Eyeball Sponges and Stainless Blood

Rating: 9/10 (30 May 2015)

Clip your nails: because "Mad Max: Fury Road" will have you ruining chair arms if you don't.
George Miller has masterfully welded together a neat, gritty and chaotically choreographed dance of metal mayhem. This point is highlighted with scenes of apocalyptic war drums accompanied by a mad-red jumpsuit donned stringed ax thrasher who strums and picks notes during a-many doomed pursuits.
One of the most talented and varied cinematographers that exists in the industry, John Seale, punches bold and mesmerizing hues of rust, sweat, life and zeal through the audiences' optical pipes, seizing the imagination.
Madman of the hour Max (Tom Hardy) has few lines. Instead, he communicates more by what he doesn't say--which I found ideal for the character. His suspicion that all minds are tortured in one way or another, and how Miller illustrated those mental episodes, lets me feel connected to the character in that special way that elevates a movie from an experience to an interaction.
Rebellious, charming and astute Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) must have missed the memo about the title of the movie. Anyone would have trouble defending Max as being the lead in this movie. This is not a complaint.
Remaining cast were aces in my book.
Car chases were spectacular and certainly blurred the lines between special and visual effects. My only complaint is that despite the movie being titled "Fury Road" there could have been less vehicular venery.
(SPOILER ALERT AHEAD.) Scale is scoped in epic proportions throughout much of this flick. Mile high dust storms, desert plains, hordes of monster truck luxury transports, motorcycles and rat-rod clod busters are barely contained on-screen. Encapsulating this fact is at the tail end of the climax as the mixed group of protagonists contemplate their futures into an apparent dried up ocean bed--gazing to the haze of the foreboding horizon. To cross it on motorcycle would take over one hundred and sixty days.
While not my preferred octane of choice, "Mad Max: Fury Road" is an addition to the franchise that many will aspire to replicate, some will use to motivate, but all respectable fans of cinema will appreciate.