Most Overrated Movies

I'm a sucker for steelbooks. The BestBuy editions usually aren't much more expensive than the regular BluRays (at least here), so it's usually worth the money to get the prettier one. Even though there were a lot of things I wish were done differently in Fury Road, I still want to see more movies like this made so I'm happy to support them.

Now there is a lot about the movie I really liked: the colours and visuals, most of the cast (just not Tom Hardy), and of course the spectacular stunt work and effects (was not a fan of the dust storm though). A lot of my problems with the movie could've been solved by removing Max from it altogether, and just have it be a "tales from the Mad Max universe" sort of story that just focused on Furiosa.

Don't fret about it, not everyone is going to like what I or you like. I was just a little taken aback by your post because those steelbooks are just so damn expensive. I better love a movie to spend that kind of money, ha. But as I always say, to each his own.

What exactly is it about Hardy that you didn't like? The biggest complaint I've heard is that he's hardly in the picture. Which I disagree with and thought his screen time was sufficient when compared to the story. The dynamic between Furiosa and Max was perfect. They both didn't say much and yet the connection was unmistakable. Also, I liked the fact that they didn't add a love story between them. That was a big bonus for me. Those stunt scenes were no joke.

The Max subtext was one of the best things about the film IMO.

...how expensive are these steelbooks where you live? They're only a couple dollars ($3-4) more expensive than the regular BluRays. Of course if you don't buy them new they fetch a fair price online afterwards, but with the exception of my Re-Animator 1+2 steelbook, I bought all of mine while they were new in stock at regular price.

Well it doesn't help that I am not a fan of Tom Hardy at all. He lacks any sort of charisma, has no screen presence, and after Dark Knight Rises, Fury Road, and Lawless I'm nearly convinced he doesn't know how to speak properly. Not that Max really spoke in the movie, he mostly just stood around grunting and looking disinterested. Friends of mine who had no qualms with Hardy before Fury Road also disliked his performance as Max, and thought he really brought the movie down. I guess we're just the odd bunch, sitting here, wondering why the rest of the world seems to love him so much.

Personally, I thought Max was completely unnecessary to the plot. He really didn't have to be there at all because it's really Furiosa's movie, and she's a far more compelling character. I know this isn't the case, but it's almost reads as though Max is just there to sell the Mad Max title and to make insecure boys more comfortable going to see a movie that's basically just about one woman who rescues some other young women. Now if they had made this movie years earlier with Mel Gibson, as originally planned, then I'd still have the same opinions of Max's lack of relevancy to this particular story, but at least I'd enjoy watching him on screen.

I might've walked out of the theatre if that happened haha (not really though). I hate it whenever a movie has a forced, unnecessary love interest. I really wish it wasn't such a common trope that we can applaud movies for not going down that path.

The Godfather, The Godfather Part 2, The Departed, The Dark Knight (still pretty good), LOTR Fellowship of the Ring, Star Wars New Hope, Star Wars Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars Force Awakens (i like star wars just a tad bit overrated), Mad Max Fury Road, Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Schindler's List (very good movie but nowhere near the best movie ever), Jaws, Jurassic Park, Full Metal Jacket, Platoon.

__________________
Mad Max Fury road is trash

Yeah, three movies where he plays a facially disfigured mask-wearer, a borderline-feral loner, and a backwoods bootlegger are all the evidence you need that the man himself can't speak properly. Seriously, though, I'm not sure exactly how much of a judgment you can make of a person based on such a small sample size (even if it includes two of their biggest movies). In any case, I'm not expecting him to be exactly the same as Mel Gibson but instead expecting him to be his own person and his animalistic behaviour makes sense for a character who has been on the run from people and his traumatic for so long that he has lost touch with his own humanity and his time with Furiosa and the others allows him a chance to heal. It's not the man's best performance (I'd probably go with Bronson for that, which shows that the man definitely has charisma and screen presence and can actually speak clearly), but it works within this particular movie and that's what matters more than if it hits some arbitrary criteria for what makes a good performance.

