MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015)

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: George Miller
Cast: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, Riley Keough, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Abbey Lee, Megan Gale
Runtime: 2 hrs
Rating: NC16 (Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/MadMaxSg?brand_redir=1

Opening Day: 14 May 2015

Synopsis: Haunted by his turbulent past, Mad Max believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a group fleeing across the Wasteland in a War Rig driven by an elite Imperator, Furiosa. They are escaping a Citadel tyrannized by the Immortan Joe, from whom something irreplaceable has been taken. Enraged, the Warlord marshals all his gangs and pursues the rebels ruthlessly in the high-octane Road War that follows.

Movie Review:

To whom it may concern: Watch the film. Seriously, watch the film. Go to your nearest movie theater, grab two tickets for Mad Max: Fury Road (or one, this reviewer doesn’t judge) and watch the film. The newest addition to the Mad Max franchise after three decades, Mad Max: Fury Road reunites older audiences with its iconic post-apocalyptic punk style while introducing newer audiences to what shot George Miller to fame.

Right from the start, Miller wastes no time in establishing the madness inherent in the post-apocalyptic future with the boot-stomping, gecko-eating Max (Tom Hardy). A lone drifter in the barren desert, Max soon finds himself pursued by the War Boys, an army of young monochromatic skinheads under the command of leader and warlord Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). Found to be a universal donor, Max is imprisoned and forced to perform blood transfusions to ailing War Boy Nux (Nicholar Hoult). 

Meanwhile, dependable lieutenant Imperator Furiosa (Charlie Theron) is tasked with driving the glorious War Rig to collect gasoline from the nearby Gas Town. However, the trip to Gas Town does not go as plan when Furiosa drives off course, revealing that she, along with Joe’s five beautiful and healthy wives, are attempting to break free from the horrible clutches of his reign. A cult figure obsessed with eugenics in a world riddled with genetic deformities, Joe calls up all of his War Boys to embark on a chase after Furiosa and his wives.

Not wanting to be left behind but too weak without Max’s transfusions, Nux decides to bring Max along with him on the wild chase. Placed on the front of the car like a fancy ornament, Max ultimately escapes and helps Furiosa and the wives as they drive towards the Green Land; a legendary utopia that promises freedom and hope. 

Told with minimal dialogue, Mad Max: Fury Road focuses mainly on the visuals, gifting the audiences with dystopian spectacles rivaling that of many fantasy films. The nature of the world that the characters lived in is fleshed-out especially well: from the long nightmarish fight between Max and the War Boys to the fleeting shot of the milk mothers treated as cows – all were crucial in creating the fantastic dystopia. Action sequences, in particular, were wonderfully choreographed with a thick dash of punk and violence. In fact, watching the punk-inspired War Boys perform suicidal Cirque du Soleil acts adds on to the maniacal nature of the world and the enjoyment of the film.

As per George Miller’s Mad Max films, Mad Max: Fury Road is a film where art and concept far exceeds that of the plot. Not that there is anything wrong or bad with that; the direction of the film is too wonderful for the audience to notice that the titular character seems to be, for a lack of a better word, a chauffeur for the ladies. It is of no surprise then, that the women in the film take center stage. Skilled in weaponry and more humane, the women in Fury Road are better-developed characters than their male counterparts. Despite her occasional dramatic reading of the dialogue, Theron performs well as the strong and silently independent Furiosa. More so than Hardy, it is Theron that provides much of the emotionally charged scenes as the hero of the film. 

With Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller has once again outdone himself. A film that beautifully marries art with action, there is no reason why Fury Road shouldn’t mark Miller as a visionary in the action-post apocalyptic genre.

Movie Rating:

(Violent, punk-inspired and adrenaline pumping, Mad Max: Fury Road is a film that shows you how action post-apocalyptic films should be done)

Review by Leng Mong