Just when the action genre looked to be on life support, Mad Max: Fury Road comes along to shock it back to life.  Fury Road is an estrogen filled, high octane, heavy metal rampage through a desolate desert landscape.  The film doesn’t let up for even a frame.  It’s easily the most fun I’ve had in the theater so far this year.

 

The plot in Mad Max: Fury Road is simple, yet it sets the rest of the film in motion. In a world where water is scarce, a warlord named Immortan Joe (think Darth Vader with less charm) rules over the people from high up on his mountain, hoarding resources for himself and his insanely maniacal followers.  His prized possessions - 5 angelic women that he uses as sex slaves.  Adorned in white linen, these women really stand out from everything else in the film that seems to be dirty and rusty. It’s no wonder Immortan Joe wants these women back so badly, you really get the feeling these might be the last women on Earth that haven’t been ravaged by the sun scorched environment.

 

Unfortunately for Joe, Imperator Furiosa has other plans for these women.  Furiosa plans to rescue the women and bring them to a place of peace and harmony. Furiosa is played with feminine ferocity by Charlize Theron.  Theron won an Oscar for her performance in the film Monster where she was almost unrecognizable.  In Fury Road, she equally transforms herself by shaving her head and can often be seen with a black smear across her face, not to mention her mechanical arm.

 

Although it’s Max’s name on the marquee, make no mistake about it, this is just as much Furiosa’s film.  Max doesn’t even have any lines until 15 minutes into the movie and his face is locked away in a metal mask for even longer after that.  Once Max and Furiosa meet up, the film really takes off.

 

Tom Hardy more than fills the shoes of Mel Gibson.  When we first meet Max, he’s more road weary than Road Warrior.  However, it doesn’t take long to see that Max is more than ready for what this insane world throws at him.  Hardy doesn’t say much, but he’s such a fantastic actor that he doesn’t have to.  He gets his point across with just a grunt or the scowl of his brow.

 

Fury Road feels like a film spawned from the mind of a child that likes to play with his Matchbox cars in his sandbox, not from the mind of a 70-year-old man. Director George Miller returns to the Mad Max universe that he left in his rear view mirror 30 years ago.  After watching this adrenaline inducing new installment, it makes me wonder why he ever left.  This is especially true when you look at the films Miller directed after Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.  Although they are great films, Babe: Pig in the City and the animated film Happy Feet don’t exactly fit with the rest of Miller’s career.

 

As the saying goes, “absence makes the heart grow fonder” or in this case, fiercer. Miller clearly is passionate about this world and this character he created in 1979. His time away from the franchise has clearly given him time to let his imagination run wild.  There are things in Fury Road that I’ve never seen in a film before and probably never will again.

 

I think what stands out most for me about Mad Max is how realistic the action sequences felt.  So many films rely too much on green screen, that you forget how important practical stunts can be to the authenticity of a film.  Miller really has done a spectacular job of plotting and choreographing these action scenes.  They really do need to be seen to be believed.

 

Fury Road is also a visually stunning film.  Not since Lawrence of Arabia has a desert landscape been photographed so beautifully.  The set and costume design also help breath life into this post-apocalyptic world.  The level of detail of every car and every character’s costume is astounding.  Many post-apocalyptic films have borrowed from Mad Max over the years, but very few of them really capture the authentic feel of a dying world and the people who inhabit it.

 

With a weekend box office that featured the female driven Pitch Perfect 2, it might come as a surprise that it’s actually Mad Max: Fury Road that is the most female empowering film of the weekend.  The film shows that women shouldn’t be treated like objects.  They’re strong, smart and completely capable of taking care of themselves.

 

Mad Max: Fury Road works well as a stand-alone film, and first time viewers of a Mad Max film won’t have any trouble jumping into this universe.  For those that have seen the other films, Fury Road will feel instantly familiar.  Almost like we never left.  

 

Mad Max: Fury Road is a beautifully chaotic film that needs to be seen by every fan of action films, preferably on the big screen.  I, for one, can’t wait to go back and be a passenger on this runaway train of a franchise.  Buckle up.  Who am I kidding, even a seatbelt on my theater seat couldn’t contain me while watching Fury Road.