The current Hollywood trend of re-imagining old classics before their racist actors have kicked the bucket continues with Mad Max: Fury Road. If you’ve ever been a fan of old Western films or Borderlands, you will be placed in the familiar setting of a post apocalyptic earth, where everybody is trying to kill you and your family.
And that is where the story ends. From beginning to end, Mad Max is an amazingly fun thrill ride full of some of the best action I’ve seen in a Hollywood film in a long time. The camera shots, scenery, post apocalyptic cars and guns, and the general tone of hopelessness have been done so amazingly well that you will forget to notice that the film barely has any plot. Action scenes are long, but not drawn out. There is none of the usual shaky-cam fight scene garbage that Hollywood loves to use so much to hide their horrendous fight choreography. Wide sweeping chase shots, close up bullet wounds, and excellent set pieces make this a film that I would highly recommend.
Because at its heart, that is what Fury Road is all about: it is an homage to action films of ye olde, and it has just enough story so that the film doesn’t feel like it’s going on needlessly. The two-hour runtime does not feel extrapolated beyond what is necessary, and the conclusion seemed to have satisfied the audience, myself included.
There is little to write about the characters. They’re entertaining, gritty and the performances are also decent. Despite the trailer, the story is not focused on Tom Hardy, but rather on Furiosa, the female protagonist. It is a thrill ride start to finish, and director George Miller has successfully done what he set out to do: create a decent action flick, with superb practical effects and cinematography that sets itself apart from the usual action films of this age.
