High-Octane Action, Shallow Story

Rating: 6/10 (25 July 2015)

Watched Fury Road for the second time last night. Cousin is in town and insisted on seeing it with me.
I want to start off by stating: I don't dislike this movie. Parts of it I found really exhilarating, primal. Caught myself clinching a fist during an action sequence more than once.
But.
Overall, the character of Max Rockatansky, felt extremely shallow to me. I tried to take "this" Max at face value...in no way relating him to Mel Gibson's Max. Just couldn't do it. There simply isn't enough there. We know as much about Max Rockatansky (the guy the film is named for) as we do Coma the Doof Warrior--shredding out on his flame throwing guitar. Had Coma been given real, hardcore solos in his scenes (something really musical as opposed to just straight shredding)and some crazy/wild back story I think he would have actually stolen the entire damn movie out from under Theron and Hardy.
Mad Max had actual cities and towns. The Road Warrior had the Refinery and the bandit camp. Thunderdome had Barter Town and the Kid Oasis. Foundations to help hold the "moving" story up. Fury Road has what..? A whoping 4-5 minutes of Citadel. We hear mention of Gas Town and The Bullet Farm but, we don't see them. We never get to understand why the bandits attacked Furiosa in the War Rig for being on their "patch." It just happens. Things in this movie continually just happen. If you're lucky you catch a tiny shred of back story to them. In the end, this is one long, giant car chase. "Bout what it boils down to.
One thing this movie almost gets completely right: The war Boys. They hands down own this movie. Some flashback scenes showing insane indoctrination and drive training would have totally fleshed them out and made them the undeniable stars. Absolute insanity on wheels. Insanity on foot. Insanity in the way they speak. They are awesome as enemies. Maybe something to build on in the future..? "War Boys : High Octane Insanity!"
The stunts, as usual: fantastic. Cinematography: wonderful. Music: A+.
But, even after watching this movie twice on the big screen, I still feel it only deserves third place in the long line of Mad Maxes: Mad Max; The Road Warrior; Fury Road; Thunderdome. I would have gladly spent another 30 minutes in the theater had they placed just bits and pieces of flashbacks alongside the more important characters.