Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

The other movie I saw this weekend was Mad Max: Fury Road. As I’m sure most of you know it has gotten almost unanimous rave reviews by movie critics and I have to agree with them. Mad Max is a non-stop pulse pounding thrill ride and it just might be my favorite action movie of 2015.

Right away the first thing that caught my eye about the movie was the fact that it was visually stunning. From the setting, to the landscapes to the crazy vehicles everything in the movie looks great. It has some of the best stunt work I’ve ever seen in a film. The entire movie is basically just one long chase scene and it had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Everything is meticulously and expertly choreographed. Some of the action scenes had to have needed such a high level of coordination, it really is impressive what the filmmakers were able to pull off. And it all looks so good too.

The movie is so fast paced I felt like I needed to catch my breath when it was all over. George Miller did such a fantastic job with this film, it almost feels as if the audience is part of the chase scene as well. It is all just non-stop action and super tense battle sequences. I am not kidding when I say that I was on the edge of my seat during the whole movie, I probably only blinked a handful of times hahaha.

The film is set in a very weird and interesting world. The story is very engrossing and you definitely get heavily invested in the main characters. What makes Mad Max great isn’t just the action (because let’s face it, there are tons of movies with great stunts and action sequences), but rather the superb performances delivered by the cast. Charlize Theron is simply perfect in her portrayal of the deadly Imperator Furiosa. Not much is known about her character’s back-story but in the few lines of dialogue that Theron has you find out all you need to know about her. It really is one of the best performances of her career, and that’s saying something.

Nicholas Hoult was amazing as well playing Nux, a sort of brainwashed warrior that is part of a cult-like society. He does an excellent job at portraying his character’s crazy psychopathic side, but at the same time he shows flashes of genuine human emotion that makes his character so much more interesting and relatable.

Another fantastic aspect of the movie has to be the soundtrack. Those pounding drums and sick guitar riffs perfectly complement the action and the drama in the movie. The music and the visuals just go together beautifully.

There are a few things that I didn’t like about the film though. For one I wish they would have gone into a little bit more depth into the back story. Mad Max is set in such a cool and interesting place I would have loved to have found out how things got the way they did. There are so many weird and fascinating characters that are just so interesting to me, that I wish they would have shown how they got to be the way they are. To be fair I never watched any of the original Mad Max films, but still I feel like this movie should be able to stand on its own and there were far too many unanswered questions for my liking.

I’m also not a huge fan of Tom Hardy‘s performance. I wouldn’t say that it was bad, in fact I thought he did a great job at portraying a man who is very badass but clearly damaged. Again I would have liked to have known more about his back story, but I understand that sometimes being mysterious has its appeal too. It’s hard to say exactly what I didn’t like about his performance, I guess it had to do with his delivery of certain lines. Honestly I’m probably just nit-picking here.

Oh and another issue that I had was that some of the dialogue was hard to understand. I don’t know if it was due to the accents or the facial gear that some of the characters had to wear but there were definitely some lines that were almost incomprehensible, which is a shame.

All in all though, these were just small issues in an otherwise fantastic film. Simply put Mad Max: Fury Road is an excellent and original film. It is without a doubt one of the best movies I’ve seen all year. If you like action then you’re going to love it, and even if you’re not the biggest action fan I would still recommend watching it for the actor’s performances alone. Mad Max: Fury Road is a masterpiece and I highly recommend it.

4.5/5