Review: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) · 5:06pm Jul 4th, 2015
Note: This review was written yesterday, but FIMFic has been giving me trouble on my phone, so I'm posting it today.
So yeah, after much procrastination on my part, I finally watched George Miller’s incredibly insane and mind blowingly awesome return to his desert punk roots, Mad Max: Fury Road.
Miller masterfully directs the wild chase of a film, constructing demented and wild action sequences that (literally) explode on the screen while still maintaining expert construction and orchestration. They are beautifully coherent and his innovative use of shifting frame rates and grand arching camera movements help give the sequences a frenetic, grandiose feel. But Miller doesn’t skimp out on the storytelling aspects either, economically and efficiently giving backstory and character traits to almost every single major character, while avoiding frustrating exposition dumps. This is one of the most purely visual storytelling exercises I’ve seen. He also is able to make us feel for these characters, especially Max and Furiosa.
Speaking of those two, Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy both have excellent chemistry, with their path towards mutual respect and admiration being supremely organic and realistic, even in a world that is so obstinately unrealistic. This sense of organic respect and admiration drives the film, and is refreshing, as it stands in sharp contrast to the flat, empty characters that usually populate summer action flicks.
As for the other characters, they all have development and character arcs, and the Wives all do capable jobs, as they are all mostly new faces. Special props go to Nicholas Hoult’s and Riley Keough’s wonderfully gentle romance, which is one of my favorite aspects of the film.
The VFX work is astounding, having almost every single car crash and explosion being a practical effect, which runs counter to the increasingly conspicuous use of CGI. When coupled with Miller’s expert camera work, it makes every action sequence a blood pumping affair that never exhausts, but rather hypes the audience up for more.
As for the supposedly feminist themes of the film, I feel that’s overanalyzing. If anything, its not feminist, but rather the simple fact that humans, no matter their gender, are not objects to posses, but rather humans go cherish and form relationships with. At least that’s how I read it.
But yeah, Mad Max: Fury Road is one of the best action films of the decade so far, and one of the most entertaining and awesome movies of the year.
5 out of 5
