Mad Max Starring Tom ... HardLy

Rating: 7/10 (16 May 2015)

If you're going to make another Mad Max film, modeling it after Road Warrior (the best of the original three) is not a bad move.
This film hearkens back to Road Warrior, in that the whole movie is structured around the chase scenes, and if you aren't into chase scenes, you're watching the wrong movie. The souped-up vehicles are fabulous mechanisms, a hodgepodge of high-tech, hot rods and Neanderthalic sensitivity.
Even the movie's villain (Immortan Joe) is reminiscent of Road Warrior's Humungous.
The problem is: Tom Hardy is not Mad Max. Mel Gibson pretty much defined the character: self-centered; a survivor who approaches life as if he had nothing to lose; at the same time, a person who is willing to lay down his own life in the pursuit of someone's hope for a better life.
Hardy's character utters lines that convey similar meaning, but they don't seem to ring true. Gibson never had to say who he was - it was clear from the get-go. Hardy comes off as unmotivated, almost as if he's reading his lines. Even though he says his name several times, I never believed it (hey, if he has to tell you he's Max, it means he hasn't been able to convince you of that fact by his acting).
And where did the Bane voice go??? Gibson's Max was soft spoken, a deep, rough voice uttering as little as possible. Hardy's Max whispers, with a voice just an octave or two below falsetto.
Don't get me wrong. I like Tom Hardy. He is certainly one of the up-and-coming actors of today. But if Hardy is in fact signed up for three more Mad Max films, those will likely be three Mad Max movies I won't be seeing.