Director George Miller broke new ground in filmmaking with 1981’s The Road Warrior, a sequel to a film that most outside Australia had never heard of. But The Road Warrior’s incredible vehicular action sequences set a new standard for what could be possible in action films. Even its sequel, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, didn’t attempt to try and top the mayhem showcased in The Road Warrior. But since 1985 the series was left dormant and to many it was considered dead. Whenever questioned about Mad Max, Miller would respond with hope that he would return to the series one day, but he needed the right opportunity to do it justice. Finally in 2015, Mad Max returned to the big screen, topping what was achieved in The Road Warrior and going down as one of the greatest action movies of all time, a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with.
Haunted by the ghosts of his past, Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) survives by scavenging food, water, and gasoline in the wasteland that he calls home. Captured by warlord Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), Max is caged up as a universal blood donor for one of Joe’s sickly ‘war boys’, a cult born by Joe who believe that dying in battle for him will guarantee them a place in Valhalla.
Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) leaves Joe’s citadel in her ‘war rig’ to pick up shipments of gasoline and bullets from nearby settlements, but shortly after her departure it is revealed that she has stolen five of Joe’s wives to help them escape his captivity.
Joe and his war boys begin their pursuit of Furiosa, with Max being strapped to the front of a car to supply its driver, Nux (Nicholas Hoult) with blood.
As the chase draws closer, Max allies with Furiosa so that they may escape Joe; meanwhile Nux grapples with his morality and mortality after spending time with Joe’s wives.
Haunted by the ghosts of his past, Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) survives by scavenging food, water, and gasoline in the wasteland that he calls home. Captured by warlord Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), Max is caged up as a universal blood donor for one of Joe’s sickly ‘war boys’, a cult born by Joe who believe that dying in battle for him will guarantee them a place in Valhalla.
Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) leaves Joe’s citadel in her ‘war rig’ to pick up shipments of gasoline and bullets from nearby settlements, but shortly after her departure it is revealed that she has stolen five of Joe’s wives to help them escape his captivity.
Joe and his war boys begin their pursuit of Furiosa, with Max being strapped to the front of a car to supply its driver, Nux (Nicholas Hoult) with blood.
As the chase draws closer, Max allies with Furiosa so that they may escape Joe; meanwhile Nux grapples with his morality and mortality after spending time with Joe’s wives.
Mad Max: Fury Road is a two-hour car chase of epic proportions through an ever shifting, and increasingly lethal desert landscape. Whilst the Mad Max series has never been big on story, Fury Road manages to strike a perfect balance between simplicity and excellence. Unlike Beyond Thunderdome which had considerably less action than its predecessors, and a lot more dialogue; Fury Road strips things right back. Dialogue is in short supply, but when things are said they mean a lot. The story is incredibly basic, but that allows for it to be looked at in great detail; as well as allow the audience to reflect on what has actually happened to Max’s world much more than they ever could in the previous films.
The film may be called Mad Max: Fury Road but it is absolutely Furiosa’s story, and Theron delivers a career best performance as the tortured yet never broken Imperator. She and Hardy are simply spectacular in this film and go a huge way in making it as great as it is (a lot of that probably comes from the fact that they hated working with each other...but that's another story). To make up for such a simple story, a lot of work had to go into delivering some excellent performances to get the audience invested.
You immediately understand and sympathise with Furiosa’s plight as she desperately tries to free Joe’s wives from his slavery, where they are kept in captivity as breeders to provide him with perfect, healthy children to continue his legacy ruling over a civilisation plagued with disease and deformities.
The film may be called Mad Max: Fury Road but it is absolutely Furiosa’s story, and Theron delivers a career best performance as the tortured yet never broken Imperator. She and Hardy are simply spectacular in this film and go a huge way in making it as great as it is (a lot of that probably comes from the fact that they hated working with each other...but that's another story). To make up for such a simple story, a lot of work had to go into delivering some excellent performances to get the audience invested.
You immediately understand and sympathise with Furiosa’s plight as she desperately tries to free Joe’s wives from his slavery, where they are kept in captivity as breeders to provide him with perfect, healthy children to continue his legacy ruling over a civilisation plagued with disease and deformities.
Fury Road looks and sound spectacular as well, one of the most technically impressive films in recent memory. The drum heavy, rock inspired soundtrack pulsates through the entire film, keeping you on the edge of your seat at all times as the thump of the war drums pulsates inside you. Visually, Fury Road is totally insane. There are dozens of vehicles involved in the chase, which gradually escalates in craziness from beginning to end. The opening few minutes of the chase are about as impressive as The Road Warrior’s climax and it only gets more exciting from there as stuntmen jump from car to car, fiery explosions engulf vehicles every few moments, and vehicles are tossed around like pebbles on a beach. What makes it even more impressive is that the vast majority of what you see was achieved without the aid of CGI, and that when you’re seeing stuntmen get launched into the air, and cars flip over in a fiery explosion, it was all real. It’s incredible that nobody was killed or seriously injured in the making of this film, because looking at what is achieved is simply jaw dropping.
John Seale’s cinematography is nothing short of perfection. Almost any frame of Fury Road is a work of art, and those few moments that truly stand out as exceptional are among the most incredible shots in cinematic history. Pair this with the vibrant colours, the scorching oranges, radiant reds, and sparing but piercing blues; and you have one of the most incredible looking films of the twenty first century.
Come the end of Fury Road you feel exhausted, and rightly so, you’ve just witnessed a two-hour action scene that never becomes boring. It is a true triumph of filmmaking, and it never fails to leave me totally speechless after I finish watching it. It’s the kind of film I find myself revisiting every so often, cranking up the volume so loud it makes the floorboards shake, and sitting with my eyes glued to the screen with a gigantic smile on my face the entire time just like I did when I was a child watching cartoons on a Saturday morning.
If you enjoy action films then Mad Max: Fury Road is simply essential viewing. But I would recommend Fury Road to anyone in a heartbeat. Whilst some may not like it’s overly simplistic nature, you’d be hard pressed not to have a great time with it’s crazy vehicular mayhem, gorgeous visuals, and career best acting performances. Even if it takes Miller another thirty years to make the next Mad Max film, it would be worth the wait if it ends up being anywhere close to as good as Fury Road is.
John Seale’s cinematography is nothing short of perfection. Almost any frame of Fury Road is a work of art, and those few moments that truly stand out as exceptional are among the most incredible shots in cinematic history. Pair this with the vibrant colours, the scorching oranges, radiant reds, and sparing but piercing blues; and you have one of the most incredible looking films of the twenty first century.
Come the end of Fury Road you feel exhausted, and rightly so, you’ve just witnessed a two-hour action scene that never becomes boring. It is a true triumph of filmmaking, and it never fails to leave me totally speechless after I finish watching it. It’s the kind of film I find myself revisiting every so often, cranking up the volume so loud it makes the floorboards shake, and sitting with my eyes glued to the screen with a gigantic smile on my face the entire time just like I did when I was a child watching cartoons on a Saturday morning.
If you enjoy action films then Mad Max: Fury Road is simply essential viewing. But I would recommend Fury Road to anyone in a heartbeat. Whilst some may not like it’s overly simplistic nature, you’d be hard pressed not to have a great time with it’s crazy vehicular mayhem, gorgeous visuals, and career best acting performances. Even if it takes Miller another thirty years to make the next Mad Max film, it would be worth the wait if it ends up being anywhere close to as good as Fury Road is.