Mad Max: Fury Road Review

With the summer film season of 2015 in full swing and The Avengers craze starting to wind down, it is time for many film-goers to look forward to what lies over the horizon.  The next film to come careening over the hills in high speed and a hard kick in the face is George Miller’s highly anticipated and directorial return to films as well as the series that inspired the action genre for decades now called Mad Max: Fury Road.  It has been about 30 years since the last adventure with the lone wanderer and here comes another adventure set within that post-apocalyptic universe with Tom Hardy in the lead role this time along with a strong, well developed supporting cast to provide the conflict and drama for this film.  It is a stirring, inspiring return to the series with imaginative designs to action, sets, and costumes as well as straightforward, intense pacing to the editing that makes this one of the most exhilarating fun chase films you will see all year.  Does it measure up to the hype surrounding the film or does it have a few dirt spots that hold it back from being a bonafide classic? Well, let’s see how the Road Warrior has been managing since his absences all those decades ago.

The story for this film is about as simple yet layered in details through the visuals immersing us into the culture and mindset of the world these characters live in.  It seems to take place in between the series but doesn’t commit to any sort of continuity and instead, presents a new adventure that happens to feature Max (Tom Hardy) in it.  He is run down and captured by members of the gang called War Boys where an enthusiastic and determined member of the gang named Nux (Nicholas Hoult) uses him as a blood bag as they are lead by the tyrant cult leader known as Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne who returns as another villain in this series previously as Toe-Cutter in the 1979 original revenge classic).  This leads to Furiosa (Charlize Theron) driving an armored truck filled with cargo for a routine route to retrieve gas, allowing her to betray the group for her real mission, to get a cargo of concubines away from the gang and to a safe haven with Max dragged along and ending up being a part of the struggle to fight and survive in a relentless chase to search for a new home.

It seems paper thin on the surface but there are some very deep, profound emotional themes and arcs explored here particularly in searching for a place to call home and of the necessity for idealized birth to insure the future longevity of their tribe.  These themes are expressed through the character arcs within Furiosa and Nux who experience the emotional conflicts and challenges of these themes head on in different ways that fit within their written roles in the story.  As for Max, he seems to be in the same role as the last 2 films where he moves the adventure along and carries along the group in unexpected ways that are reminisce of the heroic qualities he once displayed in his youth.   The flashback do feel out of place at times and seem to be loaded with character changes and actions that Max may have done in the last 3 films but it never really brings about anything interesting in the main plot and serves to be nothing more than a footnote to re-acquaint us with the character.  Despite the odd approach to re-introducing and developing Max himself for both old and newcomers into the series, this is an action film on the surface but it is a grand, epic adventure story that has the characters go through hell and back searching for a home with Max helping out along the way.

Even with all of these elements in motion and on point, it won’t matter if the performances aren’t up to snuff but in this case, there are some truly fantastic, memorable performances in the entire cast despite at least one unremarkable effort from a lead character.  The heart and soul of this story resides in two of the characters with Furiosa played by Charlize Theron with such a commanding gusto and confidence as well as her capability to handle the emotional arc of this character extremely well.  This is supplemented even more by Nicholas Hoult’s performance as Nux by providing a fanatical yet sympathetic and tragic quality to his character as well as going through the most drastic changes that makes him quite memorable in the role.  The villains throughout are truly magnificently vicious and creatively designed but the main baddie Joe played by Hugh Keays-Byrne is absolutely captivating in playing a crazed, tyrannical leader in search of his concubine and further adds a great sense of threat to the film.  The only performance that didn’t resonate with me as a viewer is Tom Hardy as Max who portrays the physical and survival prowess of the character with ease but lacks any form of personable charm that Mel Gibson exuded in the role many years ago.  That could be down to the script not giving him much to work with or his character being an afterthought but that point that is being made here is that he does admirable job with the character but is not given much room or time to make the character into his own that Gibson had for about 3 films.  Otherwise, the cast is relatively strong throughout with the well thought, empathetic arcs and motives for the characters with actors giving it their all other than Hardy’s commendable if underwhelming take on the iconic Road Warrior.

