Review – Mad Max: Fury Road

ABOUT: Mad Max: Fury Road is a 2015 Australian post-apocalyptic action film directed, produced, and co-written by George Miller, and the fourth film of Miller’s Mad Max franchise. The first film of the franchise in 30 years, Fury Road stars Tom Hardy as ‘Mad’ Max Rockatansky, who replaces Mel Gibson in the title role, along with Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, and Hugh Keayes-Byrne.

The film is set in a future desert wasteland where gasoline and water are scarce commodities, with Max (Hardy) joining forces with Imperator Furiosa (Theron) to flee from cult leader Immortan Joe (Keays-Byrne) and his army in an armoured tanker truck, which leads to a lengthy road battle. The film had its world premiere on 7 May 2015 at the TCL Chinese Theatre. It began wide theatrical release on 14 May 2015, including an out-of-competition screening at the 68^th Cannes Film Festival. Critics have praised the film for its acting, screenplay, action sequences, stunts, and direction.

PLOT: Set in the future after a nuclear war, the world is a desert wasteland and civilization has collapsed. Max, a survivor, is captured by the War Boys, the army of tyrannical cult leader Immortal Joe. Designated a universal blood donor, Max is imprisoned and used as a “blood bag” for the sick War Boy Nux. Meanwhile, Imperator Furiosa drives her heavily-armored War Rig to collect gasoline. When Furiosa begins driving off route, Joe realizes that his five wives – women specially selected for breeding – are gone. Joe leads his entire army in pursuit of Furiosa, calling on the aid of nearby Gas Town and the Bullet Farm.

This genre is certainly not everybody’s cup of tea. It is a mixture: post-apocalyptic Cirque de Soleil, Heavy-Metal music video, hardcore slice and dice. The world of this film was consistent, visually phenomenal and very entertaining. It was a very good film. The story itself had many layers including girl-power.

I wanted to check it out again, so I waited for the DVD to come out.

In Hit Fix, Charlize Theron says she’s affected by teenage girls love of Furiosa in ‘Fury Road’ which still elicits passionate responses from fans, media and the director’s peers in the movie industry three months after its release. 

One of the most talked about aspects of the film isn’t Max himself (sorry Tom Hardy), but Theron’s raw performance as Furiosa.  The character has inspired many women (including a large contingent of teenage girls) and handicapped viewers as well.

Theron says, “I think what has really affected me is the word of mouth what you hear from people, especially people with young girls,” It’s really overwhelming and just really nice and really nice when you can have your work translate into that matter.

I keep thinking that Furiosa is the evolution of the type of character played by Linda Hamilton [Sarah Connor] in the Terminator movies [Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)]. Hamilton’s buff arms were a symbol of strength and determination and will. They were revolutionary. Furiosa’s lack of an arm speaks to the same thing. You know, I taught a film course once upon a time, and I would really have used this film to show how certain female characters evolve – I would.

Our lead female character, Furiosa, is a disabled warrior. She has a major ‘flirtation’ with Max. She is represented as desirable and sexy despite her disability. How friggin’ cool is that?

Theron is rumored to be returning as Furiosa in “Mad Max: The Wasteland.”  In the meantime, she’s wrapped Sean Penn’s “The Last Face” with Javier Bardem and reprises her role as Ravenna in “The Huntsman” opposite Chris Hemsworth and Emily Blunt.

Tom Hardy as ‘Mad’ Max Rockatansky says; “It was daunting [and] a bit intimidating to step into an iconic character’s role and shoes,” Hardy admitted to ET Online.

When the first Mad Max hit theaters in 1979, it was a fresh-faced Mel Gibson who embodied the post-apocalyptic badass. Gibson would go on to reprise the role in ’81 and ’85 for the film’s sequels, Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome.

Hardy says; “Mel is iconic. And he’s Max, and that’s it, I won’t argue with that, that’s brilliant,” Hardy added. “But on this outing, George has had 30-something years worth of reinvestment in a world that he created. And he asked me to come along and play his Max for him. And I’m not gonna say no, am I?”

Anyhoo, the wives were eye-candy rebels. It is one thing to be labeled a ‘breeder’ and another to own one’s choice to breed. I love the idea of being very sexy and determining when to have sex.

The film had no gay characters or people of colour. Aside from some homo-erotic moments between some males, the relationships were of a heterosexual nature. The film did not break any sexuality rules, which, in my opinion, would have been very revolutionary.

This world is white. Rate Your Music says, [In] the history of heavy metal – white people playing angry music … there’s mostly white male listeners. Don’t get me started…

Warner Bros. Director GEORGE MILLER on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ action adventure “MAD MAX: FURY ROAD,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

The film was directed and created by George Miller. The Los Angeles Daily News says; When the 70-year-old made the first movie in 1979, he just wanted to make a car-chase film. B-movie fast car/crazy crash-centric movies were fairly common in the late 1970s, including the dystopian future of “Death Race 2000” made in 1975.

“The Japanese saw [the original “Mad Max”] as a samurai film. The French thought of it as a Western on wheels,” says Miller. So when he made “The Road Warrior” in 1981, the apocalyptic world he created “was much more deliberate, more explicit. It was about the oil crisis and wars.”

Since then, the filmmaker has seen “Mad Max” elements in music videos, video games, manga and animation, and, of course, other movies. Coming back to the story — “I was reluctant to let it go” — Miller has been able to go further both in the story and technically.

This film is worth seeing and contained by a specific aesthetic. It is stylish and does not deviate from stereotypes of sexuality or colour. Empowered women and minorities though, rock my world.