Mad Max: Fury Road, fits right in with its predecessors

Rating: 10/10 (1 February 2016)

Fury Road, directed by George Miller (who also directed the previous Mad Max instalments) is back. This time, Max (played by Tom Hardy) is captured by a Warlord, Immortan Joe and his subjects. Max lucks out, however, as he inadvertently takes part in a kidnapping and rescue mission by Joe and his war parties. Max helps the kidnapper, a rogue war party member Furiosa, and her "victims," sex slaves that Joe keeps. Together, this crew races through the desert of post-apocalyptic Australia as they try and escape Immortan Joe.
This is a simple movie in a lot of ways. There is very little dialogue, and much of the story takes place through action scenes, or set pieces. I love that these scenes can often describe the world Miller imagines without any tedious narration or worthless back story. Hardy does a great job as Max, opting for silent brooding and grunting dialogue to portray Max. As was mentioned, this movie is 90% action. Think the tanker chase scene from the Road Warrior, and multiply that by about 4. It's non-stop action, and it's gorgeous to look at.
I have seen a few pieces of criticism for this film that describe it as "childish or mindless action" to improperly quote a few. I would address this by pointing out that Miller does not insult the audience with dialogue to explain the world or back story of Mad Max's universe. He leaves the scenes to themselves, and allows the viewer to see the minutia of his world, or not, depending on how close they are paying attention. This movie has flipped the Hollywood-ized action flick around. There are no clichéd moments of candid action, with jokes and laughs shared by invincible heroes. The action scenes are intense, and our heroes are vulnerable. The thrill and suspense throughout the film keeps the viewer attentive and engaged. The world develops around these scenes and often leaves the viewer to marvel much as Max and crew do themselves.
I really enjoy this movie, and on my fifth watch, have decided to write this review. A movie is excellent when it improves on subsequent watches, and in my opinion, Mad Max: Fury Road does just that. It is eye candy action, to be sure. Evens so, there is nothing wrong with a great action movie, and this one fits the bill perfectly. Fury Road is highly engaging, thrilling, action packed, well shot and directed, and a total blast to watch each time.