Movie Review: 'Mad Max: Fury Road'

Don’t call "Mad Max: Fury Road" a comeback — the deranged protagonist and opposing band of demonic warriors of this post-apocalyptic film have been here for years.

George Miller’s franchise, which began in 1979 with “Mad Max,” starring Mel Gibson as the titular protagonist, continued with “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior” in 1981 and “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” in 1985, has had a lasting impact on the popular movie landscape. Miller’s desert of rabid metal-head gladiators and the aesthetic of these post-apocalyptic worlds have influenced the look and tone of almost every post-apocalyptic film to come after it. From the disastrous “Waterworld” to the recent spout of dystopian teen dramas, such as the “Hunger Games,” “Divergent” and “Maze Runner,” plenty of films owe a debt to Max and his journey of action-packed survival.

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No matter how lasting the impact, it's been 30 years since the last installment, which featured Mel Gibson and Tina Turner as its leading players. Since then, the Australian writer and director has spent his time writing and directing children’s movies, such as “Babe,” “Babe: Pig in the City,” “Happy Feet” and “Happy Feet Two.” So one can hardly blame moviegoers for thinking “Mad Max: Fury Road” would be a return to action greatness.

The action landscape has changed since the days of '80s mega-violence and human, practical-based stunts. Action movies are now almost exclusively based on the already proven territory of comics, book series, or by the somehow-still-burning star power of a throwback star (anyone ever in "The Expendables" movies).

Fortunately for this summer movie season, Mad Max is the hero we didn’t even know we needed.

The story begins in the desert terrain of a post-apocalyptic Earth, where the eponymous “Mad” Max Rockatansky, played by a magnetic Tom Hardy (“The Dark Knight Rises,” “Inception” and “Warrior”) is traversing the forbidding terrain in his iconic car, trying equally to outrun his personal demons and the roving packs of violent criminals, or War Boys, from capturing him.

Max is captured, and like everything else in this scarce netherworld, he's used as a resource by the tyrannical cult leader Immortan Joe as his War Boy Nux’s blood bag to rejuvenate his body after battle.

Immortan Joe sends his most trusted warrior, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), to lead a raid on Gas Town and Bullet Farm to steal gas and bullets. However, Furiosa has her own plans, and she takes the leader's five wives with plans to escape from Joe’s torturous and tyrannical rule. Immortan Joe, War Boy Nux, with Max in tow, and a giant fleet of turbo-injected cars set out after Furiosa and the wives. The chase is on.

And that, ostensibly, is what “Mad Max: Fury Road” is: an extended chase sequence. Miller has been planning and biding his time to create one of the most chaotic and beautiful chase/action sequences in recent memory. With minimal CGI effects, the film is a technical miracle and a visual splendor compared with its summer blockbuster peers that rely almost exclusively on CGI magic to pull of their action scenes.

The attacks, volleys, returns and shots delivered by this demonic ensemble cast is a heavy metal, jet-fuelled ballet. It’s Cirque de Soleil meets Dante’s nine circles of hell.

In terms of the members of this journey, the ensemble cast gels well together. They perform as if their lives depended on it, and the stunt team and coordinators should be lauded for the fact that not only was no one injured, but this is likely the most fun you’ll have in a theater all summer.

And the film reaches deeper than just Max's story. It could just as well have Imperator Furiosa, Nux, or any of the five breeders escaping from Immortan Joe’s abuse as the titular role. Everyone wants the same thing. It might not seem like much today, but water, fuel and a little redemption go a long way in an apocalyptic wasteland.

Since the movie opened, much has been made of the prominent role Furiosa and the five fugitive women play in the action. Feminists are calling it a feminist masterpiece. Men's-rights activists (those who think feminism is an attack on the status quo and men’s rights) view it as violent feminist propaganda.

It’s neither. Both camps dress “Mad Max: Fury Road” in veils of hyperbole, because it is something radical in the summer movie season: women being allowed to be women. Now, Miller doesn’t give them much backstory or dialogue (no character besides Max has a history and a franchise), but he lets Furiosa and company defend themselves, have hopes and aspirations and, above all, they don’t want or need Max around.

And in a summer cinematic universe where most lead female roles are subservient, dependent or dating a male protagonist, “Fury Road” is an inspiration to be emulated. When Furiosa, at her lowest point, falls down on her knees and yells to the heavens in anguish, you not only empathize, but live and feel that moment, because she was allowed to live and feel in front of us.

“Mad Max: Fury Road” fuses violence, fun, acting, direction and choreography better than any film yet released this year. And if it takes 30 years for George Miller to make sequel, it’ll be worth it.

Maybe the rest of Hollywood will follow Miller’s lead and realize that quality trumps quantity in the long run. In the end, no one’s going to remember how much a movie grossed on its opening weekend, but the impact it leaves on the culture and the movies that come after it.

In the words of Immortan Joe, "Mad Max: Fury Road" will “arrive at the gates of Valhalla, shiny and chrome!”