Would have worked better as a video game

Rating: 7/10 (1 June 2015)

Sometimes a movie comes around that thoroughly entertains you and you've forgotten most of it when you leave the cinema. Last year, we had John Wick. In 2013, Thor: The Dark World. 2012, Taken 2. The pattern goes on. These films are endlessly entertaining, and they make for positive experiences, but they can't help but feel a bit empty, a bit video-gamey.
I do not mean to diminish Mad Max off the bat - its wildly entertaining and well made. But its no masterpiece and I will be firm with that from the start. I made a video game comparison with John Wick, and I feel that the comparison is even more appropriate with Fury Road. It would have worked a lot better as a video game than it did as a film. The film is relentless with its action set pieces, every single character is an interchangeable badass, and the non- action sequences play like cut scenes. Leading up to the third act, the titular Max stops Furiosa from fleeing across the desert and insists instead they should go back, through all of Joe's forces. At this point, I thought to myself "yep, gotta go back towards the plot and the action, or this would get boring quickly". Sure, there was a couple of bits of justification for it, but I couldn't help but feel that the action, not the story, dictated a lot of this film's direction.
OK, onto positives. This film excelled in every below the line category it could. Stunt action was epic. Production design was off the charts. Cinematography was unreal. Costumes and make up were world class. And those visual effects - boy those were something special. The explosions were unbelievable, and the sandstorm was truly spectacular to behold.
Tom Hardy did a superb job in the lead (?) role of Max. His back story is well handled and Tom Hardy brings a quiet, ruthless, crazy efficiency to the part. I also really enjoyed Nicholas Hoult as Nux, probably his finest performance to date. Charlize Theron's Furiosa was polarising for me - she displayed real grit and proved herself a capable action star, but I didn't get any sense of her as a character. She seeks redemption, but doesn't tell us what that even means. I choose to blame the writing over Theron herself, because she proves herself quite capable when the occasion calls for it. The various collection of models and strongmen who make up the supporting cast do adequate jobs, more than you'd expect of them based on their resume, but a lot of the time they don't do much more than look good. One thing I did wish is that they'd all stuck to one accent, or at least explained why some are Americans and others are Australian.
Much like John Wick before it, Mad Max Fury Road wasn't the most engaging of films, but the action is really superb and even more importantly, I'm very excited about the world it built. This wasteland full of post apocalyptic tribes, fanatical barbarians and crazed vigilantes is one I'd love to revisit. A sequel more focused on story and less dictated by the most action may be a less visually sating but more satisfying overall.