Mad Max: Fury RoadAt the end of the world, sanity is a luxury few can afford. Mad Max: Fury Road is a story set after the events of a nuclear apocalypse, where the world has become a vast desert, and people have been reduced to warring tribes and nomads. Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) is caught by a clan of zealous warriors led by the aged tyrant with an artificial lung, Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), who extols his own unique gospel of bloodshed. When his lieutenant, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), goes rogue and absconds with five of his "breeding wives", Max gets swept up in the middle of their brutal war.
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Mad Max: Fury Road is the fourth entry in the Mad Max series of films, which began all the way back in 1979, with this entry released thirty years after the last entry, and Tom Hardy assumes the role once played by Mel Gibson. What makes this interesting is that it's very uncommon for an established franchise to release a sequel after such a long stretch of time; these days, the words "reboot" or "relaunch" are more commonly applied. Max's flashbacks and visions of his murdered wife and child haunt him, memories which prey on his thoughts. And while Max purports to be self-serving, this guilt and his conscience inevitably drive him to more noble ends than most of his fellow inhabitants in the wasteland that the world has become. The reason for a return to the Mad Max mythos could be any number of possibilities; however, Mad Max: Fury Road is a high-octane action film driven by adrenaline, literally and figuratively. From the start of the film, the movie proceeds along a breakneck pace, with Max's abduction, branding, and due to his blood type, his enslavement as a "blood bag" for a young War Boy named Nux (Nicholas Hoult), who longs for a glorious death in battle so he may join his "redeemer", Immortan Joe, in Valhalla. Immortan Joe has effectively been tricked by Furiosa, who stows away the five women in her War Rig, sent out ostensibly to acquire bullets and gasoline, but secretly to smuggle the women to her childhood home, which she calls the "Green Place". Immortan Joe's efforts to reclaim the women he has kept as property to give him a son includes a chase, with Max being positioned at the front of Nux's hot rod, like a ship's mast, enduring the chaos surrounding him from which he is unable to escape. When he does finally get free--and a chance to breathe--he stumbles upon the women, and for their mutual benefit, the two eventually form an uneasy alliance to survive the rolling thunder of Immortan's convoy of bizarre and menacing engines of destruction.
Mad Max: Fury Road is a thrilling film, one with an embarrassment of jaw-dropping stunts and special effects, where the action takes center stage. The movie is packed with massive set pieces, notably the abundance of scenes of car combat and outlandish, vivid vehicles and costumes for this post-apocalyptic vision of the world. There are multiple scenes where the War Rig is being pursued, and the assailants leap from moving vehicles to get at the truck, hurling explosive javelins and mounting it by using long, bendable poles. Desert bandits ride around on dirt bikes with tribal helmets. The War Boys cover themselves with white dust, and spray chrome onto their faces as a sign of honor. And yes, that guy is playing electric guitar on top of a truck, a guitar that doubles as a flamethrower no less--talk about a "power chord". Mad Max was such an influential cult film, its impact can be felt in a variety of other forms of entertainment. The video game series called "Borderlands" is clearly inspired by the wasteland setting and presence of colorful, tribal bandits; for younger audiences weened on the game in lieu of the film, it might appear the opposite on viewing Mad Max: Fury Road. One could argue that Mad Max: Fury Road possesses a more feminist slant than its predecessors, since the emancipation of the women from Immortan Joe is because he has been using them as his property, the claim which is literally written on the vault walls where he keeps them prisoner. More so, Furiosa really is the prime motivator of change from the status quo, leaving her place of captivity to seek out her homeland, and bring others like her there for a better life. It is understood that she sold the women on the idea of this place, so she is the spark of this revolution, as much Abraham Lincoln as Harriet Tubman. And while the motivation for the events which lead to the climactic showdown is Max's idea, Furiosa is clearly the leader of the batch. That is not to say that Max's involvement in the story which shares his name is ancillary. Max is a witness to the new world he is a part of, a traveler and chronicler of the events which will mold the new world from the ashes of the old, and ideally into one which will not be so quick to destroy itself a second time.
Recommended for: Fans of an intense action film filled with a spectacular array of bold stunts, crazy combat, and a really cool, dusty, dilapidated look of rust, motor oil, and war paint; you can practically smell the diesel.
Mad Max: Fury Road is a thrilling film, one with an embarrassment of jaw-dropping stunts and special effects, where the action takes center stage. The movie is packed with massive set pieces, notably the abundance of scenes of car combat and outlandish, vivid vehicles and costumes for this post-apocalyptic vision of the world. There are multiple scenes where the War Rig is being pursued, and the assailants leap from moving vehicles to get at the truck, hurling explosive javelins and mounting it by using long, bendable poles. Desert bandits ride around on dirt bikes with tribal helmets. The War Boys cover themselves with white dust, and spray chrome onto their faces as a sign of honor. And yes, that guy is playing electric guitar on top of a truck, a guitar that doubles as a flamethrower no less--talk about a "power chord". Mad Max was such an influential cult film, its impact can be felt in a variety of other forms of entertainment. The video game series called "Borderlands" is clearly inspired by the wasteland setting and presence of colorful, tribal bandits; for younger audiences weened on the game in lieu of the film, it might appear the opposite on viewing Mad Max: Fury Road. One could argue that Mad Max: Fury Road possesses a more feminist slant than its predecessors, since the emancipation of the women from Immortan Joe is because he has been using them as his property, the claim which is literally written on the vault walls where he keeps them prisoner. More so, Furiosa really is the prime motivator of change from the status quo, leaving her place of captivity to seek out her homeland, and bring others like her there for a better life. It is understood that she sold the women on the idea of this place, so she is the spark of this revolution, as much Abraham Lincoln as Harriet Tubman. And while the motivation for the events which lead to the climactic showdown is Max's idea, Furiosa is clearly the leader of the batch. That is not to say that Max's involvement in the story which shares his name is ancillary. Max is a witness to the new world he is a part of, a traveler and chronicler of the events which will mold the new world from the ashes of the old, and ideally into one which will not be so quick to destroy itself a second time.
Recommended for: Fans of an intense action film filled with a spectacular array of bold stunts, crazy combat, and a really cool, dusty, dilapidated look of rust, motor oil, and war paint; you can practically smell the diesel.