A renaissance for 21st century action filmmaking

Rating: 10/10 (17 May 2015)

I hadn't realized how jaded action cinema had become until I watched this. I've been joining the lines and buying the tickets for the Marvel onslaught since Iron Man. Watching the Hobbit trilogy with my eyes half open with the sameness of it all. I loved the birth of CGI after The Abyss and T2 and gasped in wonder at Gollum and Caeser.
But eventually all of the third act of all action movies became saturated with digital everything. Now comes Fury Road, an analogue testament to practicality and inventive insight into making it visceral.
Now I know there ARE digital effects in this, I'm not stupid but they are there to enhance, polish and assist in the stunt work and vision of the Director NOT to bury the artistic nature with endless repetitions of glinting danger.
In Road there are characters, people who we can identify with and see them change and grow through the shared experience of their struggles. You can feel the fear and adrenaline within them, you can feel the danger, the closeness of death.
Millers' created world is dazzling in its realness, and the photography is blistering to the eyes. I was overwhelmed by the color palette he used. And to hear the audience stunned into silence was fascinating. The person I was with forgot they had popcorn until the credits rolled!
Maybe those spoiled by being raised in the Transformers era can believe in the power of filmmaking for the first time.
For myself? Born in the 60s and raised through cinema of the 70s and 80s, watching a 70 year old Millers' Cinematic art form on the big screen made me feel young again.