Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) - Review
Originally published February 2016I've never been a huge fan of the Mad Max movies. I've known of their existence, and I get all the references having seen them all, at least once. I also appreciate their influence and impact on other media and how the movies helped pave the way for the post-apocalyptic genre by providing a very bleak, but comical and creative outlook on humanity when the world has ended, dried up, and looks a lot like Australia. However, I can't remember the last time I sat and watched a Mad Max movie the whole way through. This disinterest in the franchise as a whole, however, did not prevent me from enjoying the newest entry: Mad Max Fury Road.
Directed by George Miller, the same director who started the Mad Max franchise, this feels like a pet project that was brought to life with the help of a big budget and 20 years’ worth of ideas. Say what you will of how loud, obnoxious, and visceral this movie is, there is a lot of creativity on display here and it's hard to ignore.
Image: Warner Bros
Pros
The art-style
Tons of detail in the set and character designs
Well-thought-out culture and mechanics of the world
Action is mostly practical effects
Most of the movie is on the road and in motion; rarely slow or boring
The real main characters of the story
Fun, memorable side characters
Cons
The parts where the movie was supposed to be 3D stand out in a bad way
Some clichés here and there
Some of the culture or vernacular is forced because we don't quite get a grasp on what they're saying sometimes
Loudness gets in the way sometimes
Plot & Thoughts
Despite this being called Mad Max Fury Road, this isn't a movie about Max. Max is not the main character, and I think that works in its favor here. I would prefer if, in future films, they kept Max as a side character and a franchise name. His name lets the audience know the world we're going to see while letting the plot and characters that are part of his world work on their own. We don't need to have his whole story told again for the risk of making his character a bloated device. Fury Road knows this and manages to establish his issues within the first few minutes for those who don't know him, then assigns him to a role as a prop for the next 20 minutes.
Image: Warner Bros
The movie is really a struggle between the characters Furiosa and the local warboss, Immortan Joe. Max just happens to fall into the middle of their conflict and eventually chooses a side, but even then, it never takes the focus away from Furiosa. She's the main character of the movie and a satisfyingly badass female protagonist who isn't sexualized like Lara Croft or any of Milla Jovavich's recent action roles. She's cool, tough, and appropriate for the harsh and gritty world of Mad Max. What's more, she's an amputee, but she is not slowed down at all by it and is more than capable of defending herself and the cargo that she's transporting across the wasteland.
Image: Warner Bros
I won't go into much further detail, as the experience benefits from you knowing very little about what's going on. The less you know, the more curious you might be, and thus able to notice all the little details and effort put into building a functioning culture in a fantastical future. Things like the architectural designs of Immortan Joe's fortress, the cult worship of a machine god, a religion that mimics those of Vikings, the use of chrome paint as a drug, etc., all add to the atmosphere of the universe they are building in Fury Road. We are given specific details of the culture of Joe's warband and small glimpses into others, which is one of the best methods of establishing a fictional universe. It gives the audience enough details to establish a particular area enough to give it a sense of realism, but the outside details provide a sense of something much bigger for these characters to inhabit. The details and world crafting help viewers become more immersed in what's taking place and help them give the benefit of the doubt more often. It also helps that the movie uses practical effects.
Image: Warner Bros
Mad Max Fury Road is a spectacle film with tons of action and explosions. The majority of the action is taking place on cars as they're moving, which only amplifies the tension and excitement of the scenes. And since most of it uses practical effects, it all looks really good. When a car blows up, it doesn't look like it was rendered in a computer. They're really exploding cars as they're driving and having pyrotechnics blow crap up around the stuntmen and actors. There are only a few moments where the action slows down and you can take a moment to breathe again.
I will say that the main problem I had with the movie was that, while I enjoyed the visual overload with all the colors and creative designs for the characters or their environment, I didn't care much for the auditory overload. Mad Max Fury Road is unnecessarily loud, even if you turn the volume down on your TV. Sometimes, a person would be talking with the roars of the engines behind them, and what they said would be filled with the rattling noise of a speaker ready to blow out. I'd rather have clean and clear sound than gritty distorted sound when I'm watching a movie, despite being a metalhead. Fury Road is meant to be watched with a big surround sound system, and for those who don't have that, just keep the volume and bass down to make sure your speakers survive the film.
Image: Warner Bros
Conclusion
Mad Max Fury Road is an exciting and fun breath of noxious fumes. It's an action movie with tons of practical effects in an age where CGI eliminates the risk, the action, and the tension of most films. It's a spectacle that places a lot of emphasis on creative vision, design, and world-crafting while telling a simple, yet engrossing story. It may be a loud and obnoxious blast into a very bleak comic book world, but it's a blast nonetheless.
Image: Warner Bros