great new addition to the Mad Max franchise

Rating: 9/10 (18 June 2017)

People who are critical of this movie I'm guessing in large don't understand what a Mad Max movie is or were never fans of the original franchise in the first place. If you're expecting a deep, profound study on human behavior and richly developed characters, you'll have to look elsewhere...Max Max was never this, nor does it pretend to be.
Mad Max is a hit you in the face roller-coaster ride of an action movie set in a sci-fi post apocalyptic future world. The elements of this movie are quite simple, just like the first 3 installments. Fast paced, violent action centered around situation survival. Complex character development and rich dialogue aren't needed here, nor does the film suffer from it. Mad Max Fury Road, like it's predecessors, doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it simply is. And that's the beauty of this movie. In a cinematic landscape full of thought provoking, profound films that often tend to be too highbrow for their own good, Fury Road was a welcome breath of fresh air. A guilty pleasure I loved every minute of.
It should go without saying that the special effects, action sequences, editing and cinematography here were top notch...the Academy agreed as well, giving this film nominations and awards in many of those categories. Frankly, based on the weak competition that year, I feel the only reason Fury Road didn't receive Best Picture was because the Academy didn't have the stones yet to give it to a film like Mad Max.Sure, this wasn't any thoughtful film with a deep and profound message, nor was it claimed to be, but it was a damn good movie that blended all of its own elements together flawlessly to create an amazingly entertaining viewing experience. And in my opinion, it did so far better than any of its Beat Picture competitors.
George Miller went out on a limb casting somebody other than Mel Gibson in the role of Max. Max is certainly a movie character that is very strongly tied to the actor who portrayed him. Using Mel in this film wouldn't have worked for a large number of reasons, and Miller knew this. Having said that, the character of Max isn't a particularly complex or deep one (Max had fewer than 20 lines of dialogue in The Road Warrior), any number of actors could have pulled the role off reasonably competently. But Mel Gibson did bring an important intangible quality to the role that made the character strong. Tom Hardy was an excellent choice to replace Mel Gibson as Max, he succeeded in bringing that same intangible value to the character. If Miller would have chosen a different actor who lacked this subtle quality, he wouldn't have been able to pull it off nearly as well as he did, nor would fans have been as accepting of the new lead. Hardy did a wonderful job as Max, and I hope we see more of him in this role in future films.
Charlize Theron delivered her typical outstanding character performance here, stealing every scene she was in. She demonstrated why she is considered such an amazingly talented character actor, able to handle such a wide spectrum of parts.
If you're a Mad Max, action, sci-if fan, or if you just enjoy very well done films, Fury Road is a must see