I've Never Been So Ready For the Desert Carpocalypse: Mad Max, A Review

"Hope is a mistake". Spoken from the mouth of the gritty, sandy, dirty, bloody, weary, wounded and resilient titular Max, this line represents the opposite of what this film stands for as far as the film industry is concerned. Never have I been more inspired for the future of the movie industry than I have right after I walked out of the cinema, fresh out of a showing of Mad Max: Fury Road Starring the phenomenal Tom Hardy as the strong and silent Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson wasn't available to comment), Fury Road takes everything that is wrong with the film industry and shows you what movies have been missing. This movie blows almost every movie made in the last 5 years completely out of the water.





Plot: 4.5 out of 5
     The movie starts off with a brief (and I mean brief) description of the setting of the story for those unfamiliar with the last 3 movies (which if you haven't seen, get on it for god's sake). From there it hits the gas and rockets off at 70 miles and hour and from that point on it. Does. Not. Stop. Fury Road just grabs you and goes. It just doesn't stop. There's no real explaining or exposition to be seen. Anything that needs to be figured out is either explained through context or you are left with a dash of good old fashioned mystery. And that's what is beautiful about this movie. It doesn't cater to anyone or anything. That being said, the story is easy to understand (what's so hard to grasp about a chase?) and wonderfully crafted. Not for a single moment are you left wishing it would pick up the pace, or ramp up the excitement.

Character Development: 5 out of 5
      Like the plot itself, Fury Road doesn't explain much to the viewer, it simply shows you what you need to know. The characters in this movie shine as real people in a real apocalypse as everything falls to madness around them. Surprisingly, Charlize Theron's Imperator Furiosa really outshines Tom Hardy. Her character is easily the most bad-ass woman we've seen since Sigourney Weaver in the Alien franchise.

Visuals: 5 out of 5
     Weta Workshop has once again proved that they are the unchallenged gods of the special effects realm. The visuals in this movie are stunning. Every single shot is full to the brim with absolutely gorgeous cars, characters, and everything in between. You want to know the best part? Around 80% of the effects are practical. The way that movies should be. And it really makes a difference. This movie is noticeably more realistic than something like, say, Battle of the Five Armies (which is absolutely full of CGI (ironically, both are done by the same special effects company)). They built all of these zany, bizarre vehicles, drove them out to the desert, and actually smashed them into each other. And it shows. It looks infinitely better because of it.

Soundtrack: 4.5 out of 5
     One of the best parts of the score is how often you don't hear it. Much like the dialogue and exposition, this movie shows us that less really is more. That being said, what we do hear of the score is really, really good. With a dark, deep sort of sound, it's really reminiscent of Ryan Amon's score for Elysium, with a dash of Hans Zimmer's Man of Steel. In fact, I enjoyed it so much I have already invested in the limited edition vinyl of the score. 

Acting: 4.5 out of 5
     The acting in this movie is quite superb, and once again shows that quantity does not equal quantity. Tom Hardy as Max speaks most of his lines through a series of surprisingly communicative grunts. But I wouldn't expect anything else from the strong yet silent Max (after all, Max only has 16 lines in the superb Road Warrior).  The young Nicholas Hoult does extraordinarily well as the war-crazed War Boy, Nux. I was also completely blown away by the surprisingly good performance of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who apparently can act, despite what her performance in Transformers 3 might suggest. The villain, Immortan Joe, is a nice little nod to the originals, as he is played by Hugh Keays-Byrne, who performed the role of the villain Toecutter in the first Mad Max.

Final Score: 94 out of 100
Go see it? Yes, good god, yes. Even if you haven't seen the other Mad Max films (though they are definitely worth the watch), this one is a standalone film, and has my money for THE movie of the summer.

Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Hugh Keays-Byrne
Directed by George Miller

If you've already seen Fury Road, what did you think? Does it live up to the classics? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below!