Nothing Quite Like it Ever Made. It's Marvelous!

Rating: 9/10 (3 September 2016)

Mad Max: Fury Road is the sort of fascinatingly original movie-going experience that one almost never sees from an existing franchise. And when it comes to "part 4s" in the history of all of cinema, I can't think of one I've ever liked more. George Miller, who directed the series' other three entries, is back to do the job again here almost 30 years after the last one, and he proves to be cinematically as sharp as ever. The fine accomplishments of actors and all the technical people notwithstanding, this is a director's film more than anything, with a sweeping vision of a post-apocalyptic world that, however crazy it gets, sells itself all the way through. You don't question what you see—you feel you are there.
It stars Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa, and Tom Hardy as Mad Max—that's in order of importance. Max is a good character, the continued tortured soul trying survive, and yet finding the humanity in himself; but with all respect Furiosa is the real soul of this movie, the best performance (I'd put it Theron's best character since her Oscar winning turn in "Monster") a woman strong, cunning and skilled, yet also at points vulnerable, as she leads a troop of wives away from their powerful, malicious husband who chases them basically from one end of the movie to the other. Max gets caught up with them along the way, in an interesting evolving relation towards Furiosa and the wives. These wives, five of them, don't get a lot of lines, but the qualities they bring in something different from both Max and Furiosa is important to the film's success. Vital too are the host of villains, who come in such variety of interesting dark flavors, from the head evil master, down the hierarchy of his lower-ranked cohorts, to the followers convinced of the glory of self-sacrifice for their leader.
This movie is marvelously thick with post-apocalyptic atmosphere. It is also thrilling, and so varied with every action or chase sequence that rolls brilliantly off of the previous one. There are moments of slowdown, so to speak, where there is verbal interaction more than a couple words at a time, but as far as character building there's as much during the action as in the less hectic times. This is a constantly surprising, original film, frequently exciting, sometimes funny, sometimes touching, and absolutely never for any minute stretch uninteresting. The technical expertise to create such wild, high-flying (figuratively and literally) things as are shown here is just mind-boggling, but creativity is where it really excels. It's one captivating experience, not quite like anything else that's been made before. It must be seen.