

More than anything—Max's deafening seriousness, Furiosa's bald-grace, armless-attraction, sense of responsibility, and and absolute congeniality to the role (always imposingly remarkable,) religious affirmation, banging, puffing, booming, clatter, splash, tick-tick, boom—the "fantasized-realism" behind all the get-off-my-property-you-crazy-lunatic is what gives you the honesty-chills. The stunts, the effort, the don't-care-about-ourselves-just-love-the-movie-please pledge, and the extraordinarily enormous—480 hours of footage into 120 minutes of freaking-awesome warfare—blows me off of my seat in the cinema to the pale, scorching blaze of the sun, amidst the crazy-eyes of this action-genre Orange is the New Black. Even the over-editing has that medieval, darkly comical feel to it, just like 300 for example (can't think of another movie with such aberrant effects, but such positive response.)

But like any other movie, there are points where you start questioning yourself. Nothing seems to justify Max & Furiosa's relationship, mutual combats, strategies, certainty of plans, and stuff like that. But by then, the movie's not about logic or sense anymore; it's more about seeing what you wouldn't in ages. With such a brilliant ensemble—I mean it was pretty good for a solely madness-based movie—you couldn't care less about the abacus-loving dumb-toads sitting in exactly the middle seats of the theater to get the most balanced view of the screen, and judge the minus-plus of the 120 minute long clip. I feel like reporting their stupidity to the CIA—enough with the pen and paper!

Mad Max comes equitably with the characters, their roles, and the titular projections. Each name is qualified by its corresponding characteristic with the character in the movie—Spikers, Rictus Erectus et cetera. This complements the heartfelt glow to the movie itself—everything's done for the movie. They didn't feel any need to impose worldly sense into it, which is the best part, because that miniature world seemed pretty damn believable to me—but why? Maybe it were those religious beats, maybe the dragon-roars of engines, maybe it was just the psychological effect. Whatever it was, it did what it planned to.

Mad Max: Fury Road puts forth the idea that there's so much more to combats than mere combats—MMFR incorporates belligerent, spoiling-for-a-fight attitude, oppressed landscape, estranged and barbaric drug-lords, heavy-weight weaponry and wheelers, and poster-paint bombings. The intensified red-blaze of fire, the sandstorm-effect, the preposterous turn of events, the nonsensical touch of things, and the wacky script—everything wrong with the movie is everything good about the movie. Mad Max: Fury Road revises the post-apocalyptic scene—utter dryness of region and minds—and uses the irritating sense of that dryness into a rigorous will to get past it with victory—Fury Road's victory. It's not about the comparative analysis of protagonists and the white-witty-wackos, it's about what's happening throughout. And when it happens, you're only remark is: "What a lovely day."

The rationale behind the success of 'Fury Road' predominantly lies with director George Miller whose commitment and love for the film series that he's been developing since its first outing in 1979 is evident throughout, and it's pretty obvious that he knows how to craft a damn fine action sequence. Without this passion, the film would have likely stooped as there's not much else in the way of a plot or character development, even though Theron tries her hardest to give us an enthralling new action heroine to be revered. Aside from the aforementioned writing setbacks, 'Fury Road' is a powerhouse in the technical categories. With stunning contradictory cinematography from John Seale giving us a post-apocalyptic world of lavish colour rather than your typical muted tones, a heart-pounding score from Junkie XL and exquisite production design work that rightfully earnt the film an Oscar (one of six) for its spectacular vehicle design.