Mad Max Fury Road Movie Review

Original article on CultNoise: http://www.cultnoise.com/film-review-mad-max-fury-road/

Serving as a huge inspiration for countless post-apocalyptic tales, the Mad Max series was the original progenitor of the merciless wasteland setting in the eighties. Since then it seemed that Mel Gibson, Warner Bros and director George Miller had left the series for good. After three decades of absence, Mad Max makes his thunderous return to the silver screen and the result is one incredibly enjoyable action flick.

Mad Max Fury Road pursues a simplistic yet engaging plotline, which feels very distant from the previous films in the series; the world is little more than an endless wasteland with numerous bandit clans warring over the precious oil and water needed to sustain life. While being held captive by the War Boys, Max (Tom Hardy) seizes his chance to escape when War Rig driver Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) defies the clan’s leader Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) to get a group of wives (who were specifically selected by Joe for breeding) to safety and possibly find a new home. From here, the tight-lipped Max forms a shaky alliance with Furiosa and it’s full speed ahead across the wastes with Joe and other factions in hot pursuit. If you were expecting some action that the series is known for then Fury Road delivers in spades and then some; the film barrels along at top speed, only pausing to deliver a few moments of drama as the characters attempt to find a new home. It’s complete madness, yet ironically this kind of plot is a perfect fit for both the ravaged setting and the characters that inhabit it. Despite not learning too much about how the wasteland came to be, it is still bursting with character and the psychotic clans go a long way towards selling the film’s patented style which has been missing from the silver screen for so long.

The characters of Mad Max Fury may feel a little lacking at first; they’re certainly far less outspoken than your usual action heroes. But then you realise that the casting forms a tight parallel with the overall setting. If you’re new to the series, you may be surprised that both Max and Furiosa are fairly quiet and sane when compared to the raving lunatics that populate the gangs of the wastes. When Theron and Hardy do have lines, they are delivered with the gruffness and seriousness you would expect from characters forced to survive in a world like this. Theron in particular makes her presence felt as a strong willed and determined heroine who often steals the spotlight from Max over the course of the film. The quiet protagonists contrast against the War Boys who are characterised by rambling jargon mixed with peculiar religious undertones that give hints and clues about the nature of their clan. Often times there’s a wild range of facial expressions on the actor’s faces that definitely put across far more than any dialogue can. Ultimately, Fury Road proves that a lot can be done without dialogue, which is certainly a welcome change from other films in the same genre.

With a thirty-year gap between it and its predecessors; Mad Max Fury Road seizes every possible opportunity to push the boundaries of the series and the visual result is something to behold. The film is absolutely stunning, both from a technical and artistic standpoint. Imaginative car and costume designs put across the sheer chaos of the post-apocalyptic desert and both of these elements interact beautifully with the computer generated sandstorms. Then we have the chase sequences which all utilise practical effects, real stunt-work and pyrotechnics, meaning that the film never loses its punch no matter how many cars get tossed and mangled on-screen. Fury Road truly does honour its pedigree; you simply won’t be able to take your eyes off the screen throughout the entirety of its run-time because the film succeeds very well at making its action impactful at every turn. Pulse-pounding sound effects and a rocking soundtrack also heighten the tension, whilst the cinematography is quick, clear and fluid despite the pure insanity of the action on-screen. Dare I say it, Mad Max Fury Road could be the most technically advanced movie ever to be based in an apocalyptic setting. You get the sense that the filmmakers didn’t just want to bring Max back, but also wanted to set him apart from all other action sequences on the big screen.

The post-apocalyptic setting is ripe for all kinds of stories and Mad Max Fury Road is the tip of the spear by a substantial margin. It revitalises and updates the series whilst not forgetting what made the previous three films such stand-outs. Strap yourselves in and get ready for one of the year’s best action films, Fury Road is the most explosive and rip-roaring good time you will have at the cinema this summer.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Post-Viewing: The bitter silver screen rivalry of DC and Marvel

Having been out for a few weeks now; Avengers: Age of Ultron is well on its way to being one of the most successful films of 2015; it’s also one of the best films of the year so far, pushing the envelope of its pedigree in every way that matters. But any successful film brings a greater drive of competition and a greater need to obtain a slice of the profits and that’s where DC comes in. Indeed the contest between the biggest superhero movie companies has reached boiling point in recent years; the fans argue back and forth and the film studios themselves make numerous business decisions that are influenced by the other. DC has taken the bigger brunt of these business decisions and as such, has never really been able to fully keep up with Marvel. Why is this? The answer lies from 2012 onwards.

When the original Avengers came out three years, everyone went to see it; the hype built up between 2008 and 2012 was so strong that the film became the highest grossing film of the year, beating out other popular contenders such as Skyfall and The Dark Knight Rises. I can only imagine what went on in the DC boardroom at that time; as soon as they saw how much money The Avengers had made, they made the hasty decision to immediately dive into making their own equivalent to keep up with their biggest competitor.

I don’t mean to bash DC; their films still rake in plenty of money and do achieve a strong following with fans but The Avengers has undoubtedly impacted the way they approach their films and characters, and not in a positive way. There’s no denying that in terms of profits and overall quality, they’ve been lagging behind Marvel since The Dark Knight Rises came out and have been desperate in their efforts. Case and point: Man of Steel. As I mentioned in my review last year, the dark and moody style just didn’t do it for me; with Batman this kind of tone really worked as the hero himself was grounded in reality but for Superman it fell really flat. The issue that arises for me is that because The Dark Knight trilogy was so successful, DC has a misguided mind-set that this dark and brooding contemporary style is the be-all, end-all template for all of their films to come and this only works for a few of their characters.

DC’s way of doing things has been impacted in a number of ways by Marvel’s success. Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice is a prime example; what was originally a sequel to Man of Steel is now serving to accelerate to the upcoming Justice League film; rather than giving both Superman and Batman time to develop into their respective roles, it feels like the film is blazing past character development to get to the far more profitable Justice League film. Add to that the shoe-horning of other characters such as Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Cyborg and you have a film which could end being a cluttered mess when it finally comes out next year. Marvel’s Iron Man 2 was guilty of this as well; the basic way they handled Nick Fury, Black Widow and SHIELD did end up getting in the way of the film’s pacing. There’s also the fact that Batman vs Superman was pushed back to 2016, which is clearly a response to Avengers: Age of Ultron to maximise potential profits. Compared to Marvel, DC’s practice in building up to a Justice League film feels incredibly muted; rather than allowing each character to be introduced and developed at a steady pace, the film is instead saving most of its character based films until after the first Justice League film.

Of course, all of this speculation may be completely scrubbed when Batman vs Superman arrives next year and the rivalry between DC and Marvel is bound to continue. The ultimate reason as to why DC just isn’t as popular in film these days is because of some questionable decisions in their filmmaking. If they weren’t so dead-set on beating Marvel to the box office, then they would be able to put a lot more consideration into the way they approach their respective superheroes.

Images sourced from Flickr via creative commons license.