Pretty pictures

Rating: 6/10 (23 May 2015)

Great visuals, great production values & lovely detailing that fleshes out (literally) life in the future-desert-world-thing. It's very ludicrous but fun. The action-staging is as good as ever but there are only echoes of the earlier heights of suspense because we don't care too much about the characters, particularly Max - once a clever and resourceful character, now just... sullen. Despite frequent flash- back cuts to show him as haunted, he's more one-dimensional than ever as portrayed by the sparse and strangely accented mumblings of the usually reliable Tom Hardy. Charlize Theron gets only a little more to work with and it's Nicholas Hoult who gets the stand-out character which could be parodying our current preoccupation with religiously radicalised youth. The plot is very simple and calculated only to provide maximum chase scenes. Visually inventive, accomplished and well integrated with effects ...but the film is missing it's usual humour, any basis in drama and perhaps therefore our engagement with the non-stop action.