A very good summer blockbuster that had Max become Furiosa's sidekick

Rating: 6/10 (15 May 2015)

Saw it in 3D. As someone whose absolute favorite movie growing up was the Road Warrior, I felt disappointment in the direction Miller took with this movie. By itself MMFR is a very good summer blockbuster, but it really had nothing to with the character of Max or the world Max occupied in the previous 3 movies. The movie came off to me as a bit too cartoonish in regards to many of the characters and action sequences. In my opinion Miller could have completely removed the character of Max and it still would be a very successful movie without the Mad Max franchise tagged to it.
In the first two movies (MMBT gets a pass, since Byron Kennedy's death affected Miller's enthusiasm on the project) Max was in my opinion a far more layered character, someone who used his intelligence, reflexes and resourcefulness to help prolong his own survival or to exact his revenge. A man who in a classical sense was wronged and had to walk his own path in order to make peace with himself. I felt there was a depth in those films, largely due in part because Gibson had the incredible ability to express how his character was feeling to the viewing audience, using a broad emotional spectrum with virtually no dialog, which greatly enhanced some beautifully composed scenes. It was so refreshing to see this pulled off successfully in films that had some of the greatest action sequences in movie history.
Due to the extreme rapid pace of MMFR, their was no place to demonstrate those prior characteristics. I cannot tell if Hardy has the chops to do what Gibson did because when he is asked to lend emotional weight to his character we the viewing audience are bombarded by cut scenes of people we have never seen before chanting his name, haunting him in an over the top, movie shortcut kind of way to show his emotional damage. This new interpretation of Max in my opinion is displayed as more of a surviving castaway who is stranded in a deserted wasteland continuously seeing the crying ghosts of those he could not save as the ship went down. This Max seems to be losing his grip on reality, behavior which was never exhibited in the prior films. In MMFR he lacks the emotional subtlety that was shown in the previous films as much as he lacks the screen time in this movie. He is literally along for the ride in Furiosa's story. Hardy then grunting through half of his lines did not help either.
Once again I just want to reiterate that Miller made a great popcorn summer blockbuster movie. I am just disappointed that I felt it really did not have to have Max in it to be successful. It was Furiosa's story.
I went to a Mad Max film because after 30 years I wanted more Max, more V-8 Interceptor, more of him surviving alone in the wasteland. Basically more depth of it's title character.
I think the younger generations who did not see the original movies will love MMFR, but those who grew up with the originals may feel the wanting disappointment I experienced. Great action movie though and I am glad I saw it. Love George Miller.