It's been 45 years since the collapse of civilization, and resources such as water, food and oil are scarce. Survivors cling to life at 'the Citadel, a fortress controlled by the tyrannical 'Immortan Joe'. When Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) leads a band of rebels on a daring escape through the wasteland, she forges and alliance with haunted loner 'Max Rockatansky' (Tom Hardy). Together, they embark on a high-speed race through the desert, pursued relentlessly by the gangs of the apocalypse.
The Summer movie season is just getting started which means I get to shove popcorn in my face hole! Age of Ultron opened earlier this month and now were graced with the further adventures of Australian post apocalyptic wanderer 'Max Rockatansky'. The movie stars Tom Hardy as 'Max', Charlize Theron as 'Imperator Furiosa', Nicholas Hoult as 'War boy Nux' and Hugh Keays-Byrne as "Immortan Joe'. Fresh off a $44.4 million weekend, Mad Max wasn't able to top Pitch Perfect 2, and I am honestly confused as to why. 'Fury Road' has continued to score amazingly well on Rotten Tomatoes with a 98% critic and 94% user scores, and all for good reason while Pitch Perfect 2 stars Rebel Wilson...blecgh. George Miller has been able to create an amazingly stunning movie that's utterly non stop from start to finish. One of the highlights of 'Fury Road' is that even 30 years after the last installment (Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome) the newest offering still feels 100% like what we'd expect from a Mad Max film. With the exception of the replacement of Mel Gibson with Tom Hardy as "Max" this film feels as if the series picked up exactly where it left off and only got better. Hardy does a stellar job as 'Max'. One may regard his performance as scarce and lacking in dialogue (you can fit all his lines on the back of a bottle of Imodium AD) but if anyone ever watched a 'Mad Max' film you'd know that Hardy's 'Max' representation is 100% spot on. 95%?........ok 90%.........85%?.... shit. fine.. 82%. Often silent and complacent, or talking in small sentences and a series or grunts and moans, fans of the series will feel right at home with the new portrayal of Max. It just goes to show you how good of an actor Hardy can be. With an utter lack of dialogue, Hardy can pull of a 35 year old character to a 'T'. The sad part of this is you feel Gibson himself is playing the role, and keep getting confused when you realize it's in fact Hardy. Its SO good you sort of want Gibson to have reprised his role seeing as you think its him anyway. Its such a phenomenal ride, visually and artistically , I can't see anyone walking away disappointing.
Lets look at 4 outstanding aspects of Mad Max: Fury Road...
4. The Visuals of Fury Road
Ill guarantee you one thing, you've never seen a movie so chaotic and so beautiful at the same time. George Miller seemed to have improved in every incarnation of his vision. The cinematography in this movie is by far the best I have seen to date. Every single shot was utterly masterful and spectacular in every way possible. I can't stress this enough. If you've seen the trailers and been in awe of what they managed to put together for 1-2 minutes, imagine that for 2 hours!. This movie is literally the best parts of every trailer in history for 2 solid hours. The movie is almost entirely shown through visuals to force the viewer to simply piece it together themselves as to what is transpiring. We get most of the dialogue from Furiosa to help set up story or scene transitions, but the movie is heavily left up to its action and on screen appeal to tell its story. If your eyes could orgasm, this is basically what would make them do it.
Scroll through the gallery below for some excellent shots that made Fury Road so stunningly beautiful.
3. The Characters of Fury Road
George Miller really knows how to create interesting characters. We saw it all through the first three movies in the saga, and it only continues in Fury Road. From Max... to Furiosa and her hydraulic arm... to Immortan Joe and his sinister breathing apparatus, every single character is extremely interesting and a masterpiece to watch. Some great movies are made solely on great writing and great storyline. One can argue you cant have a great movie unless the writing and dialogue have purpose. Well Fury Road is here to punch you in the face with a spiked sledgehammer on fire and tell you "you're absolutely wrong". The entire movie is based on one singular plot point..."escape". The movie is a 2 hour chase scene filled with amazing character after amazing character, along with insane vehicle after insane vehicle with little dialogue to overshadow the action. On paper it sounds like it might fail. In practice it works amazingly well.
Max Rockatansky
Furiosa
Immortan Joe..FUN FACT. Joe is played by Hugh Keays-Byrne who ALSO played "Toecutter" the main villain in the original Mad Max. Immortan Joe is , however, a different character.
Nux
The Doof Warrior
the Doof Warrior, though simply a background character is easily one of greatest surprise standouts in the movie. Miller continues to throw in over the top, nonsensical characters or vehicles, that don't need to make sense in the least, to be entertaining.
2. The Vehicles of Fury Road
Let's be honest, a Mad Max movie isn't a Mad Max movie without bad-ass, post apocalyptic vehicles from Hell. Lets take a look at them courtesy of "Car and Driver". Id write something more but why the hell bother. Car and Driver took care of that. Thanks Car and Driver.












1. The Women of Fury Road
If you've been following the mess regarding Joss Whedon and the 'supposed' misogyny controversy surrounding Age of Ultron, you'll be happy to know not a single person can bitch and complain about a lack of feminism here. While it's sad to see so many people deduce incorrect speculations regarding how Joss Whedon writes female characters, it is an extreme blessing to see how George Miller tackles the same thing. Nobody can make the same claims here. Miller has basically turned a "Mad Max" movie into a "Furiosa" movie. The women in this film simply steal the show. The Feminism is apparent everywhere you look and it makes for great ride. From the sheer Alpha female prowess of Furiosa, to the literal "escape from misogyny" entirely, is fantastic.
Spoiler Alert: One single shot seems to sum up all of this... Furiosa helps the slave wives of Immortan Joe escape a life of misery. (They are simply slaves used to breed.) When out of danger, the wives remove spiked chastity belts in a visual show of force that screams "these women will no longer be owned". It shows where they were coming from and where they are going to...all in one frame. More use of visuals to tell a story and it works wonders. Miller manages to use "sex" to sell the movie, but in the opposite way from what horny perverted men are used to. Sure it still does the same exact thing, turns guys on, but its underlying message is the opposite of typical "sex" stereotypes. "Look, were friggen hot, but you can't touch dis... dun dundundun...dun dun....dun dun... cant touch this.... STOP Hammer Time."
Toward the movie's climax, we also learn of a rebel group of marauders who turn out to be society's last hope... and they're ALL women, from young to old. You truly get a feeling that women really do rule in this movie when you see a bunch of grandmothers riding dirt bikes and shooting shotguns. While man is seen as vicious, wild, and controlling. The Women in the film are depicted as bold, sensible, tough, and not to be crossed. They are the film's true hero while Max is simply along for the ride. Think of it this way. Max needs two arms to be the bad-ass that he is. Furiosa manages to do it with just one.
5 out of 5 Doof Warriors