Excellent.

Rating: 10/10 (15 May 2015)

Wow. As a fan of the original Mad Max trilogy, this film nearly delivered on all fronts. The tone is dark, but the film never takes itself too seriously, and has an insane sense of self-awareness. Some of the concepts are so insane, outlandish, and stylish you can't help but laugh and enjoy the ride.
The visuals are utterly unforgettable, creating some of the most memorable images that I have ever seen in a film. In addition to the beautiful desert landscape, like I previously mentioned, the film takes it's ideas and multiplies them to the nth degree. Some of the smaller scenes, that have barely any significance to the story, I remember because of the smallest visual detail that is presented in them, even if that scene in the long run, really holds no significance and is never mentioned again.
Tom Hardy is great in the role of Max, keeping the mysteriousness and the likability of the protagonist in full force. What's fantastic about Max too is that, his past is never revealed in a exposition like scenario, rather it is told cleverly through visuals, a display that director George Miller respects the intelligence of the audience and doesn't want to spell everything out for them. Charlize Theron however, absolutely stole the show. Her acting is excellent- perfectly conveying her character and the emotions that are being dealt with. Some scenes she was in actually had me in near tears, her performance was so good. The exposition of her, unlike Max, is conveyed through dialog, but it doesn't feel forced. We don't get some long monologue from her about her past, rather it feels like a casual mention. It expertly tells us about her while keeping just the right amount of exposition left out, allowing us to connect the dots with other pieces of dialog or other visual details that reveal more about her. Simply put, she might be one of the best leading female protagonists put to the screen in a while.
The characters are always given time to develop, even the smallest of characters. The film has the perfect blend of action and character driven moments, allowing the audience to take a breather every now and then and just soak in the characters of this world. I forgot to mention, the action is amazing. Because the film has the perfect plot that pretty much lends itself to action, it never stops moving, and gains so much kinetic energy you wonder if it'll ever stop. And sometimes, that can be a negative. Too much action at once can leave the viewer restless, but thankfully this doesn't become much of an issue until the end. It helps that in the action scenes, you can actually see whats going on, and the film doesn't over utilize shaky cam.
I was really surprised by how much substance the narrative and the characters had, dealing much with themes of redemption and attempting to rid of a dark past. This is an action movie that isn't only a popcorn movie, this is likely something that you can analyze and find hidden meanings in. Because of this, people who are more into the artistic side of film (like myself) will enjoy it as well.
This is the best film released all year and the best summer movie since the likes of Inception. Actually, in many aspects it might be better than Inception. It very well be the best action film so far this decade, and that is no exaggeration.