"Mad Max: Fury Road" is wild, over-the-top fun.

Rating: 7/10 (15 May 2015)

In 1979, a bleak and violent film set in a dystopian future was released in Australia, with a then 23-year-old actor named Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson as its star. We hear that that Mel Gibson guy did pretty well for himself, and his first major film made quite a splash too. "Mad Max" held the record as the most profitable film in history (comparing budget to box office) for two decades, and spawned sequels in 1982 ("Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior") and 1985 ("Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome"), and 30 years later with "Mad Max: Fury Road" (R, 2:00) – and more are planned. The "Mad Max" franchise has influenced countless dystopian films, inspired directors and musicians and become the basis for video games and entertainment properties as diverse as a WCW PPV event and an episode of "Rugrats".
Meanwhile, the "Mad Max" films themselves have gotten bigger, bloodier and bleaker. The budget for the second film was ten times that of the first and the budget for the 2015 version was fifteen times that of the 1985 version. As the series has progressed, the bigger budgets have allowed for more spectacular visual effects, more elaborate props and more impressive set pieces, as well as more violence and the depiction of a steady decline of the human condition in the post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max. But after all is said and done, the only question that matters is whether the time and money that has gone into "Mad Max: Fury Road" was well-spent – and whether we should be looking forward to the sequels.
At the beginning of the fourth entry into the franchise, Max (Tom Hardy) is still trying to survive alone in a world where civilized society has now completely disappeared. He's captured by the War Boys, an army of young men with painted white skin who believe that their power to fight is enhanced by the blood of other strong men. The War Boys fight for King Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), who rules his corner of the globe by rationing the only water in the region and he preserves his power through complete control of all available vehicles and the gas needed to run them. Immortan Joe keeps everyone in his realm dependent on him for their very survival and he treats the War Boys as his own private army whose loyalty he preserves by promising them an afterlife in Valhalla if they die fighting for him. Besides all that, selected men are used as blood banks for his warriors and women are used as breeders and sources of milk.
In a setting like this, it should come as no surprise that a very strong female character is as important to the plot as the title character. Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) has escaped the fate of every other female in Immortan Joe's realm by being a tough and smart servant of the king. She drives his heavily armored war wagon, a vehicle which is designed to carry and protect the gasoline that the War Boys help procure from nearby communities. Furiosa may be considered privileged, but she is not happy about her lot in life and she develops a plan to break free from the pack and do some good. She turns one of her gas runs into a run for the border, if you will. Furiosa drives her war wagon west toward the place where she was born and stolen away from many years before. She's heading to "the Green Place", as she calls it, but she's also smuggling some of Immortan Joe's most prized possessions in that war wagon. When he catches on, he pursues her, with the help of his regional allies and his own army of War Boys, one of which is the especially devoted Nux (Nicholas Hoult), who has Max chained to the front of his vehicle and connected to him by a rubber tube, making Max into a personal portable blood bank. Things don't go according to plan for anyone involved and there are multiple violent confrontations among the main characters as they crisscross this vast wasteland in a deadly game of cat and mouse.
"Mad Max: Fury Road" creates a world that can be as upsetting as it is fascinating. This film is something of an assault on the senses, but is a truly engaging experience. The action is virtually non-stop, while the various design elements and the cinematography are truly remarkable. Frenetic action and explosions of color are occasionally punctuated with an eerie quiet and practically monochromatic scenes, which are beautiful in their simplicity. The vehicles, weapons and clothing that these futuristic communities have cobbled together from the remains of civilized society's industrial production are both frightening and fascinating to behold. And the characters' personalities are just as colorful. It's very clear that Max has his issues, but almost everyone he encounters is madder than he is. At times, this film is almost too much to take in as it goes somewhat over the top with its action sequences and, for lack of a better word, with its freakiness. But there is no denying that director and co-writer George Miller, the man who co-wrote and directed (or co-directed) all three previous "Mad Max" films, has brought to the modern screen a unique, coherent and engaging post-apocalyptic vision which will remain in your head long after you leave the movie theater. "B+"