This film was stylish, but desensitizing.

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 2015)

Mad Max: Fury Road is the next installment in the Mad Max franchise after a thirty year gap. In this film a damaged man named Max runs into a group of people trying to escape an evil cult leader and is forced to help them escape. Before I enter the review I want to mention that I have never seen any of the previous films in the franchise. From that perspective I found the film kind of exhaustingÂ… From a technical standpoint, it is just about flawless. The action scenes are absolutely incredible to behold. The visual style is unique and the character design that goes along with it is perfect. The world building of the post-apocalyptic wasteland is really good. The film clearly shows an in depth society of people that have rallied together to not only survive, but to live. Most of the action looked practical which only made the action even more enthralling. The problem I had with the movie is that there was so little plot and character development (and what was given to us was given way too late) that I begin to ask why I should care about these people over the other survivors. Sure, their adventure might be more exiting, but I know so little about them and what I did know was so generic that I just didn't connect with them. This might not be an issue if you have seen the other films. A possible exception to this is Furiosa, the main character of the film. Do not let the title mislead you; Mad Max is not the main character. He just shows up and helps out. The entire plot is driven by Furiosa and all of the big characters moments where with her. There were some interesting moments dealing with a cult member, but it felt like all of that character development happened off screen. Most of this development is done though body language, grunts or generic responses of questions I had been asking myself for more than half an hour. The main villain was well designed, but other than being an abusive cult leader, I know nothing about him. I don't even remember his name. Some might praise the minimalist plot but since the other two hours of the film was pure action, I began to become desensitized to it. I love to eat chocolate, but if I only eat chocolate for a week I'll get sick begin to want healthier food. The same goes for action in movies. Action scenes mean more if there was build up. Again, this is not a bad movie, but I just could not get invested in what was happening enough to really care. While this might be a landmark in terms of visuals and action, it is lacking substance in its plot and characters.