Mad Max: Fury Road

When Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) attempts to escape the shackles of the bandit cult she serves she finds assistance from one of the cult members named Nux (Nicholas Hoult) and a drifter named Max (Tom Hardy). 

Mad Max: Fury Road opens with a narrator telling us the state of the world and who Max is. We then see him captured by the bandit cult led by Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and turned into a “blood bag” for the War Boy known as Nux. Essentially a blood donor to keep the tumour addled Nux alive. Max is a man of few words and is haunted by those people who he was unable to save and feels responsible for. 

But when Furiosa rebels against Joe by stealing his five wives and escaping with goods she was supposed to be trading for fuel the War Boys are sent in pursuit. Nux, still in need of transfusion decides to take his blood bag with him and Max suddenly becomes embroiled in the escape attempt. Albeit very reluctantly. 

What follows is the most audacious set of vehicular chases and stunts perhaps ever put to screen in one of the greatest action movies ever made. Fury Road is absolutely stunning. 

George Miller’s Mad Max movies do not really feel like sequels at all. Rather they seem to be iterations of a character and a story where Miller is honing his vision. Utilising larger budgets and film making advancements and expertise to make it “shiny and chrome”. Technically they do of course have a continuity but for me they just iteratively improve on specific themes. 

Both Max and the apocalyptic world he lives in have been perfected over four films. A man of few words, haunted by his past and reluctant to help anyone for fear of adding more people to those he has failed. Living in a desert wasteland filled with bandits where fuel is the only currency anyone seems to care about. Without having seen any of the previous films you understand these things just from the narration at the beginning and the actions of Max. 

Here the cult led by Immortan Joe feels like the culmination of his previous explorations on the sort of communities that would exist in a world with no hope. Joe, played by the same actor who led the biker gang in the original film is the dominant warlord in the area thanks to the fresh water in his Citadel. He has a harem of wives whom Furiosa has stolen away, an army of “war boys” and a cult of personality built around vehicles. What is most impressive is that everything we learn about the cult and the competing warlords from Gastown and the Bullet Farm is given to us visually or in the dialogue the characters shout at each other over the din of engine noise. Because Fury Road hardly ever lets up in its action stakes preferring to have its plot play out during the action. 

Visually the film is spectacular. The modified vehicles, the costumes and makeup and the deeply orange sun baked desert are all striking. Whilst the characters within it feel real despite the outlandishness and otherworldly nature of what we are seeing. 

The stunts and action is simply mind melting. Miller has stated 90% of the action was achieved practically, over 150 stunt performers were employed for the film and 480 hours of footage shot. The result is out of this world and in a film that is almost one continuous chase sequence it is integral to why it is so enjoyable. 

My final plaudit is for the character of Furiosa who here overshadows the titular character. Charlize Theron delivers a Valkyrie like woman who easily matches Max for ingenuity, driving skills and sheer wilfulness. 

A film so crazily brilliant you will believe that an armoured vehicle solely used to carry drummers and a fire belching electric guitar are vital to a warlord’s fleet.