Mad Max with a Feminist Disguise

Rating: Null/10 (15 August 2015)

I have always liked the "Mad Max" films, I like George Miller as a director because he created a vision of a apocalyptic post nuclear violent future world with "Mad Max" films. I respect him for the fact that he never let anyone else direct other sequels of MM films other than himself. Miller returned after 30 years for this long awaited sequel and among all the directors(Scott,Spielberg, Lucas) whom attempted to do sequels with CGI, Miller somehow managed to refuse that option and went old school with a real crew, stunts in the desert and at 70 years of age he created a masterpiece with "Fury Road".
I just saw this recent "Mad Max: Fury Road" with Tom Hardy, which at first when I read he was casted as Max I thought it was a odd choice but now having watched this film I am sorry to say that I feel he was a terrible choice. I hate to compare one actor to another, I liked Mel Gibson because he made Max more interesting and charismatic on the screen, where as Tom Hardy seemed lost or confused with this role. I have seen Hardy playing these very oddball sociopaths roles like "Bronson" or "Bane" (in Batman) or the simple-minded Bob in the "Drop"; I think his acting ranges only between those types. Hardy seemed to only to play the tough brutal Max. I heard in a interview there was not full script for him and it was mostly story boarded but that is an actor's dream to improvise. So he can blame there was no script but that missing script had more lines for Charlize Theron and the other characters like NUX than Max whom the movie was suppose to be about.
This was a great action film, a true masterpiece of its kind, Miller not relying on CGI was what made it great, however it lacked a coherent narrative in parts. Also the casting of these super model looking girls as breeding mothers dressed like they were in some Vouge magazine shoot out in the desert just didn't fit when it came to casting. The photography had a comic book look compare to they way Miller had that barren landscape in "Road Warrior" which complemented the theme of a post apocalyptic world rather than this primary colors, glossy blue sky that looked like a Disney movie. Although the sets and cast of characters of these various characters like "Nux" and "The Bullet Farmer" were very interesting and he really got the comic book look come alive on the screen.
This movie was disguised first with action then with a feminist theme; but it was really more of marketing strategy to appeal and draw a wider female audience. To have female hero "Furiosa", a freedom fighter battling against an oppressive male regime. Theron made this character tough she looked like a an action figure; compare to Sigourney Weaver in "Aliens" as "Ripley" with non-model looks was only wearing a unisex worker's uniform was smart and forceful. This was suppose to be a Mad Max film but "Furiosa" became the center of this film, the action disguised the viewer to forget it was a Mad Max movie, he was just a passenger, it was like a Houdini magic act to suddenly convert this movie into a Feminist action film; sorry to say that was another cloak to think someone like "Furisoa" is a feminist role model.
In "Road Warrior" and "Beyond the Thunderdome" there was a lot of more dialogue spoken by Max than this film. Miller was the person who co-wrote those first 3 Max films stories and scripts, so how come this there was no lines for the new Max?. I feel the Mad Max that I knew was missing on the screen. Hardy was this mute, brooding and angry Max that felt he didn't want to be in this movie. That scene where he first find the girls washing with the water hose by the truck he was just moaning to get the wire cutter. Those fight scenes with Theron were stupid in a way, because Furiosa saw Max was a prisoner and tied up and used as blood bank, he was not part of war boys, so why fight Max?. The old Max was more smarter in how to assess the situation around him with humor. There is no sense of humor to Tom Hardy's Max at all, he is more muscles than brains. The plot would have been more interesting if Max had captured and returned these women with NUX to bargain and exchange to get his car and fuel and then rescued them back.
Overall I liked the film itself, the visuals and most of all Charlize Theron as "Furiosa" who really carried most of the weight of this film but I can't call this a Mad Max movie. I hope Mr. Miller either finds a new Max or breaths some life into Tom Hardy's version of Max with a script that Hardy can read and follow, because casting should not just be about how big a star is to sell the film. My choice for Max would have been either another Australian actor like "Sam Worthington" who has been in a number of action films like "Clash of Titans" or "Luke Evans" (who was in "Dracula: Untold) that really surprised me as how good an actor he is, his reactions has more depth than Hardy could ever conjure a grin. The Mad Max films are now made for a new generation who probably don't care about depth or acting but more about the action, so I hope Miller started a trend for films to be shot with a real setting and crew instead the illusion of CGI.