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In the aftermath of a nuclear war, the titular survivor is dragged into the middle of a situation involving an evil cult leader and a group of escaped sex slaves.
The long-awaited fourth installment in the iconic Mad Max franchise does not seem particularly concerned with confirming whether or not it's a sequel, prequel, interquel, or straight-up reboot; in the end, such a fact seems barely relevant. The only significant difference is the fact that, due to the fact that thirty years have passed since the last film, Max is now played by Tom Hardy instead of Mel Gibson (a small part of me does wonder how a film about a fifty-something Max would've played out, but it would most likely not be like this). Aside from that, it's business as usual as the film inhabits the same post-apocalyptic outback setting that defined the last two films and once again traces our hard-bitten protagonist as he unwillingly embarks on yet another adventure through the resource-starved desert starting with his incredibly sudden capture and enslavement by another group of freakish-looking warriors. Fury Road's storyline comes across as a loose hybrid of those of the previous two films, with aging wasteland despot Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) being forced into action when the members of his personal harem decide to up and leave with one of his best soldiers, Imperator Furiosia (Charlize Theron) as she commandeers a battle-ready tanker truck and starts a movie-long chase through the desert. Though a series of circumstances that are left unexplained and inexplicable, Max ends up being thrown into the fray and forging an uneasy alliance with Furiosa and her companions as they try to evade not just Joe and his "War-Boys" but various other gangs that populate the area.
It's a credit to this film that it lasts two hours but doesn't drag things out with excessive focus on plot and characterisation, with there being only the slightest of ambiguities to muddle up the non-action side of things (most prominently displayed through the continued presence of Nicholas Hoult as Nux, an especially excitable War-Boy who wants nothing more than to make his chief proud). Of course, the film is ultimately rather basic when it comes to plot and character development - Nux notwithstanding, you can easily tell the good characters from the bad ones, and the characters are flat enough that any strength they do have is because of the actors' talent. Max isn't an especially deep character - a loner with a troubled past that is occasionally referenced through lightning-quick flashbacks, once again getting the same character arc where his selfish survive-at-all-costs attitude gradually gives way to protecting the innocent from the inhumane. Furiosa gets a few little bits and pieces to distinguish her as being more than just a female clone of Max and Theron does a good job with that material. Nux could easily become annoying - and maybe some will find him annoying anyway - but he's got enough depth to him so that he's fairly tolerable. The same goes for the escaped slaves, who all prove to be considerably more proactive and capable than you'd expect your average damsels in distress to be. The villains are distinctive enough, but they're all pretty basic monsters whose only real strengths are vile bloodymindedness and weird physical appearances.
On the action front, Fury Road definitely delivers. Miller has claimed that the vast majority of the effects in the film are actually practical instead of computer-generated and it definitely shows as cars career across screen and into one another while explosions and stunts happen all over the stark orange landscape. Of course, that means the exceptions to this rule tend to be rather obvious and hard to miss (especially the detail on Furiosa's mechanical arm), but they are rather forgivable in the face of the high-octane pursuits featuring a variety of bizarre vehicles and even more ridiculous-looking occupants. Though most of the action scenes centre on the good characters driving a militarised tanker truck and the bad characters besieging it at every turn, there are usually enough variations on this particular scenario to keep things interesting up until the climax. This even extends to the more outwardly inventive ones, such as Nux strapping an imprisoned Max to the front of his car so as to keep harvesting his blood through an IV (you'd think it'd make sense in context, but not really - guess it's a good excuse for an unusual action sequence, though). Though it may not have the best story or characters to back up its powerhouse pyrotechnics or its two-hour running time (and, without spoiling anything, something about its denouement just feels out-of-place for a Mad Max film), Fury Road is definitely a strong example of what action films once were and could be again. It is worth seeing on a cinema screen (I saw it in 2D, so I can't comment on how it looks in 3D) as it manages to adapt old-school action sensibilities to reflect a much more demanding contemporary audience while also providing something for long-time fans of the original films.
