Mad Max: Fury Road
Grade: A (and all the +’s)
I’m late to the game on this one and a lot has already been written which is why I never expected this one to live up to my expectations… All I have to say is that it totally did and is probably the best movie I’ve seen this year.
The story is pretty simple. It’s a flight to freedom from a warlord in a post-apocolyptic world. Furiousa helps the “breeding stock” escape the citadel where they are kept locked away but Immortal Joe isn’t going to let them go that easily. If he gets them back it would also mean a very painful death for Furiousa. You do not have to see the originals to follow this movie. It was not a problem for me.
Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy and Nicholas Holt deserve all the accolades. Max and Furiousa are both looking for redemption and I totally believed how they went from unknowns to such a deep respect and caring that they would risk their lives for each other several times. This isn’t even a dialogue heavy movie. Most of the best stuff between them is either silent looks or pure action and they make it work.
I want to agree with everyone who said the action sequences were a high point. Usually action movies like this I’ll tune out the hardcore stuff because it’s fast, it’s frenzied and so hard to follow that you usually don’t have any idea who’s doing what this movie made the most of the beautiful desert settings and the action sequences were intense, weird and clean. I could see it. I could follow it. I knew who was attacking who as it was happening. Darn it I’ll admit I teared up at several times at the end.
I was even surprised by how much I cared about the wives. I really thought if there was going to be a weak spot in the movie it would be them…
But even there I was wrong. I loved that the wives all fought for their freedom as well. They defended Max and Furiousa when they could even at great risk to themselves and they understood the stakes and what they were fighting for and what that could cost them. And they were willing to pay it. They each had at least a nice moment, even if it was a quiet conversation with an old woman, and I was rooting for them just as much as Max and Furiousa.
Even the music was on point especially some of the end scenes but I don’t want to give away spoilers on the off chance I’m not the last person who hasn’t seen Mad Max yet.
Recommend: Yes! This is not a movie I’d usually be bouncing at the chance to see and the hype I thought would be a problem but I really think this one was just as good as everyone made it out to be.
