and
Some of you who have read my reviews before, however few of you there are, may recall that I reviewed the first Mad Max film a while back and that I didn’t much care for it. That is still the case. Despite some rather interesting aesthetic choices, I found the film to be, on the whole, rather boring. Boring in the way that B-movies can often be, where there is literally nothing that tear you away from that intense lack of interest. Lackluster characters, lackluster music, lackluster cinematography and a lack of action that seems almost ridiculous considering the type of movie it purports itself to be. When you call your primary antagonist Mad Max, and you set your story in a post-apocalyptic Australia that’s run by insane gangs, it’s just wrong to pull that ‘all the action is in the last 30 minutes’ bullshit that so many movies end up doing. Yes, you want to build towards an exciting climax, but (and I think I’ve said this before) if you don’t care about the characters then you’re not going to care about what happens to them. No matter how bloody or action-packed it may be.
Cut to 2015, a full 30 years after the last Mad Max film (Beyond Thunderdome, for those curious), and director George Miller has finally released the fourth film in the series, Fury Road. In it, the titular Max (played here by Tom Hardy is enslaved and made into a living blood bank by a gang of pale, warlike zealots known as the War Boys, lead by their God Emperor Immortan Joe. When one of the War Boy’s most trusted warriors, Imperator Furiosa (played by Charlize Theron) rescues Immortan’s harem under the pretext of a raid, the entire force of the War Boys is sent after her, Max unwillingly included. When Max eventually escapes, because it wouldn’t be much of a movie if he didn’t, he and Furiosa form a tentative truce to save the girls, save themselves, and reach that sanctuary that all post-apocalyptic worlds must have. With Immortan Joe right behind them however, it’s going to be one rough ride.
To put it simply, Mad Max: Fury Road is one of, if not the best modern action film I’ve seen to date. Every bit of potential I saw in the original Mad Max; the cool car chases, the punk aesthetic, the post-apocalyptic Lord of the Flies-meets-The Warriors type world Miller has thought up is all there, and even more insane than I thought it was going to be going into it. The popular sentiment from reviews at the time was that the film was like ‘one long car chase’, and that’s not too far from the truth. The film is utterly relentless, constantly pushing you, constantly throwing new things,new explosions, into the mix, and yet it never really feels overwhelming and never loses sight of what it’s going for. Not that it’s some grand epic mind you, but through that constant action, that constant suspense of wondering what’ could possibly come next, Miller made me feel attached to these characters in a way that I never felt in Dark Knight Rises or Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy or Godzilla, at least to the same degree. I may not remember most of their names, but I still cared.
Really, the only negative I can think of at the moment is that for a film called Mad Max, Mad Max feels rather ancillary to the whole thing. In fact, I don’t think he even speaks in complete sentences for at least thirty minutes after his opening monologue. Really, it terms of motivation, character arc, and general screentime, Furiosa has a much stronger claim to the protagonist title than the guy the film is named after. However, it’s not like Max isn’t a badass in this movie, and Furiosa is a total badass, so really you’re getting two badasses in a movie that’s already completely fucking awesome, so it never really felt like such a big deal to me. So really, at the moment of writing, I can’t think of anything wrong with Fury Road. I went in with no real expectations, maybe even slightly lowered expectations given my experience with the first Mad Max and my pessimistic attitude towards modern cinema, and it satisfied on pretty much every level. Damn good piece of film, really hope Hollywood doesn’t find some way to fuck it up.
And since post-apocalyptic stories are a subgenre of science fiction, I have no problem with throwing high recommendations on Fury Road for this Halloween. The only way I can imagine this movie being better is if you were jacked up on candy and beer with your friends while watching it, so (if you’re of legal age) that’s what I would suggest. You’ll live, you’ll die, and then maybe, just maybe, you’ll live again.
Really, the only negative I can think of at the moment is that for a film called Mad Max, Mad Max feels rather ancillary to the whole thing. In fact, I don’t think he even speaks in complete sentences for at least thirty minutes after his opening monologue. Really, it terms of motivation, character arc, and general screentime, Furiosa has a much stronger claim to the protagonist title than the guy the film is named after. However, it’s not like Max isn’t a badass in this movie, and Furiosa is a total badass, so really you’re getting two badasses in a movie that’s already completely fucking awesome, so it never really felt like such a big deal to me. So really, at the moment of writing, I can’t think of anything wrong with Fury Road. I went in with no real expectations, maybe even slightly lowered expectations given my experience with the first Mad Max and my pessimistic attitude towards modern cinema, and it satisfied on pretty much every level. Damn good piece of film, really hope Hollywood doesn’t find some way to fuck it up.
And since post-apocalyptic stories are a subgenre of science fiction, I have no problem with throwing high recommendations on Fury Road for this Halloween. The only way I can imagine this movie being better is if you were jacked up on candy and beer with your friends while watching it, so (if you’re of legal age) that’s what I would suggest. You’ll live, you’ll die, and then maybe, just maybe, you’ll live again.
No comments:
Post a Comment