Director: George Miller
Distributor: Warner Bros Home Entertainment
Duration: 120 minutes
Mad Max: Fury Road (Blu-ray) – Movie Review
It hasn’t been long since we let Max roam around the desolate wasteland we call Earth and we’re already back to test his strength once again. The Mad Max ‘hype’ has been real since the series that started in 1979 was brought back to life quite recently, with the new installment Fury Road. We were already quite sure it would be a visual spectacle but we weren’t all too sure about the story value of this new action packed flick. Keep your arms and legs inside the vehicles at all times, things are about to get explosive.
The world has been turned into a giant desert where it’s all about food, water and oil. Those who hold those key items, might just rule the world. People tend to gather around those who have possessions and worship them and even sacrifice their own lives for glory. Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) on the other hand is more of a drifter, who prefers to be alone. Sadly, even though he doesn’t really bother anyone else, the troops of Immortan Joe (Hugh Kaeys-Byrne) decide that his car would make a fine addition to their convoy, with another driver than Max, that is. Max will serve as a blood supply for Nux (Nicholas Hoult), one of Immortan’s suicidal War Boys, who sacrifice themselves in the midst of battle hoping to ride through the gates of ‘Walhalla’.
Short after Max has been captured, Immortan Joe sends out his imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) to head out for extra supplies. Whilst the imperator is heavily cheered upon, during their supply run, it seems that Furiosa had other things in mind, namely her escape, together with the locked up ‘wives’ of Immortan Joe. When Immortan Joe discovers they are diverging from their original route and that his precious wives are gone, he decides to send a giant convoy to track them down, while accompanying the horde of vehicles himself. Thanks to this, Max gets a breather, as Nux takes him along, albeit strapped to the car. When the convoy tries to follow the war rig Furiosa is in through a ferocious storm, Max has the chance to escape when Nux’s vehicle crashes. This gives Max the chance to catch up with the stranded war rig, in order to find his ticket out of there. Nonetheless, Max lacks the proper social skills to handle things properly.
Overall it’s easy to say that the movie is one big visual spectacle, as it is simply one giant sequence of action scenes. The story about the escape of Max, Furiosa and the birthmothers is fairly negligible but it serves as a decent foundation for the gigantic battle on the sandy roads. This movie is actually all about the action and the spectacle and thus in that sense it does a great job.
Even though the movie has got Max’ name in the title, Max tends to feel like a side-character more than the main star of the movie. His skills seem to be rather lacking at times and it seems that Furiosa and the desperate Nux receive a lot more attention than the rugged drifter. Nonetheless, thanks to those characters, it becomes less apparent, as they will be able to entertain you throughout the explosive action scenes.
Interesting techniques were used to give the movie its own unique style and look. The washed off colors add a lot towards the destruction-of-the-world-feeling and at certain times they seemingly speed things up to give it that ‘drugged’ vibe. Both techniques suit the movie perfectly, especially in combination with the dirty look everything has. That being said, even though there are many scenes that are filled with CGI, it’s still fun to know that all the cars onscreen have actually been built for the movie.
Acting performances, even though there is not that much dialogue in the entire movie, are certainly on par with what one would expect of a blockbuster. Even though the characters might feel underdeveloped, the overall personalities are well portrayed by the cast. That being said, Nicholas Hoult does a stellar job in portraying the confused war boy Nux and he shows a lot of evolution throughout the entire film. Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron play decent opposites, who learn to grow closer, as one would expect.
As expected, there are quite a few extra features on the movie, about Mad Max, the birthmothers, deleted scenes and so on, but one of the most amusing specials is the fairly lengthy explanation about the cars they built for the movie. You’ll ‘get to know’ all of the special vehicles and out of what parts some of them consist. Certainly a great feature for all the grease monkeys out there.
Conclusion
Mad Max: Fury Road is truly a grand spectacle when it comes to the visual prowess of the movie. Whilst the story may lack in certain departments and Max is shoved to the background for quite a bit, the movie really excels in how everything looks and ‘feels’. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for an elaborate plot, you might be sorely disappointed. If you’re looking for one of the most explosive successions of action scenes, this movie will truly make you mad with pleasure.
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