Fantastic, Frenetic, Furios Feminist Fairy-Tale!

Rating: 10/10 (16 June 2015)

Having read so many high praise reviews, I was naturally hyped going in to Mad Max: Fury Road. After all, its predecessors are great- genre-defining films. And after all the rave this film was getting, I set my hopes ridiculously high.
Now, normally, in doing so, I'd walk out of the theater with my hopes tamed and lowered. Not so with this film.
This film not only met my high expectations, it blew them out of the water. Every detail of this film is diamond-cut to absolute perfection.
Probably what stunned me the most about this film is how real it all seemed. Not a bit of it felt unrealistic - the usual, "oh, that could never happen". This movie has an exceedingly refreshing "real" feel to it. So often, in big-budget action blockbusters, you see CGI-mania, effects so obviously animated that they ruin the effect of the film. This movie remains real - real stuntmen, real explosions, real people doing real action.
The performances in this film are top-notch - Oscar-caliber, I'd say. Tom Hardy serves his purpose wonderfully as Max, although at times he becomes a costar in his own movie (but it's all for the good of the movie). Nicholas Hoult also delivers a uniquely memorable performance as Nux, a crazy follower of the villain, Immortan Joe, who ends up fighting alongside Max. The real star here is Charlize Theron, who outshines everyone and everything as Imperator Furiosa, a freedom fighter in Immortan Joe's own ranks. Theron absolutely lights up the screen with permeable emotion, stunning subtextual depth, and real action. She has become one of the all-time female action heroes, alongside the likes of Sarah Connor. Every moment of her performance is, once again, visceral and real.
This film makes an interesting feminist story. The story revolves around the liberation of Immortan Joe's "breeders", or basically baby-making sex slaves. With the aid of Furiosa, they make a daring escape alongside Max, and together, they make their way across the barren wastelands in search of the Green Place - a land where it's green and there is hope and redemption. Rare is it in Hollywood to see so much of an agenda shoved down an audience's throat and yet it remains completely acceptable and not preachy. Feminism has never shone brighter on film than this film. Men and women, fighting together on equal footing for women's rights - it was a joy to see.
There are only a few other things to be said. The cinematography is beautiful - the action sequences are beautifully filmed, not only showing everything in beautifully choreographed detail, but the camera knows when to look on and when to tastefully look away.
The music is very apropos to the frenetic situations, crazy and upbeat during the action and heart-wrenching and moving during the times of sadness, tenderness, beauty.
Absolutely fantastic reboot of a classic franchise. 10/10 - would recommend.