Mad Max: Fury Road Review

After thirty years biding his time in the crazed desert of writer and director George Miller's mind, Mad Max has finally returned. Ladies and gentlemen, this movie is it. It's fantastic. Not even going to try and be fancy with my words or anything. I dare say that Mad Max: Fury Road is the best action movie I have seen in a long time. It is kinetic, frenetic, glorious, and absolutely bonkers. George Miller is truly an auteur, one whose style is so wonderfully unique and distinct. The story of the film is simple. Mad Max must team up with Furiosa to escape the vicious Immortan Joe, racing across the desert and interacting with all sorts of crazed characters. This is a movie that, quite literally, never stops moving. Much of the film is dedicated to the main chase, with various action set pieces coming together to form the chase itself. What I think is so impressive is that the film starts out slow (relatively speaking) in revealing some of the craziness, but then rips back the layers during each subsequent stage of the chase, continually one upping itself in terms of sheer insanity and fun.  The performances in the movie are very well done, with Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron really selling their characters and both proving to be great action stars in their own right. Since it is the main part of the film, it is absolutely worth noting that all of the effects in this movie, aside from digitally removing safety harnesses, putting characters in front of crowds, and the sandstorm, are 100% real. The actors are actually crawling underneath trucks zooming at that speed, cars are actually flipping while exploding, and stuntmen are really flinging themselves through the air like rag dolls. There is something to be said about this type of stunt work, especially in an age of CGI stunts and action set pieces. The scenes feel so much more genuine and believable, lending credence to the idea that CGI is best used sparingly and mixed with practical effects. This also helps to create a more believable world. The sets and costumes are beautifully designed in their own grimy way, which helps to give the audience a form of reference in terms of the back story of the film without taking time away from the chase. I found myself trying to come up with my own stories about how the various tribes in the film had come to be and how they lived in the wasteland. Miller masterfully included these elements, really being able to show a lot without having to say a lot, which is a key aspect to any movie. Most importantly though, this movie is fun to watch. We are so bogged down with the soulless CGI spectacles these days, but this movie felt like Miller really put his heart and soul into it. During the first stage of the chase alone, there was a giant truck with four drummers on it and a guitar player shooting flames out of his guitar neck. This eventually escalates beyond all realms of normal human expectations, as we have men on poles swinging between the cars, men jumping on other cars with exploding spears, a blind man driving forward in a car/tank spraying machine gun fire, and soldiers spray painting each other's mouths chrome to prepare them for their upcoming trip to Valhalla. Yepp, that's where this movie goes. It is gleeful, fun, and wonderful. It is the best movie I have seen so far this year. Mad Max: Fury Road gets a 9/10.