Let me start by saying that I was probably overly critical of this movie in my summer preview piece, and let me also add that I was wrong about how this movie would play out. Though I wasn’t completely off about the movie’s excessiveness and “f*ck all” nature, I was truly wrong in predicting that this movie wouldn’t be interesting or entertaining. I was initially led to believe that these traits would result in an overblown, Michael Bay-esque, explosion filled clusterstorm. And to a certain extent it was, but it was riddled with details and was made immensely exciting by its vibrant cinematography and thrilling action.
One of the most important aspects that went into making this movie truly exhilarating was the overall insanity and craziness of what our world has become in Max’s life. The sense of chaos in post-apocalyptic Australia amongst the scavengers and road warriors are what make the setting so horrifying and supply a lions share of the suspense and thrill. While the action happening on screen is without a doubt thrilling, it is the sense of dread over what is going on around the action that makes the action that much more exciting. “Our world had been reduced to a single entity, Survive...”, says Max in the film’s opening moments, and this sets the tone for one heck of a ride. The desperation in each character's eyes helps paint the picture of a truly destroyed world, and this raises the stakes to a whole new level, and with it the movie itself. Mad Max: Fury Road is a world that shows the darkest sides of humanity. It is a commentary on humanity's “worst case scenario” when it isn’t an epic car chase-filled thrill ride. The extensive world building and attention to detail George Miller applied to this move are what helped propel it into great status and not just good. The War Boys and their crazy rituals and the use of random house objects on their war machines help show what once was, and as a result help keep the characters personally connected with the audience. If this movie was just an explosion filled action/popcorn flick it would no doubt still be entertaining due to its visual merits alone, but the small details go a long way in immersing the viewer into this hectic world. A lot of the action movies today, be it Transformers or the Avengers, lack crucial elements that hold them back from being great. They feature robots, superheroes, and beings that seemingly lack physical weakness, and while they may be charismatic, they are at the end of the day always going to win and save the day. The heroes always will end up saving the world from some invasion or whatever and that will be the end of it. These are known qualities of the movie that the audience knew before they stepped in the theatre, but that is not the case with Mad Max. During the entirety of the movie, the audience is kept guessing, with their breath being held, wondering about whether or not the heroes will actually win. In this wasteland nothing is guaranteed, not even the lives of the ones we are supposed to root for. This world is so crazy that the audience is forced to be terrified of what happens next, and it is this ambiguity that makes us root for Max and Furiosa that much harder. What happens if they fail? How horrible will their death be? What will humanity succumb to next? The characters in Mad Max: Fury Road are the subject of these questions, unlike the godlike figures in The Avengers or Transformers, because we know Thor and Optimus Prime will always save New York or L.A. from being physically destroyed. They are more powerful heroes and they have the task of saving lives. This still makes for a fun time at the movies, but doesn’t quite capture the emotional distress of the heroes in Mad Max: Fury Road, because the heroes of the wasteland are weaker and more emotionally connected to the viewers, and they are fighting for an abstract ideal much harder to defend: hope.
Even if you don’t read as deeply into the themes of this movie as I did, you can still appreciate the awesome car chase sequences and the refreshing lack of CGI. Mad Max: Fury Road is filled to the brim with breathtaking visuals and savvy practical effects, and also boasts a very sinister villain just to up the stakes even more. The music is fantastic and the pacing is high octane yet nuanced, making for one of the better movies so far this year. While the plot is somewhat one-dimensional, the movie is, opposite to what I said in my preview, unlike anything in theatres today.
A