Review: MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD  (ACTION)
4 out of 4 stars
Directed by George Miller
Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Josh Helman, Nathan Jones, Zoe Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Abbey Lee, Megan Gale, Courtney Eaton, John Howard, Richard Carter, iOTA, Angus Sampson
Rated R for intense sequences of violence throughout, and for disturbing images.
120 minutes
Verdict: Two hours full of relentless, riveting action, gorgeous visual panache and surprisingly moving pathos, the Road Warrior returns in better shape than ever with a brilliant method to his madness.
YOU MAY ENJOY MAD MAX: FURY ROAD IF YOU LIKED:
MAD MAX 2: THE ROAD WARRIOR  (1981)
MAD MAX  (1979)
FURIOUS 7  (2015)
TRON: LEGACY  (2012)
THE BOOK OF ELI  (2010)

It's been thirty years since Mad Max's last big screen outing, during which time his now-70-year old creator George Miller has focused his attentions on family fare like BABE and HAPPY FEET, but their latest outing proves without reservations that neither has lost their edge.  MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, the long-delayed fourth film in series that began with a low-budget indie "Ozploitation" flick released in 1979, returns to Max's gear-centric post-apocalyptic world with a new star and new life in a two-hour action-packed thrill ride that you might not have guessed modern Hollywood had in them anymore.  FURY ROAD feels like the kind of movie that shouldn't be new, like an older movie that was ahead of its time, with a pulse-pounding pace and massive action that feels as fresh as can be, but with an older sensibility.  Most importantly however, FURY ROAD is a movie that works on almost every level and is one of the most engaging and fun blockbuster spectacles to have come around in a long time.

In a post-apocalyptic future where worldwide calamities and war have broken down human civilization and made resources like water and fuel precious scarcities, "Mad" Max Rockantasky (Tom Hardy) is a former cop now haunted by the tragic loss of his family.  A loner roaming the vast desert landscape, Max has a run-in in Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), a renegade soldier attempting to take five women, captive brides of the totalitarian desert ruler Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), to freedom and a promised "Land of Many Mothers".  But Immortan Joe, a severely deformed and cruel warlord, will not give up his "breeders" easily and follows pursuit with his bloodthirsty War Boys, so Max agrees to help Furiosa and the desperate brides cross the desert that will either bring hope or spell their doom.
Fans of Mad Max's most famous previous outing, THE ROAD WARRIOR, will be pleased to find that Max's world is no less mad, riddled with spectacular vehicular hybrids, including one that houses a full heavy metal rock band to provide a soundtrack to the chase, as well as an extremely colorful cast of characters with names like "The People Eater", the "Bullet Farmer" and the "Organic Mechanic".  The old Max is here, but FURY ROAD also succeeds as a total revamping of the series that never cared much about continuity anyway, so newcomers will fall in nicely with the standalone story.  The action of course is remarkable, relying on incredible stunts and practical pyrotechnics instead of the CGI order of the day, and the majority of the film's 120 minutes is essentially a high speed car chase.  The raging excitement is nearly relentless, and Miller only occasionally slows things down a bit just enough to let you catch your breath before he takes it away again.  This is the kind of action that elicits laughs of pure joy, and Miller uses his R rating wisely, holding off on the gore until it really counts.

FURY ROAD has a manic energy that goes to 11 with pulsating music and roaring engines that pervade the film, and a sumptuous visual style that defies convention.  The landscapes of Nambia and explosive action are captured beautifully like panels in a comic book (the movie was reportedly planned out shot-by-shot in storyboard form prior to filming), and the frame rate is occasionally sped up or slowed down according to the onscreen action resulting in an appropriately disorienting effect.
Unexpectedly, FURY ROAD also packs quite an emotional punch, which serves to inform the action with real stakes as we get know and care about the band of misfits comprised of our heroes.  Although it is first and foremost an action film, and a spectacular one at that, there is a depth to it in its characters and themes as it depicts a patriarchal, war-torn dystopia, where young men yearn for nothing more than glorious death and women are claimed as property.  The people in this story are as damaged as the world they live in, many of them physically, some of them in their souls, and with nothing to lose they're on a road to greener pastures, but the road is full of spiky cars and flame-spitting guitars.
It's a stunning and delicious visceral experience, a movie to make your blood race and emotions soar as it pounds your senses into wonderful oblivion.  It's a circus, a monster truck rally, an MMA event and a grand opera rolled into one magnificent movie that satisfies on almost every level except sanity.

Images via Warner Brothers