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The world of Mad Max has progressively become madder and madder; 30 years after the third film, Fury Road presents a fresh, new tale in the mythos of the legendary road warrior. This time, the picture the film paints of the future is far more vivid than anything that's come before. Against the backdrop of harsh desolation and vicious tyranny, the stage is set for a new round of intense vehicular carnage: what follows is a relentless onslaught of bullets, fire, and bloodshed.
This film starts off fast and furious, and it keeps the pacing up all the way to its finale. It can be generalized as one two-hour chase scene, but that's not to say that the action ever becomes dull, or that the film never takes the time to breathe; like any great blockbuster experience, it's a rollercoaster ride so full of ups and downs that it keeps the audience exhilarated constantly. The film's chases are the biggest highlights; there are a plethora of incredibly well-designed vehicles that crash and burn in phenomenal ways, while the characters fight and struggle across the moving cars. The film is consistently loud, explosive, and intense. When the characters do manage to catch a break, the characters struggle against each other and against the elements, so there's hardly any drag at all.
Within and outside of the action scenes, the film tells the story it needs to, and it does so with minimal use of exposition, very effectively showing more than it tells. In the same vein as The Raid, Dredd, or Duel, which were simple stories centered around the situation, so too does Fury Road use its central chase scenes as a basic skeleton from which to add on more to the characters and story. The characters are a compelling bunch; Max is reintroduced to us as a broken man, still haunted by events of the past (which are shown in rapid-fire flashbacks, and differ vastly from what's shown in Mad Max). Max's journey becomes entwined with that of Furiosa, a tough and brave woman whose motivations are revealed as the plot moves on. Together, Max and Furiosa represent two characters who are broken in some way, and join forces to fight their way to liberation and freedom. Some audiences have said that Furiosa is more the main character than Max, but I find that both share screentime equally, to complement each other the same way Max had to share time with everybody else in The Road Warrior. What might throw people off is that Max doesn't speak much in this film; what little he says is gruff and crude, and he fills the rest of the space with a few grunts and noises. However, Max remains the narrative focus of the film, as it tracks his journey in and out of bondage, and finally to liberation, to become a legendary drifter once more.
Few people have taken offense to the way the film demonizes men and emphasizes the struggle of women characters to fight them and free themselves, to the point where they feel Max is a diminished character and the film actively pushes a feminist agenda. I am of the mind that such complaints are unwarranted; even though the film is certainly about women struggling for freedom, they do so with the help of certain male characters, against a whole society that's been conditioned by a mad tyrant. If you replaced the women with men, the story would still hold water (except for all the bits concerning Immortan Joe's heirs). The narrative's focus on liberation is universal. It just happens to revolve around tormented women because that's the condition of the world they live in: a brutal place where women are mistreated and abused, solely to reap the benefits of their bodies. It also just so happens that the War Boys are conditioned to be berserkers who just want to fight, pillage, and plunder; they are not that way just because they're male, but because they're controlled, and effectively enslaved in their own way. Max enters this world unwillingly, and he helps in the fight against it because he shares a common goal with Furiosa. She might match his machismo, but she never undermines it, and Max remains just as heroic here as he is in the older films. If the film is anything, it's purely anti-dictatorship and pro-freedom, and I find it compelling that way.
This film is captured with fantastic photography and punchy editing. Color schemes are very bright and vivid. Filling in the shoes that Mel Gibson left behind, Tom Hardy plays Max Rockatansky with a phenomenal presence, and with blunt, animalistic dialogue, which is fitting for the primal world he inhabits. Charlize Theron plays it tough as Furiosa, but with enough distress to elicit sympathy for her struggle, and make her character well-grounded and well-rounded. Nicholas Hoult is surprisingly lovable in his role, and Hugh Keays-Byrne exudes a phenomenal presence as Immortan Joe, who stands as one of the most chilling villains I've seen in a while. Writing is concise and it gets the job done. This production has loads of superbly detailed sets, props, and costumes, all of which brings the post-apocalyptic world to life fantastically. It all contributes to showing and illustrating the culture of the War Boys, which shows plenty of well thought-out ideas and concepts. Most stunts and crashes were done practically; what few special effects the film has are used precisely and effectively, and are great. JXL's music score adds to the experience admirably.
Mad Max: Fury Road is easily the best-looking film of the series, and it boasts the biggest and most brutal action scenes. It's a perfect example of how a simple premise can be used to tell an invoking story and craft an exhilarating experience. Best of all, it does so using the power of images and sound, just as cinema should.
5/5 (Experience: Perfect | Content: Perfect | Film: Perfect)
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