Joyous Madness

Rating: Null/10 (21 May 2015)

Director George Miller revisits his classic that recognized himself and star Mel Gibson, Mad Max, by bringing the mythos to this new generation of filmmaking, with larger possibilities to expand its universe and even its insanity. And Mad Max: Fury Road is just as simple as that; it just goes nuts on everything along the road. The momentum is unending, the visual inventiveness is relentless, and it doesn't stop there. It also instantly establishes its own world wonderfully (even though it's already been known before,) but even to the newcomers, you can already see what kind of larger-than-life world this is. This is the kind of utterly enjoyable experience that a true action blockbuster should be.
Even with a larger budget and much riveting spectacles, the direction surprisingly stays loyal to its original style. The pacing is brisk, the possibilities of honest craziness is endless and they still shine on screen. There is a bigger arc from its characters that relies more dialogue compared to the mostly silent Road Warrior, but even so, the story is still majorly told by the action. The entire movie is a grand escape from a ragtag enemies of punks and cults chasing after the mostly sane heroes on a truck. It's a truly magnificent kind of action that rarely halts its totally straightforward mission.
And people brag about how George Miller takes a break from this franchise for the likes of Happy Feet, but to be honest, his achievement there does benefit for this film's visuals. The exteriors look great; example is the sandstorm that lead to an ultimate visual wonder that no other director might have thought about its genuine ridiculousness, and even the transition following after that scene is terrific. It may sound overly hyperbolic at this point, but really, Miller has always been top- notch in this area, but it gets better with larger special effects where the imagination is limitless. But that doesn't exactly defined the Mad Max movies at all. It's all about the characters and their designs and their expressiveness, and of course, the cars!!! The characters are just a variety of weirdness that each of them are immediately established by every detail of their looks and their attitude, and their vehicles happen to be made out of scraps from various models, which is totally fascinating. Worth mentioning is the ride that brings an entire band with a lead flamethrowing guitarist that is called Doof Warrior who steals every moment of his presence.
But the action isn't a totally mindless smokescreen of destruction and explosions, either. There is real action happening on screen that is truly gripping, with the heroes helping each other, briefly yet clearly explaining each of their plights, having hand-in-hand combat, surviving from some stunt, and even a competition (if that's what they call it) of spitting fuel into the motors of their vehicles faster. Generic blockbusters would normally just throw away the spectacles, but here, these fast moving scenes are the story. The acting is stellar. Tom Hardy is solid as Max, and the physicality alone buys what coolness this actor could bring to the character, but the real star here is apparently Charlize Theron since her role gets more character-work among, and she carries the film terrifically.
Mad Max: Fury Road is definitely one of the greatest blockbusters in years. Big budget blockbusters' concern today usually tend to pick either light or dark, smart or dumb, deep or shallow, or whatever, but here, it doesn't even bother. It just sticks to its own spirit, except of course, with heavier effects and heightened insanity. These qualities have often turned us off due to its losing of imagination and staleness, but this film gives us a reason to love it again. It makes us less cynical that big films can be as fun as the dumb B-movies we suddenly found as our personal guilty pleasure. It's just lively, relentlessly fun, while the story is simple, it already provides too much of an excitement for one day and you'll be hungry for more.