First of all, consider this thread when you're thinking of using "basically just" to write off a movie. Anyway, the thing is that he really is following the exact same arc as he did in Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome, that of being focused on his own survival but being unwillingly drawn into another group's fight for survival (such as the refiners or the feral kids from those other movies), only it's taken to a logical extreme by having him be trapped in his situation and having no way out but to co-operate with Furiosa (and even then he still has to be talked into helping them rather than just handing them over to the villains who originally captured him). Just because his story isn't front and centre compared to Furiosa's doesn't mean that it's not there or that he has no impact on the plot whatsoever (to say nothing of what the film is trying to say outside of its plot). It's like the people who say that Indiana Jones makes no impact on the plot of Raiders of the Lost Ark - that's a clever-sounding judgment on the surface but it does so through a willful misunderstanding that disregards other elements within the film. Obviously, you not liking it is a matter of opinion and I can't necessarily tell you what to like or not like, but if your dislike of a particular film is based on a possible misunderstanding then I should at least try to offer a reasonable defence.

__________________
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Obviously I really like Fury Road, but I make no bones about Max's obvious underdevelopment into the role of deuteragonist.

__________________
Movie Reviews | Anime Reviews
Top 100 Action Movie Countdown (2015): List | Thread
"Well, at least your intentions behind the UTTERLY DEVASTATING FAULTS IN YOUR LOGIC are good." - Captain Steel

That was meant to be a joke. I guess I didn't frame it properly, but I assumed everyone was sick of seeing "haha" scattered throughout all my posts.

I have seen more of his movies than those three. Looking at his filmography I've also seen Black Hawk Down, Star Trek Nemesis, Inception, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, This Means War, half of Locke, and Child 44. I didn't like him in any of those movies (though honestly I don't remember him in Black Hawk Down). I haven't seen some of the movies everyone claims he's brilliant in (like Bronson that you mention), but with nearly a dozen films I think I've given him a fair chance to impress me.

Perhaps you misunderstand, or maybe I didn't write it clearly enough (it was getting late and I went to bed right after writing that), but that is not my opinion of the movie and I wasn't trying to write it off in any way. That line was supposed to be how the immature boys might see the movie, and thus be uncomfortable watching it without a strong male character present.

If I was going to "basically just" the movie, I'd say it was "basically just the last act of The Road Warrior". That's not a negative thing because The Road Warrior is one of my lifelong favourite films.

I actually like the movie. I've seen it 4 or 5 times. If you recall, I started this whole thing off by saying that I "sort of agree with rambond". The emphasis was supposed to be on the "sort of". I didn't absolutely love it like a lot of people did (probably because it was hyped up too much), however I do like a lot about the movie (which I've already mentioned), and as a whole I think it's perfectly fine. So while the movie is not personally as great to me as it is to everyone else, I still think it deserves praise and am glad to see that audiences and critics like it.

I just don't like Tom Hardy at all, and while I see what you're saying about his character (in all the parts I haven't directly responded to), I still don't think he was necessary for the movie to work. It would've been a compelling story with or without him. Maybe it's just because I'd actually like to see movies that are in the Mad Max universe but feature stories unrelated to Max. With most of the other characters being far more interesting to me than Max (like you said, we've already seen this arc in two other Mad Max movies), Fury Road was the perfect opportunity for that.

So I guess I'm just a little disappointed that the filmmakers thought they needed to rely on Max's presence to tell this story. The fact that I don't seem to like anything Tom Hardy does just amplifies that disappointment. While I'd personally love to see him recast in any sequels (though he definitely won't be), I am still willing to see another Mad Max movie with him as the lead. Maybe the fact that I'm expecting much less out of him a second time around will give him the opportunity to change my opinion.


Just in case anyone is confused about my thoughts of this movie: I do like it, despite disliking Tom Hardy. I would've liked to see this movie be just about Furiosa, but I do understand Max's role. I just would've liked it more without him. It's technically overrated to me because my opinion of the overall film is less than that of the general consensus, however I appreciate what I like about the movie too much to consider it truly overrated.

I think that was pretty clear the first time, you've given fair criticism. It's really is Furiosa's movie.

Gravity, million dollar baby, and Juno. That's all I have to say about that!

Interstellar

I did NOT like Juno.

You forgot The Godfather Part 3, I didn't..

