Of course, it isn’t that uncommon for sequels to emerge
after long waits of their own, including an eleven year gap between the second
and third Toy Story films, but three decades? It’s certainly something of a
testament to the popularity and passionate acclaim towards the Mad Max films
that it was able to even be conceived on paper, let alone get green lit.
I can’t consider myself a fan of the original trilogy, as
there’s only one film in that series I actually like, but I do see the appeal
behind it, as well as the tremendous hype and critical adoration this fourth
entry has generated. While I can’t call it the instant action staple that so
many others have…. This movie is such a great time that I don’t care. This is
the equivalent to a steampunk David Lean fever dream… and I love it!
In the sandy and bleak post-apocalyptic wastelands, Max
Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) is a drifter living by one simple creed: survive by any
means. While captured and imprisoned in the territory of tyrannical and
megalomaniacal cultist Immortan Joe, several of Joe’s captive brides, used
solely for creating milk and carrying children, are taken by Joe’s now rogue
driver Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) to find safety beyond his citadel.
As Joe’s forces draw nearer to them, Max becomes an unlikely ally to Furiosa on
the road, each working together to accomplish their own inner goals.
My only real problem with the movie is the title character
himself. As a character, I’ve always found Max to be something of a boring
cipher. Obviously, he’s meant to bear influence to the Man with No Name that
Clint Eastwood popularized in Leone’s spaghetti westerns, but even Blondie had
more of a character for an actor to work with. Tom Hardy does make for a
fantastic fit for Max, and as far as I’m concerned, has already managed with
one film to eclipse Gibson in the role in three films. There’s just something
about what a tremendously stoic and rough exterior he conveys with damaged and
more unstable inner feelings, but that really makes the character seem stronger
than it is. He’s essentially a surrogate for the audience, something of which
we can witness to the events of the film, and is ultimately overshadowed by
every other person in his own movie.
Be that as it may, all of these things seem minor when you
get down to all of this movie’s undeniable strengths as well. The film is
George Miller’s baby from beginning to end, and this is no less apparent in his
writing than his direction. I’ll get to the direction of the film in due time,
but as for the writing, it’s outstanding in how well it combines the best of
both heavy and high-concept thematic elements with bare bones essential action
staging. The film carries numerous shades and allegories towards the influence
and widespread devastation of cults and idols, the desert wastelands acting as
an endless purgatory in every direction, and is also a shockingly feminist film
that treats both genders equally. Okay, so the brides do spend a lot of the
film in skimpy clothing (all colored white to represent purity), but Miller never
treats these characters in distasteful or one note ways.
The film, true to its name, is a very mad one, almost
breathless in its action staging, but knows when to calm down for some more
humanistic lulls with well paced and natural development. When it comes to the
characters, it’s a bit shocking that the title character ultimately ends up
taking the back seat to Charlize Theron’s Furiosa. Much like Max, Furiosa is
also a hardened and intimidating figure, but also shares her own damaged core,
though her actions are driven not by survival, but by redemption. When first we
meet Furiosa, we can see in hindsight just what a tragic and manipulative life
she’s been given in this environment, and like any caring mother, holds onto
some glimmer of hope for asylum not just for herself, but for these young
women.
Also providing unexpected humanity to the proceedings is
Nicholas Hoult as a crazed near death worshipper of Joe obsessed with dying
glorious deaths in battle for the promise of sitting with noble kings and
warriors of Valhalla. It’s actually quite refreshing in this movie of so many
deranged and downright animalistic shells of human beings that we get to see
something as engaging as Hoult’s character, quickly becoming disillusioned of
everything he’s believed for so many years, losing his manic edge to expose a
more sympathetic and morally conflicted man, and driven to achieve his own
redemption and become a noble hero by his own path.
Of course, like I said before, it’s Miller’s creation all
the way, and when his writing is able to invest us in the characters, his
direction is then free to let loose with unabashed creativity and outlandish
mania. The editing of the movie itself is incredibly trippy and nail biting,
cutting the frequent action sequences with non-stop ferocity, and frankly makes
the Fast and Furious movies look like child’s play by comparison. It’s clear
that Miller was given a limitless amount of freedom to do whatever he wanted
with this movie, and goes all out with the expenses he has. This is especially
apparent when it comes to the insane designs of the cars, from cruising cars on
monster truck wheels, buggies covered in spiky metal cages, all the way down to
a car that exists only to carry a metal band whose lead musician plays a flame
spewing electric guitar. There’s no reason Miller needed to include such a
thing, but who cares? It’s awesome either way.
What makes all these things further impressive, and
justifies the alleged 200 million dollar budget, is that almost everything that
we are witnessing on screen is actually happening. In an age where movies are
CGI’d within an inch of their lives, Miller combats all of that with phenomenal
stunt driving and fighting, grounded choreography, and well placed sparing explosions
that seem like a remedy to the Michael Bay fascination with big booms. It’s
also lovely to look at in how it feels like Miller also went giddily nuts with
the use of color, acting as an antidote to the mentality that dark and gritty
movies need bland grays to be taken seriously.
Is Fury Road the next landmark in cinematic action? Not in
my eyes, but for all this movie gets right, there’s simply too much here that
cannot be ignored. Miller not only scores a home run here. He knocks the ball
out of the stadium, and crashing through the windshield of a car parked at the
supermarket next door. I can’t put the insanity, but also pure thematic density
and entertainment value of this movie any more succinctly than that. I dare not
to spoil many of the best bits of the film, which are at their best experiencing
it yourself.
"What a lovely day!"
****1/2 / *****
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