Let’s get one thing straight: Mad Max – Fury Road is not a movie that holds your hand during a gentle night out. There’s no time to stand outside in the queue deciding on what size popcorn you’re after, just get in, sit down and hang on for the next two and a half dizzying hours of your life.
We promise you’ll be exhilarated, entertained and exhausted by the end of it.
The opening shot is of a vast, baron and lifeless hot desert. A lone figure, Max (Tom Hardy), is on the move. We don’t know where he’s come from and we don’t know where he’s going, all we know is that he’s following his one remaining instinct: survival.
In a post-apocalyptic future, cars are now worshipped as one of the last remaining treasures of the technological world. A powerful culture, based on supplies and water, has a corrupt evil warlord, Immortan Joe, in total control of a small part of the sandy wasteland. I can’t even begin to explain the strange, hellish conditions in which they live but try to imagine deformities and disease, as well as hordes of women being pumped for their breast milk (which is now a delicacy). This is barely scraping the surface of the unique setting of this film that, in itself, is a rebirth of Mel Gibson’s Mad Max from over three decades ago.
We begin to se the plots unfold. Max is captured and suddenly finds himself embroiled in a civil dispute between fuel truck driver, Furiosa, played masterfully by Charlize Theron. Furiosa is smuggling out Immortan Joe’s unwilling harem who simply are there to birth his children. This quickly escalates into a spectacular all-out vehicular war, as an army of brilliant Frankenstein cars tails Furiosa’s fuel truck through the vast unknown.
The movie is gritty and violent, and isn’t afraid to show some quite confronting images, but it suits the desperate environment and hones in the magic that made cult classics of the previous Mad Max films.
In the 2015 version, all the actors are well cast. Max and Furiosa’s alliance is interesting and compelling, often with many moments shown rather than told, given the mute nature of Max. It’s an ingenuous plot, and all the elements that tie it together make for a veritable visual feast, and a cinematic thrill that will last in your memories.
It is testament to director George Miller and crew, who have clearly put an extraordinary effort into all departments. Combined with crazy practical stunts, a forceful soundtrack and an art department with a blank cheque, Mad Max – Fury Road deserves all the hype.
I can honestly say I haven’t been satisfied by a movie like this in a long time. Sign me up for the inevitable sequel.