May not be in the hundreds, but last I recall it was going for around $40-$50. That would still be pretty steep for me, especially for a movie I'm not a big fan of. But we differ. We also differ on Hardy. I think he has a lot of presence for someone that hardly speaks in his roles. He's actually really talented at expressing his character's personality with even a single look. As far as the plot of Fury Road, Max was an essential part in his own way. The characters fit well together and fit the overall story. I don't see it being a similar film if you remove any of them. But alas, we differ.

Don't get me started on the unnecessary love stories...




















...count to 10 MonnoM...

Gravity, what a visually breathtaking pile of excrement that was!

I...guess? Never noticed any "hahas" before myself, in any case.

That's fair. I haven't seen all of those ones you listed, so it's hard for me to gauge whether or not Bronson would make much of a difference to your opinion of him (though it is a good film outside of his presence anyway). If nothing else, you can consider it a last chance of sorts because he does get to do something more than be part of an ensemble and it does the one-man show thing better than Locke.

Yeah, that was a little hard to glean from the context even with the explicit mention of insecure boys.

Fair enough. I wasn't exactly thinking of it in terms of you liking or disliking the film as a whole but was more interesting in engaging you over this particular aspect that you found disagreeable and thought that I could offer a counter-argument to consider (especially when complaints about Max's presence or lack thereof within the film are common).

For me, these six movies are overrated:

1. The Witch: the history could be good, but it's not a horror - and it's not a drama, too.
2. Pulp Fiction: the film is "ok". Just it.
3. Fried Green Tomatoes: it's the same case - just good. Nothing innovative.
4. It's a Wonderful Life: it's cute, but... just it.
5. The Shining: a good history, but doesn't scare. I didn't feel very involved in suspense.
6. Amélie: gorgeous photography, cute character and lovely soundtrack, but I would not rate it as one of the best films of the times. And I got tired to see the film the second time.

Remember: this is only my opinion.

After Fury Road I wanted to see more of Tom Hardy's movies so I could figure out if I just didn't this version of Max, or if I really just didn't like him as an actor. I was thinking about watching Bronson but could only remember a vague description of the movie and couldn't remember the name of it. I ended up watching Lawless instead because it was on Netflix. It's funny because I thought he spoke more clearly...

After that I watched Child 44. Someone here (don't remember who) gave a good case for Hardy in Locke when I mentioned not being a fan of him before, and since it was also on Netflix I put it on. I don't remember what came up, but I turned it off to go do something else. I did mean to go back and finish it (despite being kind of bored during the first bit) but I didn't ever get around to it and just accepted the fact that I didn't like him. I do think I'd be more inclined to watch Bronson than the rest of Locke, but of course that one's not on Netflix.

I think I'm going to stop trying to write posts when I'm tired and just want to go bed haha.

I think I might just have been expecting too much from the movie, and was expecting something different than what Tom Hardy gave us. As I've already said, The Road Warrior has been one of my favourite movies since I was...probably far too young to have watched it in the first place. Fury Road was rather similar to the Road Warrior, yet effectively worse for me because I love Mel Gibson (as an actor, not his opinions) but never enjoyed Tom Hardy. So my initial reaction to the movie was "yeah, that was perfectly fine but I'd rather watch The Road Warrior instead". Walking out of the theatre, I wasn't even sure if I liked it more than Beyond Thunderdome, which is not at all great but I like it for what it is, and it does at least have nostalgia value. However upon further reflection I quickly decided that Fury Road is far, far superior to Thunderdome and the fact that I even considered otherwise seems odd now.

It was a friend of mine who suggested that the movie would be infinitely better without him, and I agreed. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of the movie without him, and as I've already said, I really would like to see movies made in the Mad Max universe featuring more diverse characters. But reading arguments like yours, I can see why a lot of people liked Max's inclusion and the role he plays in the story. I do still like the idea of the movie without him a little more though, but that could just be bias talking on my part because I just don't seem to like anything Tom Hardy does.

I do remember reading some interviews with him where he admitted to really struggling with Max's voice, so maybe next time around he'll have an easier time of it, and he'll be able to let some charisma come through (though I've personally not seen that from him yet). I'm still interested to see more Mad Max with or without Tom Hardy, especially if they keep up the top notch visuals, effects, and stunts, because in the end those are the things that really matter and set these movies apart from others.

Well I don't like Citizen Kane and felt it was nowhere near the level of hype it gets. Does that mean I'm wrong and my opinion is invalid?

He's very good in Locke.