Sooooo.. Well, first of all, this film was directed by George Miller who directed the first three Mad Max films (he’ll also be directing the next Mad Max film, Mad Max: The Wasteland) so it was definitely in the right hands.
Secondly, this is a great Mad Max film, I’m sure like me Mad Max fans miss Mel but Tom Hardy is just fine in the role, I liked him. Now, in other reviews I read a lot about this being a two-hour chase movie or something, well, it is called Mad Max: Fury Road so while that’s true, to a point, it’s kinda what the film should be, no?
One thing I don’t agree with is that a fair few people were saying this is more about the character Imperator Furiosa played by Charlize Theron; I thought the Max character was just as prominent in the film as her character as was the character Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne, who played Toecutter in the original film) and others, especially Nicholas Hoult as Nux.
I thought it had some great characters. Where the film scores really highly, obviously, is both in the action and visual spectacle, the great thing is both are very typical of Mad Max films (especially the two original sequels) so it does look and feel like it belongs to that universe, job done, it does feel bigger at times, sure.. I realise some people will totally disagree with me (I’ve read enough reviews), some people too who genuinely love the originals but I can only say what I personally thought.
It’s thirty years later and they can do so much these days that it’s pretty amazing really and should be appreciated, nothing can take from the originals though, they were/are fantastic films. This, to me, is Mad Max now, and “Mad Max now” isn’t a bad thing. It’s definitely not a remake and I saw it more as a sequel than a reboot. Is it far-fetched? It’s Mad Max so.. yeah a little.
It’s not The King’s Speech although who gets a film called Mad Max: Fury Road expecting The King’s Speech is beyond me. Enjoy the spectacle and action, there’s plenty of both, two hours of both or thereabouts, and maybe rewatch the originals to remind yourself when it was all done slightly better, although to be honest you might be pleasantly surprised by just how unoffensive the CGI is in this film. I’m genuinely interested in where this whole reboot might take us so it’s brilliant to see Mad Max back on our screens. A fine start. Loved it.
~ Deep Red