After 30 years, the blockbuster post-apocalyptic franchise returns to rev up the engines and ride like hell. Not having much knowledge of what Mad Max was, it still isn't hard to see the influence the series has had over the years. Naturally, die-hard fans were psyched to see its return, and the film has been considered all but flawless by most critics, citing a 98% approval rate on RottenTomatoes. I was impressed with the positive buzz the film was garnering, and I was liking what I was seeing from the trailers: the action, the craziness, and the out-of-this-world premise was enticing enough to get me into the theater and check out what all the fuss was about.
The film follows title character Mad Max (Tom Hardy) as he is almost immediately captured by a group of savages known as 'The War Boys' and immediately enslaved as a human blood bag for the weaker of their clan. While this is happening, leading fighter Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) begins to leave for a raid on a neighboring clan to steal gasoline to run many of the clan's trucks, cars, and motorcycles. Little does the clan know that Furiosa is really smuggling five of the clan's resident child bearers from their life of enslavement and bringing them to a female encampment known as 'The Green Place'. When her true plans are discovered, leader of the War Boys Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) rallies all of his forces to chase after her. Desperate to join, sickly War Boy Nux (Nicholas Hoult) straps his bloodbag Max to the front of his car and joins in the race to get to Furiosa. What ensues is a chaotic fight along the Fury Road, and it's quite the show.
Before I talk about what I didn't like, I do want to clarify that Mad Max: Fury Road is a good movie; it has high-stakes action, emotional depth, and great characters. Plus, like I said, the spectacle is something that I haven't personally seen yet, which is hard to say nowadays.
However, even with the emotional depth the film provided, there isn't much there. I felt, myself, that the movie was kind of simple in terms of the premise: warriors take girls, everyone chases, car fights, car fights, more car fights, heroes win. It's pretty thin in terms of a story, and that didn't really help in my case. Without a gripping narrative to keep me engaged, it got to the point where the action of the movie felt slightly overwhelming; like if you had a lot of tortilla chips, but didn't have a lot of guacamole or salsa. The film felt empty of dialogue, which it was, and that kind of wore me out since dialogue was replaced with fire and loud music.
Another thing is I was surprised where the emotional depth came from, which wasn't our main madman. Imperator Furiosa was, essentially, our main character for the epic, with Mad Max being sidelined. I don't have a problem with this fact, quite the contrary: Furiosa is a compelling and interesting heroine, someone who you root for. She's great, and Theron did a fantastic job bringing her to life. However, when you examine her brilliance, there is a bit of a downturn from her fellow cast. Hardy could have played this role in his sleep as far as the pure acting goes, which I found a bit disappointing considering he's clamoring for a franchise he can sink his teeth into. Hoult as Nux is definitely crazy, and probably embodies the spirit of the movie the best, which made me laugh. Nux was really the comic relief of the movie, which I was asking for since mostly what I was getting was car, desert, and BOOM!
I do have to give credit to the production value, though. The cars looked cool, the desert looked lifeless (and yet, became a character on its own in that sense) and the atmosphere was ecstatic. George Miller really painted a picture of how quickly people can lose their minds in order to survive, and I picked up the message he may have been trying to convey: in order for survival, we must work together. No one can get through life alone, and no one should. It's weird that, after everything Max had to do in the film, he still ended up going off on his own. I don't know, maybe it was due to the fact that the leads didn't get along, maybe it was because the studio doesn't want Furiosa in the sequel, but I just saw it as being a bit of an unrealistic reaction of Max to just up and leave after all they had been through; after all, he told Furiosa his name when he thought she was going to die, but then he just up and leaves her? I don't buy it.
In the end, I did have a good time watching Mad Max: Fury Road. The characters were fun, the action was spectacular, and the environment was an excellent backdrop for this tale. Had it not been for the over-stuffing of the action and the thin storyline, I would have gone to see this movie numerous times. However, now I may only watch it again to engage with someone else on their thoughts. And I'm sure when that time comes, it will be a lovely day.
Rating: 8/10
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