Review: Mad Max: Fury Road

Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) finds himself tenuously aligned with Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) and her group of young women (Zoe Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Abbey Lee, and Courtney Eaton), who are the five designated wives of tyrannical cult leader Immortan Joe (the eccentric Hugh Keays-Byrne, who played Toecutter in “Mad Max”), whose employ Furiosa was previously under. One of the girls is even pregnant with Immortan Joe’s child. Needless to say, Immortan Joe (who has a spectacular breathing apparatus attached to his face) isn’t a happy camper and he unleashes his gangs of savages (including the ‘War Boys’) who pursue Max and Furiosa across the desert wasteland. Nicholas Hoult plays Nux, one of the ‘War Boys’, who despite trying to use poor Max as a blood donor (Immortan Joe likes to keep his ‘army’ replenished after all) is actually a pitiable character, as he is essentially chained to Max for much of the duration with no one really concerned for his safety or well-being in all the mayhem. No, not even his brethren. 78 year-old character actress Melissa Jaffer, TV veteran Joy Smithers, and absolutely gorgeous Aussie supermodel Megan Gale turn up late as members of Furiosa’s tribe, The Vuvalini, with the latter playing a character named Valkyrie. A shirtless Quentin Kenihan (yes, that Quentin) has a brief part as a character named Corpus Colossus, whilst Angus Sampson, Richard Carter (as Immortam Joe’s brother), John Howard (the actor, not the former PM playing a guy named ‘People Eater’!), Aussie-born former WWE wrestler Nathan Jones (as Immortam Joe’s hulking son, with Corpus Colossus his other son), and martial arts vet Richard Norton (as The Prime Imperator) all play characters in villainous pursuit of our heroes.

 

Geez, calm down everyone. It’s not “Citizen Kane”, for cryin’ out loud. Yes, this 2015 film from Dr. George Miller (“Mad Max”, “Babe”) is another example of how Aussies can make a good genre film when we try, but can we quit with the second coming of Jesus Christ stuff? It’s slightly better than “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome”, and quite entertaining, but the original 1979 “Mad Max” still stands far taller for me. In fact, this ‘reboot’ plays very much like a mixture of “Mad Max II” and “Beyond Thunderdome”. Still, on the strength of the four “Mad Max” films alone (I’m not a “Babe” fan in the slightest) Miller really ought to make more films. He’s clearly a helluva director of action as this film once again shows. Like “The Road Warrior”, you’ll find yourself wondering how in the hell no one got killed filming this stuff. You’ve got to hand it to the man, he has the balls to give us a 115 minute car chase. Yes, that means that it’s ultimately lacking in story and character, but for what it is, it’s pretty bloody impressively done. There’s not all that much CGI going on here, which is extremely admirable, but the CGI that is apparent (explosions and a sand storm) is far, far too apparent for my liking.

 

The other issue I have with the film is that although Charlize Theron is really very good here (she’s much less forced at this sort of thing than Scarlett Johansson), her character seems to force the title character to the sidelines. So much so that I really wish Max weren’t in the film at all, just make it a “Mad Max” spin-off with a new lead character inhabiting the same world. As is, it feels like two stories fighting for screen time and Theron’s Furiosa wins the battle. Tom Hardy is quite a good choice for Max, and does a decent stab at an Aussie accent, though it comes across like Aussie spoken by someone who has been out of the country for a few years, which may annoy some people. I pretty much bought into it, and his gravelly voice is pretty perfect too.

