The Crowning Jewel of 2015

Rating: 10/10 (1 January 2016)

For many years it appeared that George Miller had retired the Mad Max franchise which had fallen into disrepair. Well leaving the series for thirty years is bound to make it all the more difficult to return. With Fury Road, the fourth and now greatest film in the franchise, Miller is firing on all cylinders and the film is cinematic spectacle of the highest order.
"My name is Max; my world is fire and blood". The opening line delivered with gusto and grittiness by Tom Hardy tells us all we need to know. A) The character's name B) This is a world we are familiar with and C) It has collapsed as a society. But enough about the ins and outs of the film, what does Mad Max: Fury Road offer in way of plot? I can sadly imagine many unengaged viewers mumbling something to the sum of "nothing" yet that's not at all true.
Remember that 80s action film? The one you loved when you were an adolescent and as an adult still do. It had a plot. A simple one, which is all that is required. Not garbage a la Resident Evil or gibberish and confused drivel with its own agendas like recent deluge White House Down. The film that was succinct, straight to the point and did not wait for any man; Die Hard, Predator and The Terminator. Chances are if you're an action fan you have seen all three or at the very least heard of them. Fury Road abides by the same principle. It's not dumbed down and it's also not a bloated mess, running at a streamlined 120 minutes. It's not three hours long because it doesn't need to be.
Mad Max: Fury Road is the story of Max, Furiosa and the tyrannical leader of the oppressed people, Immortan Joe. The crux of it all; Max is enslaved, little more than a blood donor to the sick dying war boys of Joe's Citadel. Max breaks free and begrudgingly teams up with Furiosa who is stealing Immortan Joe's five prized wives, in search of the fabled "Green Place" to find rest, water and food. On this journey they attempt to outrun Joe and endure the heat of the ravaged Australian wasteland. But what makes Mad Max: Fury Road stand out from the crowd? What stops it from being the next embarrassment to cinema like Hit-man: Agent 47 or the Robocop remake? Is it at all worthy of a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, Empire's highest grade and my recommendation? In short yes. But let me explain. What's wrong with action films nowadays?
1. No character development. When was the last time you cared about the fate of a character? Good or evil? The emotions they harbour, the chills they give you, the love you inhabit for them. Fury Road ensures that every character counts. The five wives have their own traits and definable personalities, Furiosa is the strongest female character that Hollywood has given birth to and despite so called evidence to the contrary, Max is never overshadowed and all the characters work in harmony with one another, building upon and breaking relationships throughout the natural progression of the story.
2. Too much CGI. The best example; Superhero films, they look so fake that you wonder, is this what passes for realism? Miller throws CGI out of the window and pours gasoline over it for good measure. 99% of Fury Road utilises the limits of what practical effects can do. The other 1%? Colour grading and the melding of several key shots together. What you witness on screen is all real. From the rusting metal trucks down to the very dust that settles as they whizz past in and out of frame.
3. Sub-par acting. Or as I refer to it – The Sam Worthington Effect. Whereby the action overshadows the performances. Not that they were terribly great to begin with anyway. It's not the case here. Charlize Theron excels as Furiosa, Tom Hardy grumbles with gravitas as Max and Hugh Keays-Byrne (Toecutter from Mad Max '79) is as riveting as he is horrifying as Immortan Joe. There is no way that Miller allows this trio to get lost in the mix and he handles the performances with due precision.
4. Frenetic Editing. The killer of any hope of an excellent action film is all in the editing. Too many; Tak3n, The Expendables and Transformers, live or die by the hands of the edit. Fury Road doesn't just live, it breathes new life into the action genre. We can tell in any given shot, space of time or singular moment what is going on, when and why. Each frame is sped up or slowed down ensuring we never lose focus and the film throttles along at a considerable pace.
But wait there's more! The music is loud and hefty in the thrilling action set pieces and quiet in the subtle character driven scenes of which there are a great many. The cinematography on the other hand deserves its own review. It's a cinephile's wet dream with John Seale capturing the expansiveness of the seemingly never ending desert and the tragic note of hope that Furiosa so desperately clings to.
Hold on. Somethings not right. I haven't mentioned the action. Think of the most heart thumping scene you have experienced from a single film; times that by twelve, subtract awful editing and add enemies on nitro powered trucks, bikes, polecats and throw in a guitarist operating a flamethrower for good measure. That should give you an idea of what awaits you and how much adrenaline will be coursing through your veins after witnessing George Miller's action masterpiece that's the cinematic jewel of 2015 and one of the greatest action films of all time. The review ends here. There's only one thing left to say. See the movie.
A+