Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) Review

 

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Fury Road returns us to the world of Max, as he must help a driver and a group of breeding wives escape the clutches of the tyrant, Immortan Joe.

A more apt title would have been Mad Max: There and Back Again, but nonetheless this revisitation of the series is pleasantly fantastic. For once we see a Max who is genuinely mad, haunted by the memories of those he couldn’t save. He’s gone almost feral in his isolation and loneliness, something that makes just about every interaction with him in the movie decidedly tense.

In many ways this is a return to form, giving us another action packed, car heavy story with excellent practical and special effects, stunning visuals, and a world that has been built upon so well, giving the wasteland a look and feel that is unlike anything we’ve seen yet, but still feels par the course from what has come before. The editing is also so well done, setting itself apart from just about every action movie ever, having a unique tone to the movements and pacing that is just excellent.

I would like to know though, what is George Miller’s vendetta against the Interceptor and why on Earth does he keep destroying it?? I get it, it’s his past and he needs to move on from it, but this long running joke of destroying Max’s car is probably driving him even crazier. It also does lose a little of it’s Australian flair in the transition to becoming an American blockbuster, but that’s just a small gripe with it.

The film is really well acted, starring Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Tom Hardy, who replaces Mel Gibson, and Hugh Keays-Byrne returning to play the new villain. The big 3 in Theron, Hoult, and Hardy are great, with Hardy adding a new layer to an already complex character and never doing to much to make Max seem out of place. Theron’s Furiosa was also a fascinating character that I hope to see more of.

Mad Max: Fury Road, directed by George Miller, really draws on the fearlessness and maddening qualities of Max that make him so entertaining, and dropping him head first into fiery, high-octane action, making this the best thing thats happened to this character since his introduction over 40 years ago.

9.6/10