 

It’s a shame Hugh Keays-Byrne’s Immortan Joe isn’t given a whole lot to say or do as the main villain, but anyone who doesn’t smile at his very (awesome) appearance, is clearly undergoing rigour mortis. That’s one fantastically fearsome-looking villain if ever I’ve seen one, it’s just that the chase nature of the film means there’s not much time to stop and chat. Hell, the whole thing looks pretty awesome, set and production design is at a scale beyond anything in Aussie cinema (or at least genre filmmaking) since “Beyond Thunderdome”. The vehicles, meanwhile are absolutely insane (one car, a VW, looks like a giant echidna! I want one now!), and whoever thought of having a rock band perform atop one of the vehicles (with a flame-thrower guitar!) is a freakin’ genius. Also, look out for a visual moment that briefly recalls Toecutter’s final second or two in “Mad Max”. We see it here re-imagined as a nightmarish vision for Max (Strange to see something from the first film in a reboot, but it’s cool for fans like me, nonetheless). Yes, this is almost like the Baz Luhrmann of “Mad Max” films in a way (except uber-macho), but for sheer spectacle it really does work.

 

It’s a shame that Miller very occasionally resorts to colour correction (to make day look like night) and a little bit of CGI, because for the most part he doesn’t do a whole lot to the landscape. He doesn’t need to, Namibia does enough of the work itself. That said, CGI or not, the sand storm scene is still pretty amazing (It’s really the B&W inserts that I have a problem with. Why do that?). Terrific thumping music score by Junkie XL (“300: Rise of an Empire”) and there’s just something so lovely and charming about hearing someone yell out ‘Fang it!’. I don’t know why, it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

 

One thing the film definitely does have going for it is that the cast are clearly enjoying the hell out of themselves here, and that includes a very random but in my view a very much appreciated appearance by Quentin Kenihan. Long ago seen interviewed as a boy with brittle bones disease by journo Mike Willesee on “A Current Affair” back in the 80s, Quentin (now in his 40s!) plays the film’s version of Angelo Rossitto’s character from “Mad Max II: The Road Warrior”, basically. It was just awesome (but like I said, random) seeing him there, and I bet he had a great time, too. Nicholas Hoult is pretty good in a more substantial role, even if he looks like Voldermort before he got his nose bitten off. Scarred and surly-looking character actor John Howard looks to be having the time of his life in a small part. Playing Immortan Joe’s brother, one of the nicest surprises in the film is an awesomely angry-looking Richard Carter atop a car that has been turned into a tank. A tank! Brilliant, and Mr. Carter maximises his minutes like a pro, if he were in the film more he might’ve actually stolen the show. On a sour note, all the press leading up that suggested the absolutely stunning (and just plain lovely if you ask me) supermodel Megan Gale was gonna nude-up for this film is pure bullshit. Yes, she’s naked, but she’s shot from so far away that you don’t see a damn thing. Hell, it might not even be her. Ripped. Off. In terms of her acting, she’s actually good enough that you wish she were in a lot more of the film. She gets rubbed out awfully abruptly, I must say.

 

It’s been a long, long time coming, and so perhaps it’s forgivable that there’s been a hyperbolic positive reaction to this long-awaited film. The film looks and sounds ‘hell yes’, and I’m always keen to see an Aussie genre film, even if this one’s not the milestone many have propped it up as. A film with great moments rather than a great film, I like it more for what it represents culturally, than perhaps what it is in terms of quality. It’s proof that we can make quality blockbuster genre movies when we put our minds (and $$) to it. An easy watch, though I highly doubt it’ll make much of a blip come Oscar time. Having Max play second fiddle here was definitely a mistake, but Charlize Theron is pretty terrific as an action heroine and Tom Hardy always delivers a fine performance. It’s probably best recommended to those people out there who think the first “Mad Max” is the weakest entry in the series (If there’s anyone out there like that). I think the first one is the best, but this one’s pretty good too. It works well on a purely superficial level, and at least there’s no Lost Children with their ‘googy-egg speak’. Expertly shot by old pro John Seale (“Gallipoli”, “Witness”, “The Hitcher”), who apparently came out of retirement for the film. The screenplay is by actor Nick Lathouris (who actually had a brief role in the first film, and you may remember him as Alex Dimitriades’ frankly awesome dad on TV’s “Heartbreak High”), Brendan McCarthy (a comic book artist and designer by trade), and Miller.

 

Rating: B-