Exciting action/pursuit film. Beware driving after watching - "road rage" is a given!

Rating: 8/10 (2 January 2018)

'Mad Max: Fury Road' doesn't - to the best of my recollection - pick up from where the third film ended, which is fine, seeing as 'Beyond Thunderdome' came out the year I was born! I don't recall too many specifics from the original trilogy, other than it was a post-apocalyptic desert (Australian) wasteland and motorcycle and car gangs reigned supreme. 'Fury Road' keeps that tradition alive - at its core, it is a road/chase film, and is relentless throughout with everything it does, from the scenery, soundtrack, stunts, cars, violence and explosions.
The over-the-top-ness serves the film well, though - much in the same way '300' was hyper-visualised, this is the same, but instead of heaps of slow-motion, some of it is sped up, keeping the pace of the chase buzzing. It also has the same silly-ness, in that none of it is remotely realistic, but it all works within the universe the film inhabits (except for where all the fuel comes from!). Miller must've dreamt up most of the car/truck hybrids when he was a kid - and kudos to him for making them a reality, especially the pole-swinging guys and the main rig - certainly great to watch.
Hardy is satisfactory as Max (there's not many lines for the brooding hero) and Theron is good as the vengeful Furiosa, trying to protect a group of women from the evil Emperor (or whatever his name is - played by Keays-Byrne, with Billy Connolly hair). Not sure why Hardy had to have a Bane-like face covering for some of the film, after 'The Dark Knight Rises' - detracted a bit from the film. Favourite bit - the guitarist on the front of the truck! Loved how the drums and his riffs only came to the fore when the camera panned to them.