Adrenaline injected straight into your veins, and also your heart

Rating: Null/10 (27 July 2015)

After three decades we finally get another Mad Max film, and from the original director to boot. And if we learned anything from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it is that these kind of movies are to be feared. Which is why it's my great surprise and pleasure to announce that Mad Max: Fury Road is not only amazing, it comes very close to being the best Mad Max we've ever had.
Couple of reasons for this. First of all, it is an unbelievable action film. Eighty percent of the whole running time is spent in one kind of action sequence or another, but the directing and the pacing are both so iron tight that you'll never feel overwhelmed. I was at the edge of my seat the whole film, biting my nails, trying to rein in the urge to leap to my feet and yell "Oh yeah!" It also helps that this movie is one of those rare movies nowadays that are confident enough to utilize practical effects where they can and only rely to CGI when the effect is impossible to replicate in real life. And that shows. You really believe that all the cars are there and that the explosions really happen. It's a nuanced difference, but we see so much CGI these days that we've become able to spot the difference.
The actors are also phenomenal. Tom Hardy is perfect as the new Max. Sure, he doesn't have the underlying suave charisma Mel Gibson had, but this is a more jaded Max we're seeing in this film, and Hardy is perfect for that. But the real breakthrough performance here has to be Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa. I demand more action roles for this woman! She's everything someone portrayed as Max's equal has to be, and then some. Undeniably badass, utterly skilled and frightening in her fury, she's one of the best action heroines we've ever seen, if not the best. More, please.
And thirdly, the surprising depth and emotions shown in this film. And yes, the themes are largely feminine. It deals with subjects like forced pregnancy, slavery, treating women as objects to be owned, fear, suffering and loss. All this in the middle of the most straightforward action gorefest you've ever seen. Yet the thing is, the themes never take away from the action. It wouldn't be a better action movie if you dropped the themes away or replaced them with something more "masculine". It works precisely because it can be a movie for both the adrenaline junkie muscleheads and for those looking hope and redemption in cinema.
And that is why Mad Max: Fury Road is so great. Because it pulls of the miracle of not only being a fourth part in a franchise thought having died a long time ago, but also being a movie about humanity, redemption and equality, while also being the movie most likely to cause per-pubescent boys to drop their voices by two octaves.