✯✯✯✯✯ | By Jose Junco |
After 30 years, the frantic, post-apocalyptic world of the road warrior, Max Rockatansky, has returned. Mad Max: Fury Road is the latest installment in George Miller’s quintessential franchise. Tom Hardy takes over Mel Gibson’s role as the title character. Charlize Theron, who plays Imperator Furiosa, one of the strongest female characters from recent years, joins him in this high-octane ride that never stops.
Long gone are the days where civilizations could work as a unit. All that’s left is this Wasteland, controlled by Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and his war boys. Every survivor has been enslaved inside the desert bastion that is the Citadel. With no hope left in the world, Imperator Furiosa, who’s sent for supplies to Gas Town and the Bullet Farm inside a War Rig, goes rogue. After taking Immortan’s five wives, and forming an alliance with Max, and a war boy by the name of Nux (Nicholas Hoult), she decides to head to “The Green Place.” All of these while outrunning the ruthless tyrant and his half-life war boys through the Wasteland.
The cookie cutter summer blockbuster is now filled with CGI. It’s extremely rare to see a film that still mixes practical effects with CGI. This is one of the few, and more important, aspects that give Mad Max: Fury Road a considerable advantage over other summer blockbusters. This isn’t a green screen galore like Transformers (2007), or Green Lantern (2011). The action beats in this film are extremely well thought out, while its production design, and graphics focus their attention on the tiniest of details. These days, blockbusters have adopted the gimmick of handheld cameras; better known as “shaky cam” for the action scenes. Mad Max: Fury Road, on the other hand, is filled with tracking shots, and wide shots of action set pieces. You can actually see what’s happening on screen! It provides a visceral and relentless feel to it. George Miller has revolutionized the post-apocalyptic genre once again. Who would have thought that the writer of Babe (1995), and the director of Happy Feet (2006), would give us the best action film since The Matrix (1999)?
Near the 15-minute mark we get a glimpse into the greater themes of Mad Max: Fury Road. As Immortan Joe walks through the Citadel we’re able to see the enormous amount of resources that are available for him and his war boys. Which he sometimes shares with the enslaved population, but they just get a really limited access. Specially water. Then, thanks to a great tracking shot, we’re able to see the scale of the room he’s in. Phrases like “Our babies will not be Warlords,” “Who killed the world?” and “We are not things” can be seen written throughout the room. The motif that women are someone’s property runs throughout the whole film. This can also be seen as a type of satire towards Hollywood. Through the years Hollywood releases blockbusters that have no substance at all. No social commentary, no political issues, not even nature vs. nurture. They just use explosions, and models so that the audience can “turn off” their brains for two hours and shove popcorn in their faces. I’m not saying that’s something bad, but it looks like they don’t care anymore. They just imagine big piles of money, and suddenly they start giving the green light to sequels for movies that haven’t come out. (I’m talking to you, 20th Century Fox.)
Women have a history of poor written characters throughout the years, and will always be pushed aside if a male actor is available for the same role. God forbid a blockbuster that’s female driven! No one would watch that. Well, Aliens (1986), Kill Bill (2003), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Gone Girl (2014), and Silence of the Lambs (1991) are just some examples of successful female driven films, so its about time that women get their fair share of leading roles. Mad Max: Fury Road gives us one of the strongest female characters a blockbuster has had in decades. It will rival Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) from the Terminator (1984-2015) film series, and, in time, it’ll hopefully become an icon of pop culture.
George Miller has gone on record and said that he shot Mad Max: Fury Road with several silent movie techniques. As you can see, Max barely has any dialogue, he mostly answers with grunts and nods. He even talked about releasing a black and white version for the Blu-ray release, which sadly didn’t happen. Releasing the purest version of the film, in black and white, while blasting the amazing score by Junkie XL on the background would only solidify Mad Max: Fury Road as one of the greatest blockbusters of all time, and a game changer.
In the end, Mad Max: Fury Road is an endless chase scene involving several of the best action set pieces ever put to film; while at the same time provides relevant topics, such as the idea of hope in the middle of war, or the search for redemption in one’s self. Congratulations to George Miller, who has given the entire world a master class on how to do an action film. Michael Bay, take notes… lots of them. Mad Max: Fury Road can be revisited time and time again, with the guarantee of finding something new every time. Films like this are the ones that will prevail the test of time, riding eternal shiny and chrome into the gates of Valhalla.