Mad Max: Fury Road (Review)

“Oh what a day! WHAT A LOVELY DAY!”

Mad Max: Fury Road

Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi

Directed By: George Miller

Full disclosure: I have just returned from my first viewing of the movie and it is 1:30 in the morning and I am running on pure adrenaline from this insane ride. I need to get this down while the movie is fresh in my head, although every frame of this movie will be forever engraved in the fabric of my mind and never forgotten. What George Miller has brought to life is what I believe to be one of the greatest cinematic spectacles of all time, at least that I’ve been able to witness in my short life. It has everything that has made going to the movies my favorite part of the summer and then some.

The plot is fairly simple, Furiosa (Charlize Theron) is enacting a plan long in the making when she decides to use the regularly scheduled gas run to sneak out a group of young girls. We are in a post-apocalyptic world where water and gasoline are the most treasured resources and a ruthless man, Immortan Joe (The Toe Cutter himself, Hugh Keays-Byrne) controls the supply in a colony called The Citadel. The group of girls Furiosa is trying to break free are being kept by Joe as his personal brides whose main purpose is to provide babies, so you can see why they have decided to go AWOL. As for our title character Max, played by Tom Hardy, after a series of unfortunate events he finds himself paired with these women on the run. Although trusting strangers goes against all of their better judgement they know the alternative is far worse. Hot on their trail is a band of mutant psychopaths, all hellbent on bringing back the brides and killing all traitors.

Tom Hardy does an excellent job stepping into the shoes of Max, previously played by Mel Gibson, to bring back to life one of the greatest action heroes of all time. He says maybe 50 words the entire movie and it’s more than enough. Simply put: he’s bad-ass. That being said and as I’m sure you have all heard, this isn't entirely his movie. His may be the title character and the one movie fans around the world adore but by the end of Fury Road the movie is all Charlize Theron’s. She completely owns this movie from start to finish and is easily one of the best female action heroes we have seen in a long time. Her character Furiosa is given just the right amount of back story to make you feel her pain and wish for her vengeance.

The action of this movie speaks for itself, all I can really tell you is to go see the movie. It’s unbelievable what Miller has brought to life, a true vision only he could see. The movie is more or less a two hour car chase through the wastelands that will mystify you. We know from the previous Max movies however that Miller can create action bliss so its the characters in fury Road I want to give a shout out. This one breaks the mold of the previous three of having one dimensional characters thrown into an action epic and while Max is still the same cold road warrior we know and love he is surrounded by all sorts of interesting people. As mentioned already Theron’s character steals the show, shes a kick-ass woman with a terminator arm and it is just awesome. We also get a little peek into the other side of the fight with Nux. A mutant, slowly dying from the radiated wastelands who finds himself in the fight. Nicholas Hoult plays him bringing some serious acting brass to an area previously left fairly cold in the earlier movies (Minus The Toecutter, of course. He is just awesome). Keays-Byrne is ruthless as Immortan Joe along with great support from Rosie Huntington-Whitely, Josh Helman, Zoe Kravitz and more.

I don’t think I could spoil this movie even if I wanted to, I could give you a scene by scene rundown and you’d still have to see the movie to believe it and even then you’d be amazed this was ever made. I’m amazed this movie was ever made. If you are familiar with the previous Mad Max films, especially The Road Warrior (don’t worry no spoilers even if you haven’t) then you know a big part of what made them a huge part of film history were the amazing car chases done with actual stuntmen and practical effects. Every time you saw a car flip, or explode or whatever you knew it was actually being done. Miller brings it all back for Fury Road and on a scale ten times that of the greatest moments of any of the predecessors. Go see this movie and make sure it is on as big of a screen as you can find. It is truly a spectacle that should be experienced by all movie fans. Lets make this movie a hit you guys, we need more movies of its kind.

As always, thanks for reading! I am Zach Who Watches Movies and you can find me on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later