It is time to move away from the story and performance components of the film and into the meat of it, the technical aspects from action set pieces to the cinematography/art direction/editing/and music overall.  For the action sequences in this film, the best way to describe all of it in a nutshell is completely inventive and exhilarating insanity of fun to watch the spectacle unfold in front of your eyes.  It uses both practical and the right amount of CGI to create moments of wonder and excitement within the action set pieces that excite and draw us into the craziness of the world, thanks to the sharp editing and meticulously captured shots that really gives the action weight and believability unlike CGI fully induced action from other films.  This makes for some of the most exciting, creative action driven film to have been released this year alone involve total vehicular carnage and destruction to the max.  There is the matter of how it is staged and plotted throughout the entire film and it really is amazing to see an old fashioned director with no doubt a very skilled and synergized teams making all of this mayhem effortless 30 years after the fact.  It is a testament to the old and new ways of action films by finding that happy medium and satisfying everyone who sees this film by choice or chance.

This is also one of the most gorgeous films to watch in the vibrant use of the desert locales as well as CGI and digital matte painting to establish each of the homes of these tribes and different sections of the locale everyone ends up in.  The framing of the cameras is really thought out by giving enough space with the wide angle shots showcasing the world and far out designs of the raiders and their cars as well as a freaking guitar driven war chariot that is the most ridiculous yet awesome thing for anyone born of the 80’s to witness as the film progresses.  There are some really brilliantly crafted settings in what could have been a one note location with the cool use of color filters and lighting to truly flesh out the world surrounding these characters.  Each costume design is completely bonkers at times and all the more amazing for it as the villain Joe has this great, threatening warlord look to his costume along with the mask covering his face as well as a slew of other designs that are delightfully weird and grotesque in a very fun, entertaining sort of way.  Furiosa is also quite another design achievement in of itself with the blend with the rugged, war torn look for her overall costume with a very simple yet beautifully blended VFX (visual effect) of her missing arm to a robotic prosthetic arm that is just a great steam punkish look for her. Everyone else is designed appropriately to their characters as well as the concubines other than a few of them being meh in the roles while Max looks properly badass and threatening in his trademark, worn out leather getup about halfway to near the end of the film.  The artistic direction of this film is completely amazing and the attention that was giving to it really makes this world come to life.

It is also worth mentioning the use of editing in this film as well as the overall score of this film as there are few points to make about these technical elements.  It is very tight in the way the action set pieces are paced and escalate to absolute lunacy without feeling dragged out or even disjointing to see over an extended period of time since it makes up the majority of the runtime.  There is a stylized, evenly paced rhythm to the way the action scenes play out and the quiet, visual scenes tell the story of this world without having to exposit too much dialogue.  That is also another amazing achievement on display here where the emphasis on characters emotions, movement, and actions really informs us of who they are and how they live in this world allowing for the attentive film goer to really understand these characters emotionally rather than them stating this through on the nose dialogue thanks to the sharp editing on display for this film.  As for the score, it was functional and complements the action and visual story well enough but lacks the grand, bombastic orchestra of the original films particularly the second adventure The Road Warrior.  This is editing to a high standard and one to match for future action films to top in the years to come especially action films with vehicle chase done expertly and real enough to be jaw-dropping to watch.

That seems to be as much praise as you can give to a film that really displays the mesmerizing power of simplicity with its narrative story and structure.  It is about as remarkable as the second adventure in this series but also completely inventive and different enough to be another standout entry in Max’s adventure.  They properly avoid the downtime and slow pacing of the previous film Beyond Thunderdome and made the film fast, exciting, and fun to enjoy for any fan of the genre and series.  This is one relentless chase to achieve the goal with a path paved in the dangers and trails of hell over it and it serves as a memorable, astounding return for the lone wanderer known only as Max, The Road Warrior.

Score: ****1/2 out of *****  
This is an intensely exciting, insane adventure that delivers on the incredible, expertly crafted action set pieces and powerful, visual storytelling exuded by the sharp cinematography, editing, and the powerhouse of the cast that really make their characters remarkable.  Max is really the weak point but not because of the actor but the material given was not meaty enough for Tom Hardy to craft his own take on the character that Mel Gibson was given even in his first outing as the iconic anti-hero.  Thankfully, the supporting cast from Theron to Hoult are truly superb in their roles, providing memorable humane performances as well as the awesome villain hounding them throughout the film from Keays-Byrne returning in another captivating villainous turn after being Toecutter in the original film.  Mad Max: Fury Road is a stunning return for the character of Max and only time will tell if we will get another amazing entry from this adventure with maybe another film for Hardy to finally provide his own take on the Road Warrior himself.