A Wild Monstrosity of a Film!

Rating: 9/10 (30 May 2015)

Few action films have ever displayed such vigorous, elegant, symphonic understanding of cinema. Mad Max: Fury Road is a true celebration of cinema, it is a work of art that is unimaginable in any other medium.
If the Academy knows anything about filmmaking, they should all be writing down George Miller in their bracket for best director, for the man has showed us what it would be like if Vivaldi was alive today, making Action films rather than composing music. The reason I mention Vivaldi is because George Miller's understanding of Action Cinema reminded me several times of Vivaldi's of music; Four Seasons comes to mind especially. While surely the crew around him have done their job expertly, the film really seems like a work of a man with a vision. Every edit, every movement (of either camera, character or vehicle) appear a part of a greater symphony. Several times does the film seemingly build towards climaxes before the conductor lowers his baton, letting the audience breathe before building all up again. The pauses for breathing are few, yet all feel perfectly placed and are just far enough apart that the film is allowed to keep a pace making it seem like the Usian Bolt of film.
The action is absolutely the highlight of this movie, extraordinary, visually spectacular and quite honestly unlike anything we have seen; ever. Yet it seems Miller has also managed to hit the jackpot in his writing (though reportedly there was no proper script while shooting). The movie never tries to hide what it is; the story is simple, sometimes distant, yet it is handled in a such a way that it creates a quite strong emotional connection with the protagonists. The character of Max is interesting enough in himself, and played with an impressively subtle vulnerability by Tom Hardy, yet it with Furiosa, played by Theron (expertly so), that the story truly lies. Her quest strangely enough manages to feel relevant to society today, with the (sadly) still-relevant fight for gender-equality.
The film has by some been described as feminist and rightly so. In having both male and female character fight together against the patriarchal system, it underlines the need for both genders to take part in this struggle that our society still faces. With a noble cause being portrayed in such a sympathetic way, it is made easy to root for the heroes, thus making the already spectacular action even better, by having stakes that feel as if they matter.