Mad Max, Fury Road:
After being captured by a gang of cultish marauders, former cop and surivivor Max Rockatansky must assist Furiosa, a woman who was taken by the cult as a child and raised as a warrior, escort some important cargo away from the cult's fierce leader Immortan Joe.
Despite some awesome-looking trailers, I was skeptical of this movie. A Mad Max film coming out nearly thirty years after the last one? Recasting an iconic movie hero? The possibility of it becoming a CGI-filled cash cow? However, when the film was hit with mass critical acclaim, my worries were alleviated. This is probably one of the best action films to come out in years, and the most fun you can have at the movies currently.
Tom Hardy does a fantastic job of recapturing the feel of Mel Gibson's portrayal of Max, as a Clint Eastwood-type who drifts and doesn't say much, merely acting as a vessel for the audience to experience the world of the Wasteland. Charlize Theron is also on the top of her game as Furiosa, and shows she is able to tackle more action-oriented roles. Nicholas Hoult plays Nux, one of Joe's War Boys, who is internally conflicted about his position, and provides a never-before-seen look into the more sympathetic sides of the maniacs Max is so accustomed to fighting. Hugh Keayes-Byrne (who played the main villain of the first film) plays Immortan Joe, and is able to be an effectively threatening presence. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Abbey Lee, Zoe Kravitz, and Courtney Eaton play Joe's unwilling concubines. Josh Helman plays Slit, Nux's friend, who is always eager to please Joe, but is rarely recognized for it, and also plays more of a sympathetic villain. Melissa Jaffer, Megan Gale, Gillian Jones, and Joy Smithers appear as older women who help Furiosa and Max in their quest. Wrestler Nathan Jones and musician iOTA appear as Rictus and The Doof, two warriors for Joe, the former of which is his son. John Howard and Richard Carter appear as Joe's allies The People Eater and The Bullet Farmer. Angus Sampson (Legend of the Guardians, Insidious) has a small role as Joe's handyman and surgeon, aptly named The Organic Mechanic.
The villain in this film is an interesting departure from previous films in that the homoeroticism present before is toned down significantly, and his character is interesting. He is another cult-like leader like Lord Humungus of The Road Warrior, however, instead of leading a medium-sized band of marauders and stealing gasoline, he is the leader of a city-size cult dedicated to him, and he has brainwashed the boys from an early age to serve in his military force "War Boys", who are willing to fight and die for him, which he doesn't really appreciate at all. He has also monopolized the water trade in his part of the Wasteland, and treats the substance as a sort of drug by keeping it from his subjects and only dropping small amounts.
As for the supposed "feminist agenda" and rumored MRA-boycot of the film, I won't touch on it because I think it's just a ploy to stir up controversy for the film. I'll link two videos below that I think give fine responses to this.
The action sequences are near non-stop, but unlike some films where this becomes tiring and overwhelming, here there is just enough story so that it doesn't overshadow the action, or leave the film feel empty. Because of the character development (successfully achieved not through exposition, but through character's actions and behavior), I actually cared about each character and their journey. This movie has some really over-the-top stuff (such as the guitar guy on one of Joe's war rigs), but that just adds to the fun feeling of it. I also enjoyed how, even though it was a rated R film, it didn't feel the need to be overly gruesome or brutal, as that would've detracted from the fun of this type of movie. The amount of practical car crashes and effects is remarkable and I commend George Miller for making the effects practical for the most part. In fact, I was so happy to see that Miller still knows how to make an action movie: the cinematography was crisp and never did the action seem convoluted or confusing, and, unlike other modern action movies, the camera and minimal CG were used effectively, and the fight scenes were not filled with clunky camera angles and shaky cam. Everything looked great and the action flowed smoothly. The lack of CG was also refreshing considering the amount of movies made almost entirely on computers these days, and shooting on location in Australia and South Africa couldn't have been easy either.
Miller seems not too concerned with continuity in these films, as the timeline jumps all over the place, and he has multiple characters often played by the same actors. You do not have to see the previous film to understand the plot of this film, but I would recommend them if you like this one. They're a lot of fun.
This is an acton film that would seem disastrous on paper: resurrecting an old franchise, director is 70 years old, the editor is his wife who has never edited an action film, director has spent last twenty years making children's films, etc. But somehow it managed to blow expectations out of the water. Mad Max: Fury Road is one of the year's best films, undoubtedly, and one of the better Mad Max films, and I am so excited to hear they have more planned for this series, and with a video game coming out in September, it appears 2015 will be the year of Mad Max. 4.5/5 stars.
A quick review I enjoyed by YourMovieSucks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSkJomudiDs
A response to the rumor of an MRA boycot by Mundane Matt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8wTUMuAPPY
(Image: Wikipedia)
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