Average film with great reviews...

Rating: 6/10 (18 October 2015)

I watched Mad Max having not seen the older films since I was young and without reading any reviews or any preconceptions about what it would be like.
Most people will know it's an action film, but it really is just that. I found it difficult to get absorbed into the movie because it was very CGI driven and, whilst technology has moved on, it was still too obvious that many scenes were graphical. The (very few) lines of speech in the story were all very cheesy and poorly acted. Max had only a handful of lines but they were not done well - I would argue he wasn't even the main character! There was no attachment to any of the characters and no concern about their fate - even when there should have been!
The story could have been written on an A4 sheet of paper and the rest of the film was all about action shots... in vehicles... in the desert. Followed closely by more of the same. Just when you think you might see something interesting, it just sends you right back from where you came. More vehicles, more desert, more fighting.
This is a pure, mindless action film, but it's mostly the same kind of action all the way through. There is barely any story or character development. It is a blockbuster in terms of the scale of action, but that isn't enough to give it more than a 6 out of 10.
How this has 8.3 on IMDb at the moment is crazy. Mindless action lovers giving it 10/10 and those who loved the original enjoying more of the same. When it comes down to it... most high budget films are worth the watch for the spectacle and I do enjoy most of them even if they're not technically great films. In this case, my main feeling was that the movie was just rubbish and I wouldn't recommend it to any but action lovers.