MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – The Review

Thirty years after writer/director George Miller led us all to believe his Mad Max franchise had run out of gas with MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME, he resurrects the Road Warrior with a larger budget, a bigger crew, and more vehicles to destroy. Well worth the wait, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is pure dynamite, with enough wit and ingenuity to put all recent action films to shame.

Not a sequel nor prequel nor reboot, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is simply another installment in the post-apocalyptic chronicles of Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy replacing “Mad Mel” Gibson). He’s introduced as a man haunted by flashbacks of past barbarity, mostly involving a young child he failed to protect. He’s seized by a band of pale-faced desert outlaws known as War Boys, and taken to The Citadel, a settlement where his uninfected blood will be gathered. The War Boys do the bidding of their masked ruler, Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne – who played Toecutter in the original MAD MAX 36 years ago – not that anyone would recognize him but it’s a cool touch). Max seems doomed until he meets Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), a hard-bitten, one-armed driver who has organized an escape for herself and Joe’s five wives (I guess he’s Mormon). Wanting his spouses  (including Riley Keough, Zoë Kravitz, and a pregnant Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) back, Joe and his band of deranged toadies give chase. Max helps Furiosa in the road rage scrimmage against these degenerates as they sprint their way across the desolate Wasteland to the safe oasis known as Green Place.

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is the movie every action has been waiting for since THE ROAD WARRIOR and this time no one will be disappointed. Director Miller stages his film as one long, gonzo action set piece, mostly involving custom vehicles of death barreling down deserted post-apocalyptic highways at breakneck speeds. Miller’s adherence to practical effects makes CGI-neutered noise like FURIOUS 7 look removed and low-rent. Some of MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – the sand storm and Curiosa’s left arm – are CG-enhanced but when you see out-there vehicular carnage and stunts on an epic scale – motorcycles flying over huge trucks in order to drop fire bombs on top while actors balance precariously between vehicles – there’s a palpable sense of danger because you know that’s for real. The action has none of the confused visual sense so prevalent in movies like FURIOUS 7 and the Transformers franchise that use ridiculous fast editing that makes keeping track of who is where or doing what during a fast-cut sequence nearly impossible.

In keeping with Gibson’s precedent, Hardy’s Max doesn’t talk much. He looks ragged and disheveled, his leather jacket dusty and cracked, his face covered at first with a Bane-like mask. Hardy does as good a job as anyone could, but my one complaint about MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is that I miss Gibson. Mel is 59, hardly too old to repeat this role (Harrison Ford was still playing Indy at 66), and his familiar, haunted Max would have made this already-great film even better (and would have turned around his self-imposed career slump). But Theron’s Furiosa is really the film’s true center. The actress is terrific and gets as much screen time as Hardy, maybe more, and its Furiosa’s quest that is the driving force of the story. The R rating doesn’t quite seem justified. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is violent and intense but seems to be cut around the really gruesome stuff, as if they were shooting for a PG-13. But that’s not something I even thought about until the movie was over, as Miller brilliantly sustains the edge-of-your-seat 120-minute chase with crisp editing, sharp photography by John Seale, and a pounding music score by Junkie XL. Nothing is spared in MAD MAX: FURY ROAD and the sheer inventiveness of it demands repeat viewings, so buckle up, spray-paint your mouth silver, and enjoy the ride.

5 of 5 Stars