"If I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die historic on the fury road!"

Rating: 6/10 (27 July 2015)

Continuing from the original Mad Max film series (although I'm not sure where this fits in continuity-wise), this movie finds Max (Tom Hardy) taken prisoner by the War Boys, a cult-like army for warlord Immortan Joe. When one of Joe's rig drivers, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), tries to help Joe's young "wives" escape, the warlord gathers all his forces to pursue her. Max, being used as a walking blood bag for one of the War Boys, finds himself along for the ride.
Being a fan of the original Mad Max movies, I was more than a little hesitant about a new one with a new actor in the role. I was also hesitant with regards to George Miller's capabilities nowadays. He has done mostly family fare since the '80s and, let's be honest, most of the great directors from the '70s and '80s have since lost whatever magic they once possessed. To add to this the critics were all praising this movie and the hype was through the roof and I'm always skeptical of movies heavily pushed by The Machine. Despite my reservations, I can honestly say I enjoyed the movie a lot. Its action scenes are exciting and refreshing. I do wish that Miller could've pulled it off without so much CGI. There are many moments where the action scenes are diluted by the poor blending of CGI cartoonery in with the real. But I'm sure I sound like an old fuddy duddy, as I often do when it comes to CGI in action movies these days.
I liked this but didn't enjoy it as much as the original series, all of which I've rewatched within the past year. My primary reason for this is that this doesn't feel especially unique in any way. It feels like the previous movies visually and even homages certain things directly from those movies, but it never feels like it adds anything of its own that's particularly creative. Each one of the previous movies built on the other and added new characters, lines, and moments that were distinct and memorable. I also don't feel like Tom Hardy brings anything impressive to the table. Part of that is the script's fault as Max is almost a supporting character instead of the star in the first half. Charlize Theron gets the best role in the movie and easily outshines Hardy, who mostly just grunts his lines and tries to give his best Blue Steel for close-ups. So I do have some problems with this. But, at the end of the day, it entertained the hell out of me and that's what matters most. Kudos to George Miller for proving he's still got it. Now if only John Carpenter could figure out where he left his mojo and give us one more great movie, I would be ecstatic.