Boring and disappointing

Rating: 2/10 (14 October 2015)

I have watched all the Mad Max films from the start. The first was low budget, but compelling, with a young Mel Gibson at his best. The second and third took the idea to another level with a big budget, and a softer crossover into the Sci-fi/Western mainstream. A reboot seemed like a good idea with no need for Mel Gibson to reprise his earlier eponymous role. But what seemed like a good idea, with George Miller directing turns out to be a bad idea. The budget is massive. The landscapes are panoramic, the retro-futuristic war wagons a delight. The plot and script is a disaster.
I wanted to enjoy it. The second twoinstalments were apocalyptic fantasies, but laced with a sense of humour, and charm. This is charmless. Fury Road's opening scene is a chaotic tour de force featuring the capture, then escape of Mad Max. Only as the opening draws to an end do the doubts start, his ability to defy the hoards becomes a little preposterous. Still we have the first road chase to entertain us. But as it unfolds the truth dawns- that is all there is. One long chase.
Instead of the myriad possibilities that a dystopian future offers, we are instead funnelled into the confines of the car chase, a poor man's Fast and Furious.
Tom Hardy is fine as Mad Max, co- star Charlize Theron is de-glammed as rebel Imperator Furiosa. Glamour is provided , bizarrely, by a small cohort of white robed vestal concubines. However as the chase unfolds, repetition creeps in, and disaster strikes an action film, I became bored. There is only so much you can do with a car chase, and those possibilities do not cover a 120 minute running time. Shooting airborne BMX'ers is a good joke, but after a while isn't.
All this is a shame. Some of the detail is good. Oxygen masks with wolfs' teeth, a battle party led by a rock guitarist shooting flame from his axe, the spectacular sets, shot in Nabibia. But it isn't enough. The established vision is reheated with no new direction, and the interminable running time just leaves you asking "why?" I can't really comment on the acting as there is none, the characters just perform the storyboard. Such a waste of money and resource. The idea of Mad Max remains a good one- but a new director is needed to realise its potential.
A budget of half and a running time of ninety minutes would have concentrated minds. Instead of allowing ours to wander.