Max is back; better and madder than ever in this extravagant action spectacle.

Rating: 10/10 (18 May 2015)

Mad Max: Fury Road stars Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron and Nicolas Hoult and is directed by George Miller. The plot revolves around Imperator Furiosa; a woman who is trying to get back to her homeland, as well as escorting five young women who are on the run from the dictator-like Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne); a man who has rallied an army of doomed, radioactive-poisoned boys - the Warboys, the Kamakrazee - and who has basically enslaved a population of people, since he promises them water (something that is rare in this world). These five women (played by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Zoë Kravitz, Abbey Lee, Riley Keough and Courtney Eaton) are also Immortan Joe's "wives" (kind word for it), his price breeders. It's here where Max's and Furiosa's paths cross.
Now the story in Mad Max essentially boils down to a two-hour car chase (even though the story has more layers to it than what you would expect in any similar films). Furiosa needs to get these women from point A to point B. But there's a lot more going on than that beneath the surface of the initial plot.
Mad Max has gained a lot of hype, especially during the past week or two. Most of this originates from early word-of-mouth that supposedly said that this movie was amazing. The movie then gained an unprecedented 98 % on Rotten Tomatoes and an 89 on Metacritic (seven points higher than The Dark Knight). Critics cited this as one of the greatest action films of all time. Now, obviously this puts a ton of pressure on this movie. And how well does it hold up to those words? Well to put it simply: Mad Max: Fury Road is an achievement, and one of the best films I've ever seen - ever! This movie was absolutely incredible. A feast for the eyes. If you're a movie fan then this is a must go. You have to see it to believe it.
So why is the movie so fantastic? Well, let's start with the performances and the characters. Tom Hardy is great as Max Rockatansky. He may not have a lot of lines in the movie, but Tom Hardy pulls off Max's troubled past subtly and perfectly. And then you have Charlize Theron as Furiosa. She was fantastic in the role. Some have argued that she is actually the main character of this movie, the one who really drives the movie forward. And that's not a bad thing, because she knocks this role out of the park, and Furiosa as a character is really well written and fleshed out, despite the fact that the focus isn't really on the characters at all, but rather the action. The biggest surprises of this movie's ensemble came from Nicolas Hoult, who plays warboy Nux, and from the lovely ladies who play the characters who are referred to as the wives. Nux as a character may be the deepest in the movie, and at one point, that character even moved me to tears (in a movie in which a man plays an electric guitar which shoots flames through it's neck...yeah, it's that good). The wives are also very interesting, since they don't play like usual damsels-in-distress at all. Instead, each one of them feels unique and important.
Besides the performances and the surprisingly layered and deep characters, there was a thousand other things to love about this movie. The score is perfect (by Junkie XL and the writing is also perfect. It just really fits with the movie. But let's get down to the bones of it. The essential parts of why this movie has made such a splash. First of all, this movie contains what easily competes with the absolute best action sequences ever put to film in the history of motion picture cinema! The action scenes - who are 80-90 % practical effects, differentiating itself from today's CGI heavy films - are absolutely breath-taking, mind-blowing and jaw- dropping. There were several moments were my jaw dropped from the sheer spectacle before my eyes. And due to my other main thing, namely, the cinematography.
This movie is one of the most beautifully shot films of all time in my opinion. The way George Miller utilizes day and night sequences, and differentiate themselves from one-another is brilliant. Every shot is a sight to behold and it's so nice to see a post-apocalyptic film that has such colors that this one has.
Verdict: Mad Max: Fury Road is a spectacular visual effects extravaganza of epic proportions, with surprisingly layered characters and heart-stopping, beautiful cinematography and production design. But the real surprise is the tender backbone that the film backs up its insane action scenes with. And it's all thanks to the real star of the picture; George Miller, who's dream film (no, quite literally dream-film. He dreamed of this movie a decade before it ever saw first light) is perfectly executed by a master film-maker. By the end of the film you can't do anything than to applaud and bow to the mastermind himself. Mad Max: Fury Road is THE movie to beat for the remainder of the year, and the action movie to beat for the remainder of the decade.
10/10