No MAD MAX 2, but about as good as could be expected with modern action sensibilities

Rating: 8/10 (18 May 2015)

In my view, writing comments on current releases is fairly pointless as they'll disappear into all the noise, but the MAD MAX franchise is one I'm particularly passionate about, so allow me to attempt at some degree of objectivity while writing this glowing review. I'm a curmudgeon when it comes to action and sci fi movies. In my view, stunt work is much less impressive when half or more of it is accomplished via green-screen and rendered human beings. Science Fiction relies on visual stimulus and often massive destruction effects (miniatures, matte painting, and stop motion) to add to the constructed universe and entertainment factor, now diluted so much by the knowledge that rooms full of outsourced nerds in Canada, India, New Zealand and China are clicking pixels around until everything is absolutely "perfect". So in my view, making an action and stunt-heavy science fiction film in this day and age is an uphill battle to impress a weary action fan such as this, but this film did the best job it could.
Was it perfect? No. There were issues with pacing, inconsistent character development, some awkward CGI (yes especially in terms of CGI humans for stunt work), and Hardy's performance and characterization not quite up to snuff. I was also put off by some distractingly gimmicky 3D shots like a steering wheel floating in the screen after an explosion.
Perfectly imperfect? Almost. If this film had brought back a haggard 60+ Mel Gibson finding HIS redemption and otherwise been the same I would have given it a 9. I absolutely love how The Toecutter from the original MAD MAX returns here as Immortem Joe, showing that geriatric villains can be just as threatening as any other. With each successive MAX film there has been more and more of a feminist approach to the presentation of tough women dominating men. In this film, they go a bit over the top with it, but not to the point where it's utterly unbelievable a la HUNGER GAMES where a scrawny woman has no problem defeating a muscle-bound man in a fistfight without even taking breaking a sweat. Refreshingly, a lot of the female characters are put in just as much peril and take just as much unceremonious damage and fatalities as their male counterparts. All things being equal, it's great fun and something new, though at the end of the day I can't see a lot here in this blighted dystopian landscape that would attract a lot of female viewers.
Reasonably entertaining? Of course. This film is loaded with a lot of carnage, stunt work, and visual stimulus including some delicious really wasteful and global-warming-contributing gasoline explosions of a like not seen since the 90's. The color palette is beautiful, the women gorgeous to look at, and some of the production design for the vehicles and sets some of the most creative of the steam-punk genre seen since BLADE RUNNER. A few moments really had me at the edge of my seat, such as the overlapping battling across multiple vehicles near the end. I only wish there was more of this.
What would I have changed? Max didn't need all those ghost voices following him around through the film, and could have used some character development outside of that. He could have played a more central role in driving the plot forward. The ending needed more of an impact or crazy crescendo to build up to. I'd have added another element such as a time factor on closing the pass, another tribe emerging, or a bigger explosion or mega-car-pileup to close things with. It's difficult not to feel a bit disappointed that things end on a whimper. Movies don't know how to end these days. Also, much like GRAVITY, this film suffers from protagonists living through things that would have killed anyone in real life. There's no way any human being would have lived through a couple of these high speed crashes (especially with one's neck chained to one of such vehicles), so I'd have ironically toned some of the danger down a tad to increase this universe's realism/tension level.
I get the feeling that an unrated release will be on its way. I'm picking this movie apart, but aside from what I mentioned, it gets so much right. It's got a crazy bald guy playing a flame-throwing guitar while wearing bright red 1800's pajamas for God's sake. It's one for the boys, but also one for anyone needing a modern big screen action fix.