Film Review - Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Mad Max: Fury Road is the spectacular fourth entry in the Mad Max franchise. Director George Miller has made, quite possibly, the greatest chase movie of all time; a two hour adrenaline filled roller coaster that will take your breath away.

Mad Max is a fitting title to a series that has remained firmly bonkers over the last thirty-six years. The first film, released in 1979, was a gritty revenge film set in an ever so slightly nastier world than the one we live in now; Max, played by Mel Gibson, takes down a group of bikers who murdered his family. In the sequel, Mad Max: Road Warrior, the world has become increasingly post apocalyptic as Max helps protect a town from a gang of punks in gimp masks. Things took a turn for the weirder in the third installment, Beyond Thunderdome, where we enter a town run by Tina Turner, that is fuelled by pig shit, farmed by a midget riding a giant, violent boy with down’s syndrome. How could things get stranger? Well, give Miller $150 million dollars to create one long action sequence and the results are suitably insane.

Tom Hardy replaces Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky a man, all alone, in an increasingly harsh world. He meets Furiosa (Charlize Theron), a woman fleeing a brutal war lord, taking his five wives with her. Max has a dilemma; does he fend for himself or does he try and help the fleeing women? In terms of story, that’s about it, but the film is filled with character and each person has a unique, well defined personality. Miller does the astonishing job of making us care for these people which makes the action all the more involving.

Now let’s talk about the action; in one word… outstanding, breathtaking, sensational, heart-stopping and magnificent. OK that was five words but they’re all accurate, and I could have gone on. This is by far the best action film since The Raid. Imaginative, epic and refreshingly violent. It’s not trying to get a 12a to fit more bums on seats – it’s trying to entertain, and boy does it. Wonderful cinematography, amazing stunt work and stunning locations make this one hell of an enjoyable ride.

The thrill of the action also comes down to, in a large part, the performances of the main actors. Hardy is suitably silent as Max, while Charlize Theron knocks it out of the park as a tough as nails woman trying to do what’s best in a world gone mad. Nicholas Hoult is also very impressive as one of the villain’s suicidal maniacs.

George Miller has raised the bar very high. He claims he has two more films in mind; how he will top this is anyone’s guess, but I for one can’t wait to see just how mad Mad Max can get.