Mad Max Fury Road film review
Mad Max Fury Road Banner (Final) by DevanGill devangill.deviantart.com
Tittle: Mad Max: Fury Road
Directed by: George Miller
Written by: George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nico Lathouris
Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne
With Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Zoë Kravitz, Abbey Lee, and Courtney Eaton
Run Time: 120 minutes
Rated: R for intense sequences of violence throughout and disturbing images
Release Date: May 15, 2015
Review by Zak Kneipp
Surely by now many of you have heard rumblings of the return of George Miller’s titular character in the Mad Max series made famous by Mel Gibson. Indeed Mad Max: Fury Road has exploded onto the scene, taken helm by its new Max, Tom Hardy, to mass critical success. Garnering an unbelievable ninety-Nine percent fresh rating on rotten tomatoes at the time of its release Fury Road has seemingly lived up to its predecessors in a big way. However the story of Mad Max started long ago. Even longer than the fifteen years it took to bring the current film to fruition.
Here’s a quick retrospective of each of the original trilogy. For you hardcore Mad Max fans or anyone who needs a brush up on some Max history. If you want the meat of the review scroll down past the spoilers banner to see the Fury Road segment.
In 1979 George Miller simultaneously wrote and directed Mad Max. An edge of the apocalypse thriller set in the near future where society is on the brink of breakdown. Gangs of marauding bikers and motor heads roam the Australian outback. The only protection society has from the barbaric criminals are a dwindling police force of skilled leather clad “interceptor” officers led by their top drivers; best friends Goose and Max. A maniacal gang member named Nightrider is terrorizing the streets on a high speed chase with the Interceptors. Max picks up the pursuit and soon Nightrider loses control of his car and crashes to a fiery death.
In retaliation for the death of Nightrider his fellow gang members lead by Toecutter wage a war upon the officers they deem responsible. Toecutter sees that Goose is burned beyond recognition. The gang then takes to terrorizing Max and his family eventually running down Max, his young wife, and their toddler son, Sprog, in the middle of the road. Max recovers from his wounds and steals the high powered fuel injected Interceptor to take his revenge; Setting out to roam the deteriorating roads a Warrior with nothing to lose. This is the backstory for what would become the Mad Max trilogy of films that preceded the blockbuster that is the current installment in Fury Road.
What would follow Mad Max would become the most recognizable and esteemed installment of the series in Mad Max 2 known in the U.S. as The Road Warrior.
Set some time after the events of the first film we find Max even farther out into the barren wastelands roaming the highway in search of gasoline to fuel his interceptor. A scavenger on the run from the wasteland warlord Lord Humungous. Max finds himself tangled in a plot to help a small group of people escape their oil mining compound and free themselves of the warlords terrorizing reach.
Then of course there was the even more despot Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
Max, now interceptorless due to its destruction in Road Warrior, is swept up in the middle of a colony of lost children who have mistaken him for the pilot of a downed airliner now a legend to their people. Besides this Max is captured by a War Lord played by Tina Turner and forced to work as a slave underground and fight to the death in the caged “Thunderdome”.
Enter Mad Max Fury Road over three decades later.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Possible Spoilers Ahead!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Possible Spoilers Ahead!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Max is forced to help a fleeing war rig full of pregnant slave women to a green mecca not seen in years. Pursued by the War Lord Immortan Joe, Hugh Keays-Byrne, and his large war party Max engages in one giant car chase. Epic and full of maddening glorious fury.
The newest installment seems to take place before the Road Warrior as Max is in possession of his interceptor once again. Director and creator George Miller offers a more vague idea of the timeline in interviews, leading up to and after, the films release stating it is supposed to be following the legend of Mad Max the Road Warrior; therefore there is no linear timeline to follow as he never intended there to be one… however if you have ever seen at least the first two films you would know they are connected to a linear timeline. This is but a minor issue as we are also told that this is absolutely supposed to be the same Max made famous by Mel Gibson.
Though theories abound that this is actually the feral child who took a liking to Gibson’s Max in the second film. See the link below for more of that theory!
http://nerdist.com/mad-max-fan-theory-will-make-you-want-to-see-fury-road-again/
Fury Road has been met with widespread acclaim from fans and critics alike. Don’t be fooled though. This is not a straight Mad Max film. This is more a film focused on Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron). A general of sorts in the warlords “army”. She is on a mission of redemption. To save the sex slaves who are forced to breed future warlords. Furiosa bring them to her home she calls the green place. They happen to run across Max when he is thrown into the chase against his will. He soon realizes his only way out is to help the runaways and perhaps find a little redemption of his own.
With that Mad Max Fury Road destroyed box office expectations and revived a long gestating film franchise. A simple film concept with no script and instead shot entirely from story boarded concept art. This film was originally titled Mad Max: Furiosa and it makes sense as Max has very little to say besides grunts and mumbling. Still a great performance from all!
–WHAT NOT TO MISS–
The multiple easter eggs to the previous films. Including the music box, the Gyro Captains leather helmet and goggles, and the many hidden weapons.
Everything from Max’s costume to the maddening visions he is stricken with.
The Return of original film antagonist in his new villain role of Immortan Joe
Really there is just too much to add so…
–OVERALL OPINION–
This film is a masterpiece from a visionary writer director. If you loved any of the original three films do yourself a favor and see this one. Even if you have never seen the original films and just need a break neck, high octane, dystopian, vehical driven action film. This is you film. Out now on Bluray and online streaming.
Zak’s Rating; ***** 5/5 Run don’t walk - see this film now!