14 Aug Mad Max Review
The Future Belongs to the Mad
In Mad Max: Fury Road, the fourth installment of the famed Mad Max franchise, director George Miller brings us back to his iconic, post-apocalyptic world. In an existence devoid of law and order, an aging dictator and the team of minions he has assembled regulate earth’s few remaining resources. Housed at the Citadel, Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and his army hoard water, soil, seeds; anything necessary for sustaining life, rationing them off to the population to maintain control. Captured by this band of warriors, Max (Tom Hardy) is held prisoner within the confines of this fortress. He sees an opportunity to escape when the Citadel’s Imperator, a headstrong woman named Furiosa (Charlize Theron), hijacks an oil rig and sets off with Immortan’s most precious cargo: his wives. Her quest to return to her homeland and bring the women to safety results in a death-defying trek through the desert where she and Max attempt to restore order and apply justice.
Mad Max: Fury Road is in every way the ideal franchise reboot: refreshing and modern, yet still familiar enough to appeal to generations of fans. The singular artistic vision from George Miller is, at times, beautiful to behold. The action and stunt sequences are unparalleled in their focus and drive. Never does the content become monotonous; like the plot’s car chase, so is the forward motion of the action, making its 120-minute run time nearly fly by. The world so vividly created by Miller is colored by stellar performances from its two stars. Tom Hardy is perfect as the film’s leading “man of few words.” His Max is full of guts, sadness, and perseverance. Charlize Theron is perhaps the most dazzling one-armed woman to grace moviegoers. Doing so much with so little, Theron creates in Furiosa a memorable female leading lady with strength and beauty, courage and wisdom. The duo carries the weight of the storyline while still maintaining the energy and intensity of the film’s combat.
As one of the best-reviewed films of the summer, Mad Max: Fury Road proves that there is still a place for artistic expression within the modern day blockbuster. Far from the mindless action-adventure prequels and sequels that have become synonymous with summer movie watching, the film shines as an example of originality. A visually stunning thrill ride through a desperate and desolate landscape, Mad Max: Fury Road will entertain and challenge audiences worldwide.
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This guest blog was written by Colleen Shields.