MAD
MAX:
FURY
ROAD
George Miller, 2015
MAX:
FURY
ROAD
George Miller, 2015
In the aftermath of a nuclear war, the titular survivor is dragged into the middle of a situation involving an evil cult leader and a group of escaped sex slaves.
The long-awaited fourth installment in the iconic Mad Max franchise does not seem particularly concerned with confirming whether or not it's a sequel, prequel, interquel, or straight-up reboot; in the end, such a fact seems barely relevant. The only significant difference is the fact that, due to the fact that thirty years have passed since the last film, Max is now played by Tom Hardy instead of Mel Gibson (a small part of me does wonder how a film about a fifty-something Max would've played out, but it would most likely not be like this). Aside from that, it's business as usual as the film inhabits the same post-apocalyptic outback setting that defined the last two films and once again traces our hard-bitten protagonist as he unwillingly embarks on yet another adventure through the resource-starved desert starting with his incredibly sudden capture and enslavement by another group of freakish-looking warriors. Fury Road's storyline comes across as a loose hybrid of those of the previous two films, with aging wasteland despot Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) being forced into action when the members of his personal harem decide to up and leave with one of his best soldiers, Imperator Furiosia (Charlize Theron) as she commandeers a battle-ready tanker truck and starts a movie-long chase through the desert. Though a series of circumstances that are left unexplained and inexplicable, Max ends up being thrown into the fray and forging an uneasy alliance with Furiosa and her companions as they try to evade not just Joe and his "War-Boys" but various other gangs that populate the area.
It's a credit to this film that it lasts two hours but doesn't drag things out with excessive focus on plot and characterisation, with there being only the slightest of ambiguities to muddle up the non-action side of things (most prominently displayed through the continued presence of Nicholas Hoult as Nux, an especially excitable War-Boy who wants nothing more than to make his chief proud). Of course, the film is ultimately rather basic when it comes to plot and character development - Nux notwithstanding, you can easily tell the good characters from the bad ones, and the characters are flat enough that any strength they do have is because of the actors' talent. Max isn't an especially deep character - a loner with a troubled past that is occasionally referenced through lightning-quick flashbacks, once again getting the same character arc where his selfish survive-at-all-costs attitude gradually gives way to protecting the innocent from the inhumane. Furiosa gets a few little bits and pieces to distinguish her as being more than just a female clone of Max and Theron does a good job with that material. Nux could easily become annoying - and maybe some will find him annoying anyway - but he's got enough depth to him so that he's fairly tolerable. The same goes for the escaped slaves, who all prove to be considerably more proactive and capable than you'd expect your average damsels in distress to be. The villains are distinctive enough, but they're all pretty basic monsters whose only real strengths are vile bloodymindedness and weird physical appearances.
On the action front, Fury Road definitely delivers. Miller has claimed that the vast majority of the effects in the film are actually practical instead of computer-generated and it definitely shows as cars career across screen and into one another while explosions and stunts happen all over the stark orange landscape. Of course, that means the exceptions to this rule tend to be rather obvious and hard to miss (especially the detail on Furiosa's mechanical arm), but they are rather forgivable in the face of the high-octane pursuits featuring a variety of bizarre vehicles and even more ridiculous-looking occupants. Though most of the action scenes centre on the good characters driving a militarised tanker truck and the bad characters besieging it at every turn, there are usually enough variations on this particular scenario to keep things interesting up until the climax. This even extends to the more outwardly inventive ones, such as Nux strapping an imprisoned Max to the front of his car so as to keep harvesting his blood through an IV (you'd think it'd make sense in context, but not really - guess it's a good excuse for an unusual action sequence, though). Though it may not have the best story or characters to back up its powerhouse pyrotechnics or its two-hour running time (and, without spoiling anything, something about its denouement just feels out-of-place for a Mad Max film), Fury Road is definitely a strong example of what action films once were and could be again. It is worth seeing on a cinema screen (I saw it in 2D, so I can't comment on how it looks in 3D) as it manages to adapt old-school action sensibilities to reflect a much more demanding contemporary audience while also providing something for long-time fans of the original films.