DHKR: Mad Max: Fury Road- "Oh What a Day! What a Lovely, Lovely Day!"

Rating: 10/10 (18 May 2015)

The Post-Apocalyptic genre is a very bleak, but somewhat uplifting critique on our future. The idea that the world would be wiped out through a thermonuclear bombing, an act of desperation causing the destruction of a country, or even the Rapture of Biblical Lore has been hammered into our minds for years, becoming as popular as a view of our future as much as the shiny utopian model from The Jetsons is.
Personally, I'm a big fan of this genre. A world where scavenging and common necessities become vital for your survival has a great deal of potential for survival based horror, adventure, revenge stories, even stories that just expand in the setting alone. Just remember, when you think Darkhorse Knight(DHK), you think Post-Apocalyptic stories.
That being stated and brought out of the way, I'm about to review one of the best films to embody this genre, and the best summer film of 2015 as of now. Mad Max: Fury Road, and Oh, What a Lovely Day it is to be a cinemaphille!
The film starts off with Max, our cynical protagonist played by Tom Hardy(Dark Knight Rises' Bane) standing on a crag along with his car while a narration gives us a brief statement about both the Oil Wars and the Water Wars. After a brief car chase with a tribe of Raiders, Max is captured and shackled, being assigned as a "blood bag" for Nux(Nicholas Hoult).
Soon, we get a good look of Immortan Joe, the anarcho-fascist ruler of the many tribes. A crippled man wearing life-support and covered in armor adorned with the many biker medals one assumes after a life of conflict, Joe is immortalized as a god among mortals. He controls the water and the food, and therefore he controls the Wastes. Despite many wounds and blisters covered, Joe proves that he's the chief and king for a reason, by leading charges with his Lieutenant, Rictus Erectus on a monstrous war machine made up of vintage muscle cars from the 50s.
During a supposed run to Gas City, Imperator Furiosa, another Lieutenant, sneaks Joe's prized "breeding women" away to a sanctuary that may or may not exist in the desert. After being double crossed, Joe sends a war party lead by himself to chase down the rogue Imperator. Nux, hearing this, finds this a great way to prove himself worthy of Valhalla, so he may die a heroes death and be born again. Since he needs blood to make his journey, Max is forced to join him.
However, the mission is compromised by a sandstorm. The heavily pregnant breeding women is killed after Joe runs her over with said war machine, to which he grieves so much that his iron jaw opens. Later, a Raider medic finds out the child that died in the womb was "perfect", as in free of any known defect. Fueling the flames of his vendetta.
The rest of the film is within the confines of a war rig, a tanker. Resources like Gas to fuel the truck and water to help cool off the engine are becoming needed by the mile in order to reach the sanctuary. At the same time, they both need to stay fast and conserve reserves, and it's impossible to do both without fail.
The film soon also doesn't have any subplots. The entire running time is about getting to sanctuary. The only thing close to a subplot we have is Nux trying to deal with a crisis of faith, while at the same time prove that he's worthy of Valhalla, if it doesn't exist. Even the closest thing to romance in the film is with Nux, but it's only implied and never shown again due to his demise at the very end, sacrificing himself to further the mission
Fury Road is a success as a summer blockbuster can get,and it runs to the end and goes beyond, reaching for the stars in a giant bloody war machine. It is also a continuous piece of the trend regarding Post-Apocalyptic story telling. Don't miss out on a great film!
Also, there's a Raider with a Fire-Spewing Guitar. How much better can you get!?
5-Stars- S-Ranking