Starring Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, Nicholas Hoult and Hugh Keays-Byrne.
Written by Brendan McCarthy, Nick Lathouris, George Miller and Eric Blakeney.
Directed by George Miller. 2 hours all too short.
The lights go down, the screen goes black, after the logos a gruff sounding old codger, probably Max himself, does a spot of narration and then it starts. Two truly astonishing hours later and, if you're like me, you'll be stumbling into the light outside, still dazzled and shell-shocked by what you've just seen and days later, you'll still be getting Nam-like flashbacks, itching to see it again in case you dreamt the whole thing.
Starting with a car chase and ending two hours later with, arguably the same one, this is a staggeringly original visual experience. What little plot there is is so linear it makes straight lines look wonky. Instead insane, relentless forward momentum propels the film along, just like a car chase. This is more about characters reacting to the world around them, so what more plot do you need? The main focus are Theron's Furiosa, Hardy's Max, and Hoult's Nux and incredibly for a relatively short film each manages to have a story to tell, their characters go through arcs and are changed by the experience, quite an extraordinary achievement for what should be a brain-dead, action, summer blockbuster and indeed in a lesser director's hands, say Michael Bay would be.
All you need to know is that it's the far-future, it's post apocalyptic and bands of survivors scour the wasteland in souped up off-road cars looking for gazoleen and water.
Bollocks, I keep trying to write about this film and all I do is list superlatives and try and make it sound high-brow. So sod it.
Balls out the best action film I've seen this year (sorry John Wick, but you're still my second favourite) indeed, this is without doubt, one of the greatest action films ever made. I avoided the 3D version and now I regret it. This needs to be seen on the biggest screen possible! And I want to see it again on the IMAX in 3D!
Huge kudos to George Miller who made this. He created this genre with Mad Max back in 1979 and comes back to show the world he's still da king! I for one pray to the non-existent god I don't believe in that Miller sticks to making more [insert superlative of your own choice here] films like this one and less festering, stinking mush like Happy Feet.
By the way, the first Mad Max film was the second 'X' film I ever saw at the cinema, I was 15. and I can still remember it to this day, I'm fairly sure that 36 years from now I'll be just as fond of Fury Road, assuming I survive the apocalypse and can find enough gazoleen to power my generator and run my TV and Blu Ray player.
10/10
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