An absolute masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (12 February 2016)

Mad Max: Fury Road is one of my favourite films of 2015, and without question one of the absolute best films gracing this years Best Picture category at the academy awards. It's absolutely one of the biggest surprises in the category, I had feared the film would be written off as an action movie, but was overjoyed to see it up for the big prize, as well as 9 other possible prizes.
There's something so special about a movie like this. Proof that strong and interesting female characters can lead one of the most balls-to-the-wall action movies that I have seen in my entire life. The titular Max is present, and Tom hardy does an excellent job, but he plays more of a secondary character in the movie. He doesn't say much, but manages to only keep the badassery up around 150%. Charleze Theron is a force of nature as Furiousa in this movie as well, and leads the movie in a way that women are almost never given the opportunity to do in action films.
Combining feminist overtones, criticisms of the patriarchy, and our reliance on fuel are things that many action films wouldn't touch with a 1000 foot pole, but Mad Max does that and still includes more impressive and amazing action than any other action movie has in years.
The cinematography and visual effects that this movie employs are some of the best I've ever seen, and there seems to be a seamless blending of real and computer generated effects from start to finish. This creates an epic and amazing feeling that so many action films try for, and fall short. If this doesn't win best picture, it would border on criminal to deny it the effects awards it's up for.
An absolutely stunning achievement that needs to be seen by everyone. If you haven't gotten up on this one yet, I can't imagine why for the life of me.
As I have with the previous films, I kept an eye on the number of those characters who were not white, cisgendered, heteronormative characters and even an eye on the Bechdel test. The movie passes the Bechdel test, but unfortunately doesn't have a hugely diverse cast. That said, the presence of immensely strong female characters is a refreshing change and is probably the most unique of the nominees so far.