Mad Max: Fury Road

[PDB]

So how many of you out there have seen this and what did you think?

Here are some of my initial thoughts.

I loved it. Fury Road is basically the final chase scene from MM2/Road Warrior stretched out into a full feature. That sounds like a formula for disaster, but George Miller never lets the action overwhelm the viewer or frankly become boring and repetitive. He also succeeds in building character in short pauses between the chaos.

Also as many have pointed out I was so happy to see Miller for shot the movie without shaky cam, snap zooms, breaking the frame or any of the technique that initially seemed interesting but have been done to death in the last 2 decades. I can actually appreciate the full frame and see everything that's going on. I know he does use a bit of over-cranking but hey, that has been in his bag of trick for a long while, so its fair game. I was disappointed to not see any classic, swipe dissolves like in MM2.

In a perfect world I would Gibson back to play the character he is most associated with but he has too many troubles at this point and is too old to do these stunts. Regardless, Tom Hardy equips himself well. He takes a stripped down, lone wolf character and strips it even further. He barely speaks in the movie letting his actions do the talking, all the while the audience only gaining insight to he character through his memories (or is it delusions) of the people he could save. That puts the question of this being a reboot or a sequel up in the air. There are so many call-backs to the other films but this movie never really will fit well in the continuity. It stands on its own. There have been people complaining that Max gets short-changed in his own movie. That Furiousa is the main character. Well they are right, she is sort of the main character. Max just get caught up in her quest. But I have to say I didn't feel short changed. I felt it was more adding another great character to the long list of great Mad Max characters.

If I had a couple of complaints, they are minor, nit-picky and come from the place of a fan. I wish they had shot on film. I know why they didn't, with the hours and hours they shot from numerous camera, many of which were destroyed but all the same I miss grain. Grain would of fit this movie perfectly. I also would of loved to see Bruce Spence in a role being a big part of two of the previous movies. But that's just the fan in me. And man, the Interceptor just can't catch a break.

[PDB]

Maybe when it gets on Blu-ray we can add a grain plate. That might be a fun alternative. Trying to duplicate the film as you would of seen it if it was printed on film vs a DCP, which is the way I assume most people would see a new movie.

Speaking of the Blu-ray, looks like we can expect a black and white version, which sounds like an interesting notion:

http://collider.com/mad-max-fury-road-bl...n-blu-ray/

[mumbles_]

Loved it. My only small quibble was that Tom Hardy doesn't have the same screen presence as Mel Gibson... but I really wouldn't want to see an old Max trying to do all those stunts. I will also add that I saw it in 3D first then in 2D and I would strongly recommend that people see it in 2D first then in 3D (yes, you will probably see it twice--at least!) due to some of the colours and speed of the action. It's just easier to take in a 2nd time around without being distracted by the 3D.

[The Aluminum Falcon]

What else can I say?

Mad Max: Fury Road is as amazing as the hype suggests. At last, we can see just how much can be achieved with BOTH 2015-level technology AND a 1980s sense of restraint when it comes to computer graphics. It's been a long time since I've been so wowed by a movie and impressed with the stunts (*insert polecat gif here*).

The world-building is great too, far more thorough than any of the previous Mad Max movies could ever hope to achieve. The increased budget clearly shows. I find it mildly hilarious that the director of Babe: Pig in the City and Happy Feet (good movies in their own right) could also create such a well-developed post-apocalyptic vision.

I hear what you guys are saying about grain, but I quite like the visual aesthetic of the movie. Thank god they didn't go with the vintage, over-used desaturated look! Instead, Fury Road is strangely one of the more colorful movies in recent memory with the flares and everything. It'll be interesting to see how it holds up once timed for black and white.

Question for those who've also seen the movie. I could have imagined it, but was that the skull and cap of the Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence) we saw on one of the War Boy's cars when they first set off after Furiosa? To think, I thought he was perfectly safe and married at the end of the Road Warrior!

[PDB]

I'll keep it short here. I agree with what you said Falcon. I was wowed and love the film a great deal. Loved the world. Nice to see an old director still have it. Still have his teeth.

Not sure if that was the Gyro captain or not, I'd seen people thinking that but it would of been cool to have Bruce Spence in this. As one of the barons or some such.

Also agree with you mumbles, Hardy is good but no Gibson. Doesn't have the same charisma. But I rather have the movie with Hardy then not at all. And 2D all the way.

[spoRv]

Best thing: greatest.car(truck/bike/other vehicle).ever!

Worst thing: futile post-apocalyptic guitar hero...

[Farstarbuck]

Miller is quoted as saying the Black & White version is his favourite over the colour.

Having watched it in Black & White I can see why myself.

Great movie that I think reminded a lot of directors there is room for CGI when it is done right.

