"If I'm Gonna Go, I'm Gonna Go Out HIstoric on Fury Road."
A couple weeks back, I said “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, while flawed, was still the best action movie filmgoing audiences were likely to see this season.
Already, two weeks later, I am eating my words. “Mad Max: Fury Road” not only blows “Age of Ultron” out of the water, it raises the bar for both action and science fiction movies to dizzying heights. Believe the hype. “Fury Road” is everything that critics are saying about it, and everything that its criticism implies.
Already, two weeks later, I am eating my words. “Mad Max: Fury Road” not only blows “Age of Ultron” out of the water, it raises the bar for both action and science fiction movies to dizzying heights. Believe the hype. “Fury Road” is everything that critics are saying about it, and everything that its criticism implies.
The first hour of “Fury Road” is an uber-extended action sequence that throws at the audience one exciting image after another. There are giant, gas-spewing war machines manned by scrawny men whose skin has been bleached stone white and who huff metallic silver spray paint to further spike their adrenaline levels, drugged up captives who function as living IVs to aid the more anemic warriors, a man tied to the top of a vehicle like a puppet on strings whose sole purpose is to play face-melting riffs on an electric guitar that SPEWS FIRE. Bolstered by George Miller’s signature stylistic techniques (the heightened frame rate and mercilessly bombastic pacing is reminiscent of the previous installments in the series), these gorgeous scenes are made to not just excite but to enthrall. And it works; during the entire two-hour run time, “Fury Road” refuses to drag, refuses to be anything less than top-notch, innovative and sprawling in its carefully cultured chaos.
All of this would mean NOTHING, though, without the attention to character and story that this movie cultivates, and boy, it was not what people were expecting, was it? The titular character (played by Tom Hardy) is introduced at the start of the film as a tired, near-broken warrior who is haunted by the failures of his past, to the point where the ghosts of people who he failed to protect keep him from fighting and surviving to the best of his ability. Because his character arch is in part about once again finding the will to survive and move past his mental obstacles, he largely takes a backseat to Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa, who DOMINATES this film. She is a gun-toting, one-armed, tank-stealing bad-ass who drives nearly every aspect of the plot, and while her desire for redemption mirrors Max’s own, her end-goals are largely opposite, leaving Max to assist and go on his way without becoming a “savior”; he’s an ally picked up by chance, which serves the film well. Watching these two powerful figures meet, use each other and eventually gain mutual respect is wonderful to see, and Theron’s story sheds light on an aspect of this post-apocalyptic world that has not (as far as I know) been explored in previous installments. It connects what’s happening on this screen to our cultural psyche in a VERY real way, something that is essential and so often overlooked whenever this kind of story is told.
If “Fury Road” was all style and no substance, it would still be a fucking awesome watch, but the commitment to expanding the mythos and communicating a real point of view in a way that serves the material is what makes this an outstanding film. Run, do not walk. You won’t see something like this for a long, long while.
DRINK:
Something with milk. Mudslides feel appropriate.
POSSIBLE RULES:
-Drink for explosions.
-Drink whenever you see that guitar guy. They call him the "Doof Warrior"
-Drink when someone mentions "The Green Place" or "Home"
-Drink when something mechanically goes wrong with a vehicle
-Drink for instances of the "feminist agenda". Heh.
This review was written by Hollis Beck (Krissy Pappau). "Mad Max: Fury Road" was produced by Kennedy Miller Productions and Village Roadshow Pictures, and distributed by Warner Bros. The film is rated "R" with a runtime of 120 minutes.
All of this would mean NOTHING, though, without the attention to character and story that this movie cultivates, and boy, it was not what people were expecting, was it? The titular character (played by Tom Hardy) is introduced at the start of the film as a tired, near-broken warrior who is haunted by the failures of his past, to the point where the ghosts of people who he failed to protect keep him from fighting and surviving to the best of his ability. Because his character arch is in part about once again finding the will to survive and move past his mental obstacles, he largely takes a backseat to Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa, who DOMINATES this film. She is a gun-toting, one-armed, tank-stealing bad-ass who drives nearly every aspect of the plot, and while her desire for redemption mirrors Max’s own, her end-goals are largely opposite, leaving Max to assist and go on his way without becoming a “savior”; he’s an ally picked up by chance, which serves the film well. Watching these two powerful figures meet, use each other and eventually gain mutual respect is wonderful to see, and Theron’s story sheds light on an aspect of this post-apocalyptic world that has not (as far as I know) been explored in previous installments. It connects what’s happening on this screen to our cultural psyche in a VERY real way, something that is essential and so often overlooked whenever this kind of story is told.
If “Fury Road” was all style and no substance, it would still be a fucking awesome watch, but the commitment to expanding the mythos and communicating a real point of view in a way that serves the material is what makes this an outstanding film. Run, do not walk. You won’t see something like this for a long, long while.
DRINK:
Something with milk. Mudslides feel appropriate.
POSSIBLE RULES:
-Drink for explosions.
-Drink whenever you see that guitar guy. They call him the "Doof Warrior"
-Drink when someone mentions "The Green Place" or "Home"
-Drink when something mechanically goes wrong with a vehicle
-Drink for instances of the "feminist agenda". Heh.
This review was written by Hollis Beck (Krissy Pappau). "Mad Max: Fury Road" was produced by Kennedy Miller Productions and Village Roadshow Pictures, and distributed by Warner Bros. The film is rated "R" with a runtime of 120 minutes.
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