A 'Furiously Mad' Pedal to the Metal Action Blockbuster!

Rating: 9/10 (27 August 2015)

'Mad Max: Fury Road' is apocalypse wow! The fact that it's a fuel-injected adrenaline rush as well as a thoughtful, surprisingly moving film is a combination that makes this fiery blockbuster one of the very best of the genre.
The film starts off with a shot reminiscent of The Road Warrior, with our eponymous hero Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) looking away at the desolate wasteland of his shattered world and then it just goes berserk. Max gets himself captured by the underlings of the 'Citadel', a kingdom high inside a lone tower of rock. At the Citadel, chaos reigns among a starving citizenry at the mercy of a mutated leader known as Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), a Halloween horror of a man outfitted with protective gear and a gruesome breathing apparatus. We meet his muscle-bound security team and his 'War Boys' – a group of tumor-laden, dying soldiers who fight for him in belief that after-life glories await from their sacrifices. Their present task is sending a big rig to a place called Gastown to fill up with 3,000 gallons of that most precious commodity outside of water. But when one of Joe's lieutenants Imperator Furiosa (a shaven-headed Charlize Theron) takes the truck on a detour with precious cargo - the leader's five wives, one of whom is pregnant, with a view to break them free of Joe's despotic shackles - the chase is on, with war-party vehicles in pursuit and our titular hero as a captive on one of these vehicles. Max bests his captors and reluctantly unites with Furiosa and her company of oppressed females. As far as plot goes, that's about it.
'Fury Road' moves at a frenetic pace from beginning to end, offering brief respites where the viewers can catch their breath to prepare for the next jaw-dropping sequence. Now visualize this image: A pair of 1959 Cadillacs welded together. Or a vintage Plymouth Valiant accessorized with tank treads. And all of them are militarized. Men and women vaulting from one vehicle to another, climbing giant, flexible poles planted in the rear in a frantic orgy of speed and skill.
The key to making this all work is in having original director George Miller back for another ride. He returns to the post-apocalyptic wasteland almost three decades later and it's like he's never been away, bringing a spry outlook to his burgeoning vision. On paper, the movie is one extended chase, a high-octane race through desolate desert and narrow canyons, raging to the tune of composer Junkie XL's pounding soundtrack, but Miller frames the trek with impeccable attention to detail. The editing is never hasty or disorienting; even at top speeds the movie brings riveting clarity to each ambush and narrow escape. Going against the grain of digitized sensation, much of what we view is actually happening, staged for the camera with incredible choreographic energy. And the cinematography does the unfathomable: it gives pulsating life to a barren desert, the most unattractive of movie settings. Of the cast, Tom Hardy's note perfect as Max, giving a no-nonsense performance eloquent in its silences. But the film's real emotional core is Charlize Theron's gimlet-eyed Furiosa, scarred by her warrior's life and bent on redemption. Sporting a CGI mechanical arm, face paint and a perma-stern expression, Theron makes for one bad-ass rebel!
Mad Max: Fury Road is an act of defiance - a rage against the mindless blockbuster made today. It is visceral, taut, insightful, engrossing, intricate, meticulous, and above all else driven by a creative spirit that sees the material from a space of undaunted enthusiasm.