Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

I’m about the most clueless person when it comes to Mad Max.  Maybe its shocking or maybe it isn’t, I have a hard time getting through the first movie of the franchise. I’ve tried over and over again and I just can’t stay awake to finish up the second half of the movie (it might be more than that). It could also be that I just fall asleep in a lot of stuff now and it doesn’t even matter the quality. Its one of the reasons Mad Max: Fury Road wasn’t quite as appealing to me as it was for a lot of Mad Max fans, my husband included and its also because of him that I ended up buying the movie. With that said, its time that I should give this one a watch since I’ve heard its fantastic.

Let’s check it out! 🙂

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

 

Director: George Miller

Cast: Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Josh Helman, Zoe Kravitz, Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley

A woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in postapocalyptic Australia in search for her home-land with the help of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshipper, and a drifter named Max.-IMDB

 Jumping in at a revival of a franchise is a little weird.  For one, I don’t hold that love for Max that some of you franchise lovers might even if its not Mel Gibson playing it anymore.  Plus, I don’t like going into movies that everyone has hyped up a lot because I usually don’t like it quite as much and it makes me have such high expectations.  Mad Max: Fury Road is kind of a mixed bag.  I do think its a very entertaining movie and maybe its just the fact that every time I sit down to watch it, its after a really long day of work and I’d prefer to be sleeping but I did want to get this one done before Oscars (which is this coming Sunday) so I gave it one final go.  I’ve started the movie like 2 times before so I have the first 30 minutes down already and I just continued on.  This is what I realized, while this is a high octane movie and one that has some fantastic action scenes and production design which it boasts quite a bit at the first 30 minutes, it is still rather “slow”.  But the rest of the movie after that point the first chase scene slows down or whatnot, it gets to a point that things pull together and the story it wants to tell is pretty great.

Mad Max: Fury Road is a thrill ride.  There is no doubt about it.  It packs in some great themes and a really grandiose post-apocalyptic world.  I pondered on what the first 30 minutes was trying to show.  I mean the first car chase scene even.  Because that opening with Max being caught and trying to escape was so awesome.  We get to embrace Max and what haunts him. Even the introduction of the tyrannical ruler of Immortan Joe was done well because we get he controls life in essence because he controls water and calls it an addiction which makes his life a contradiction most likely. What I’m saying is that its a sophisticated post-apocalyptic world, one for the adults and not the teens that we usually see hovering around the theatres of late.  It gets you even know what sort of person Immortan Joe is.  That’s already two of the front runners.  But it doesn’t stop there. The most inspiring roles go to Nicholas Hoult as a war boy who just makes you sympathise and feel a little weirded out by his brainwash of believing this Immortan Joe and his Valhalla and witnessing him and all that jazz. And well, who is the rebel here?  Its Charlize Theron playing Furiosa.  What else is there to say, she is incredible! As for what that car chase bit before it slows down a little might just be showing the brainwash level these War Boys have and their beliefs that they’ve been lead to believe which are so off track and far gone and well, to introduce the second plot of why Furiosa is running.

Everyone seems to be looking for something here.  The story is about getting these ladies out and finding the Green Place.  Max joins in for the ride.  The ladies are Immortan Joe’s rebellious wives who want out.  They don’t want to be his objects so they run, hoping for a better tomorrow to control what they want.  Furiosa (and maybe even Max) is looking for some kind of redemption while Nux (Nicholas Hoult) goes on a journey of his own as he sees the truth but in reality he is the most loyal character here for what he chooses to follow. This gives the story a decent amount of character development (which is something I love).

However, the show stealer here is not even the great cast but the production value from the appearances of the characters and the War Boys, even that guitar playing dude strung up on the mission (who is actually super disgusting to look at up close). The production design and the cinematography and just how its all set up.  Its so pleasing and atmospheric.  If you have seen it,  that crow place gave me the chills.  The vehicles, war rigs, action scenes: it was a lot of fun and completely entertaining to watch.

Overall, Mad Max: Fury Road is mostly a thrilling and entertaining movie done with so much heart.  It has a great cast with some fantastic well-developed characters.  The action is awesome and cinematography is pleasing.  My only issue was the little sequence in the beginning that dragged on for too long but it was overshadowed by the fantastic story that followed when the plot thickened and things got all crazy. However, I can’t help to wonder whether Immortan Joe should even come to discussion since it doesn’t seem to matter.  He was the tyrant who causes this whole thing and who they need to escape from but is he a meaningful villain? Was it even needed? I don’t know.  He’s just incredibly uncomfortable to look at, as are a lot of the villainous cast.  While I think that this movie is awesome, there is an unsettling feeling.  Maybe its the fact that it didn’t live up to the hype that everyone else has.

Have you seen Mad Max: Fury Road? What do you think about it?