Practical Magic

Rating: 7/10 (5 July 2017)

"Mad Max?' who's he?" cry the younger generation. Well, I guess he's Tom Hardy these days. However, to anyone born back in the seventies and eighties, he the titular character was synonymous with a different actor who has since majorly fallen from grace. So, in short – it's a remake. But, in that most rarest of remake traditions, it seems that the general consensus is that it's actually pretty good! Now, I was never that into the original films (I can't even remember whether there's two or three of them!) so perhaps I'm more forgiving and not exactly a 'Mad Max' purist, however, perhaps one of the reasons this new version is so well received is that it's written and directed by the original's director, George Miller.
It follows the same premise, i.e. in a post apocalyptic world (or 'Australia' as it's also known – boom boom!) gangs rule the deserts and fuel and water are the most rare – and therefore valuable – commodities that people will literally kill for. Enter one gruff loner (or 'Max' as we later find out) who's been surviving on the road all this time on his lonesome. However, his (sort of) carefree days of eating lizards and driving a cool car quickly come to an end when he's captured by a gang of those nasties who seem to come to be in every post apocalyptic world we've ever seen on screen. So he's tortured and killed and no one lives happily ever after. Just kidding. With the help of a load of other prisoners, he escapes and they all go on the run, hotly pursued by their psychotic former captors. However, just because you're on the run from people who want to strap you to the front of a high-powered vehicle and wear your skins for sun block, doesn't mean it's all bad. There are worse people to be on the lamb with than Charlize Theron (unless she's playing Aileen Phillips from 'Monster' I suppose!), so the pair of them do their best to fend off the constant attacks from the gangs, while protecting those who are escaping alongside them.
I guess if you were to sum up the film and try to pigeonhole it into a genre, you could say it's an 'action' movie, but I think the sub-genre of a 'chase' movie is more in order. It never really stands still for long and the film is ultimately one long chase across a desert, only stopping occasionally to gather a breath or two before everyone's off blowing moving vehicles up again. And, if that's your thing, then you're in for a real treat. Part of the enjoyment of this (very simple) film is that many of the special effects are real life stunts, as opposed to CGI or blue-screen work (yes, I think there may have been a little bit of the afore-mentioned effects, but it's pretty minimal) so you really get a feel of the danger the actors (or probably stunt people!) are going through.
Not only are the explosions all convincing, but the make-up is also really cool. And, by 'cool' I mean absolutely revolting! Although, it seems that in this dystopian future, only bad people are hideously mutated individuals and anyone who needs saving looks like a supermodel from a Victoria's Secret catalogue. Although, to be fair, it seems that once a woman stops looking like Cindy Crawford with slightly less make-up, if they still wish to stay on the good guys' side, they automatically become a hard-as-nails old crone who's got a heart of gold and a forehead that time forgot. Anyway, that's just me being picky, this film is fast-paced fun. If you like numerous explosions, car chases and general mayhem then go on a road trip with these people and you'll see how bad car travel can be – I promise you after seeing what these people have to endure you'll never moan again when all you have to do is drive a car with your kids in the back while they constantly ask, "Are we there yet?"