Visually incredible, great action, interesting soundtrack

Rating: 10/10 (21 January 2016)

This is one of the most visually amazing movies I've ever seen. It makes most movies appear dull by comparison. The yellowy orange sand contrasts with the blue sky and white clouds and overall the landscape is gorgeous and really well filmed. Night scenes have a blue tinge so that we can see everything and it feels like moonlight or the twilight hour. The vehicles are extravagant and spiky and bulky and have all kinds of gadgets attached with cool things I haven't seen before. There is a cliff and an artificial waterfall with poor people stuck on the land below. The cast of characters look crazy, like a freak show or something. This is not a movie going through the paces, it's hugely imaginative and creative and the passion of the film-makers comes through in every frame.
Mad Max: Fury Road is not weighed down by anything unnecessary. It is dominated by action throughout and it focuses on that. Exposition is achieved through chase or fight scenes. We figure out what is going on as the movie progresses. There are no sappy moments, characters rarely cry and the movie doesn't bother to dwell on their feelings too much. It's more about survival. But the characters are human enough to relate to and care about. Tom Hardy is stoic and hardly says anything as Max. He communicates through stares and gestures. Charlize Theron is really good as Imperator Furiosa. She's tough and determined but you can tell she still has fears and hopes.
It's a great achievement that the film makes use of so many practical stunts and effects. It feels far different from other action movies of recent years. It will not date the way CGI-fests will. The editing makes it easy to follow the action. It can be chaotic, but we know who we're looking at and what is actually happening. The way scenes play out is highly original. People can get snatched out of nowhere, explosions happen haphazardly, vehicles get crushed or flipped, harpoons lodge into trucks and have to be removed with bolt-cutters. But they're not arbitrary montages, they're planned out sequences of events with logical consequences that build tension and excitement.
The music adds to the strange, ominous, brooding atmosphere of the film. It uses a range of styles. There are powerful low pulses on strings, crazy electric guitar and tribal drumming stuff (which parallels what's on the screen) and just generally lots of good music that I found hard to categorise.
I wish more movies could be as bold and imaginative as Fury Road. I love the stark imagery throughout. The bad guy looks so cool and bizarre. It seems deserving that it has received 10 Oscar nominations. Clearly a lot of work was put into it and it isn't imitating anything but is reaching out into new possibilities for cinema. Why can't a 2 hour movie be one long action chase scene with real stunts? It was also nice to hear so many Australian accents in a movie. It feels like home.
The visuals in the movie suggest a kind of hell or purgatory for the main characters. Will they find heaven or at least a stable, happy life? What is the right path to take? Riding off into the unknown or against the odds for a real chance at redemption? Perhaps there will be a nuclear war and maybe this is what humanity will become. But even with this extreme environment, there are parallels to modern life. For me, this world actually makes more sense than real life. I don't understand people that *need* a coffee every day and who enjoy chatting about reality TV shows. Send me to Fury Road where my life has meaning - survive!