Sheer action

Rating: 9/10 (12 July 2015)

I was surprised to see that Fury Road was directed by George Miller, the director of the franchise's previous movies. I haven't see Mad Max 3, but the first two movies, whilst having long chases and action scenes, have nothing in common with Fury Road. This one's action is on totally different scale. The film is basically one long crazy chase with a few moments of rest for the characters, and for the spectator too.
Miller removed from his movie all the bullshit other action movies suffer from: romantic subplots, pointless dialogues or complicated "origin" stories. This results in an insane pace where the 5% of non-action is just what we have to catch our breath. The action is heavy, with explosions and destructions galore on the screen. All of this is very well-crafted and readable.
Another surprise was that Max isn't the main character in the movie. Furiosa, very well played by Charlize Theron, is. She's a strong and quite attaching character, who could have made for a successfully feminist movie if only all the other female characters weren't half-naked for the whole thing.
I also particularly liked the photography, which I found offered stunning visuals. There are different hues for different scenery, and they really give a unique visual identity to the movie. The only thing that bothered me was one scene at night which I suspect was shot during the day and then was filtered to look like night. This scene is very bright for a night and characters in it are watching the stars, which is contradictory, because you really need darkness to be able to see the stars correctly.
Anyway, this is clearly one the best heavy action movie of those last years.