[personguyman]

To copypaste a review I had written in my downtime:
*hem hem*

____________________________

★★★★

Mad Max: Fury Road is a genre film of the highest order, one that torpedoes through its genre conventions in an eruption of smoke and rust and would sooner perish than take a moment to dust off its shoulders. It is a film drenched in gasoline and liquid anarchy, splurting flames out of its umpteen exhaust pipes and rumbling so deeply the back of your skull starts itching. Director George Miller, who also directed the past three Mad Max films, released his last entry "Thunderdome" three decades ago, and this one seems to have bathed (or scorched) in the vivid gleam of his wildest fantasies for every minute of them.

While Thunderdome has since garnered a reputation for being the worst entry in the series – my thoughts being the exact inverse – Fury Road brings a previously unknown dimension in modern technique to its proceedings that adds to the effect in ways that would never have been possible back in the franchise's time. Miller's latest is an unceasing succession of sensational action sequences– a visceral circus act that isn't content with simply juggling chainsaws; they must be ablaze, while it walks a tightrope that is also ablaze.

Max Rockatansky, who we've come to know as Mel Gibson's post- apocalypse persona, is recast as Tom Hardy, whose formidable presence has not been lost upon the chaos and the Madness of the world around him. He is a man haunted by his past trespasses and hunted by whoever is within proximity. This world, brought to a wastelandic extreme we've yet to see from this series, is ruled in part by a tyrannical dictator by the name of Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), a creature whose mask can only remind viewers of Hardy's previous role as Bane in "DKR". His cult is in possession of a spectacular array of vehicles that make for chase scenes that set out to overwhelm and succeed.

Joe and his army are in pursuit of Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), a female warrior of Joe's who sets out to escape his wrath with his Five Wives in tow. Here is where the film's feminist undercurrent is rooted, in the developments of these women who have none but themselves to look towards in the midst of mayhem. In the previous films, the mere presence of a woman on-screen has been sufficient cause for unease, the promise of death or worse perpetually shimmering on the horizon, drawing ever near with each passing moment. That raw fear has since driven these women to adopt a fierce will to survive while shielding their perceived delicacy from the cruel outside. They are powerful but nonetheless fragile, beautiful but capable; an oasis of purity in what is very much a man's world.

Among those pursuing them is a War Boy named Nux (Nicholas Hoult), a blindly devoted member of Joe's army who is also Max's captor. He employs him as a "blood bag" and a living masthead of sorts for his vehicle. Nux serves his master with a raging loyalty and a belief that his efforts will secure him a place in Valhalla alongside the best of them. They follow the pack into battle, and from this point forward, the film sets a cinderblock upon the gas pedal and hunches over the steering wheel, crazed and with black rings around its eyes. The entire film is in essence one long chase, ebbing and flowing, constantly involving, and always aware of its surroundings. The chase scenes in Fury Road aren't simply a means to a cheap thrill; they explore all that is possible within the boundaries of their convention. They have spatial awareness, making full use of the depth of space around the vehicles. An explosion isn't something that just happens for the sake of an explosion; you see where it is in relation to everything else, how it affects the surroundings, whether it changes the state of play. The cars don't simply inhabit the desert environment; they are integrated into it, which means the stunts are allowed to be as fluid and elegant as those you would expect to see in a Jackie Chan movie.

It's gratifying to watch Miller's supercharged imagination run wild across the screen. The characters are all either desperate for purpose or starved of reason. With bodies painted white and faces in various stages of embellishment or disfigurement. They howl, they pant – you'd swear they guzzle octane like OJ. The vehicles are all tattered assemblies of the remnants of our society, tricked out in various ways that suggest a Transformer's rendition of "Frankenstein". The set pieces are monuments of modern filmmaking. The initial chase involves a storm, which is all I'm willing to divulge, as I can neither bear spoiling the scene any further nor ever come close to doing it justice. And then the movie tops it with each new sequence. The canvas is saturated with colors that would be too rich for a desert wasteland but for the vision of its artisan.

Max, one who for the most part faces his inner demons in anguished silence, seems to take the passenger-seat to Furiosa, who is a force to be reckoned with, as beautiful as she is unrelenting. Her black- sheen brow, shaved head, and mechanical arm all tell stories about her before she utters a word. Applause is also due towards the wives, who escape from the citadel in search of a better world that may not be and never have been. They ground the events in a sense of urgency, a realism brought about by the conviction in fighting for a cause which keeps the film from mushrooming into a 2-hour blowout of unchecked excess and insanity. Well... completely.

I just about enjoyed every minute of Fury Road; in a phrase, it was exhilarating. In another, it is one of the year's best films. This isn't a reboot of a classic franchise, or even a proper sequel; it's an evolution.