Movie Review : Mad Max - Fury Road (2015)

The film industry has been rebooting every movie franchise they can put their hands on for the last decade or so. It's a way to maximize the lifespan and the profitability of ideas without having to go through the hassle of seeking new original scripts worthy of investing in. Everybody has figured it out by now, so reboots are usually welcomed with a heavy dose of cynicism. All of them, except for MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. Everybody was happy to learn Max Rockatansky would be back on the silver screen. I don't know what's with that franchise, but there's something about its flexible setting and the massive influence it had on every post-apocalyptic fiction ever written since that fills people (including me) with hope and inexplicable enthusiasm. The most beautiful part of that anomaly is what MAD MAX: FURY ROAD delivered what people expected out of it in every possible way, and then some.

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is a pretty simple movie. The scenes are long and filled with a ridiculous amount of intricate details that you may or may not notice because they are flying by you as such as scorching pace, but the screenplay is simple and straightforward. Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) is a soldier of the Citadel in charge of driving the War Rig, an armored vehicle used for gasoline runs. She has enough of the Citadel leader's Immortan Joe's (Hugh Keys-Byrne) tyrannical and demented reign, so she takes off to the place she was abducted from as a child, bringing along Joe's wives, women kept prisoner for breeding purposes. Immortan Joe sends her entire army after Furiosa, including a young, sick War Boy named Nux (Nicholas Hoult) who keeps a violent prisoner (Tom Hardy) strapped to the hood of his car for blood transfusions. The stars will align in the midst of chaos for just about the most epic car chase you've ever seen.

That's right, the entire movie (or almost) is structured within a car chase. There is very little dialogue and when the characters talk, the sense of urgency is so strong, it's always task oriented. The screenplay of MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is deceptively complex and conceals tons of interesting details that appear through the art direction rather than the writing. For example, the much talked-about guitar player on top of one of Immortan Joe's vehicles is a wink to medieval warfare, where music played an important part in the deployment of the troops. It's an allusion to the devolution of society since men have started waging war for gasoline. 

Another thing MAD MAX: FURY ROAD cleverly alludes to is the inbreeding going on at the Citadel. It's never told, but since the movie shows fat and deformed women giving birth in the Citadel, the movie alludes that they are breeding War Boys, as the wives (who are all beautiful, smart and fierce) have for purpose to give Immortan Joe a worthy successor. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD isn't exactly a turn-your-mind-off kind of movie. It's fun and exciting, but it's also stimulating as all hell. It's what makes the car chase so unique and fulfilling. There's a complex, inherent story to it that the movie leaves you to figure out.

This is pretty much all that Max Rockatansky does in this movie: kicking some ass.

I don't want to address the feminism aspect of MAD MAX: FURY ROAD for too long, not because it's not important, but because it's pretty in-your-face and I don't think you need a breakdown to understand it. The motivations of six beautiful, fierce and intelligent women to take responsibility for their lives and run away from a disgusting tyrant are pretty clear. I thought the relationship between Max and Furiosa was the strongest and most complex feminist statement made by MAX MAD: FURY ROAD. They wordlessly gain each other's trust by helping each other survive, almost on instinct. The understanding that they are equals on the battlefield and complementary to each other's survival slowly builds between them. I love that iconic director George Miller gave Charlize Theron one arm and short hair, and yet she's beautiful anyway. The two most beautiful people in this movie (Hardy and Theron) are dirty as hell and don't wear makeup. So that was interesting too.

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD might not be the most cerebral movie you've ever seen. It really is about that in-your-face two hours long car chase and the inherent story it patiently unpacks, detail by detail, over every scene. The art direction and the stunt choreography are the movie's calling card and while it kicked my ass all over the theater last Friday, I'm not sure how well it's going to live past its run on the silver screen. It's a film you have to see on the biggest possible screen, with the volume cranked out or it'll lose some of its visceral charm. It's true that Max Rockatansky is more of an accessory than a fully involved protagonist in MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, thing that might makes the purists wince, but I thought it was a glorious display of narrative bravado from George Miller to pull it off and yet make such a scorching, barnburner of a movie anyway. I'm not sure MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is a film that can withstand several viewings and keep all its interest but it sure is going to kick your ass on the first one. That was the most fun I had in the theater in a couple of years.

BADASS