Maybe not the adaptation that anyone was asking for. Maybe not the reboot anyone was expecting. But, surprisingly, I’d say it’s the one to watch.
Remember Mel Gibson in the original “Mad Max” trilogy? You know, the low-budget Australian ones with the world caving in on itself into madness and one lone wolf driving in his dusty car across the desert? In case you don’t remember, they were weird (the third one was stupid and weird). And I don’t think they were weird in a good way, either.
But hey, that didn’t stop the movies from raking up a persistent cult following. And so, when director George Miller woke up one morning, nearly thirty years after the last “Mad Max” film was released (“Max Max Beyond Thunderdome” came out in 1985), and told himself that he wanted to do a throwback, we can only guess he thought that one was due.
Weird the new one is, my friend. Weird in a... good way? I think.
Miller certainly ups the ante with this one. The first “Mad Max” movie scraped by with a budget of $350 thousand; “Fury Road” is made with $150 million (three extra zeros, numbers people). The plot is roughly the same. The dystopian future is still post-apocalyptic, the crazies even crazier. And Tom Hardy takes Gibson’s place as a man on the run. From who? Everyone, pretty much.
Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) is a dictatorial hoarder overseeing a mob of goons that hogs a massive supply of water, a commodity in this setting, from a community of dependent peasants. One conscientious objector from the vigilante pack, Furiosa (Charlize Theron), steals a war rig from the pack’s souped up garage to help slaves of Joe escape. Now a fugitive, she meets up with Hardy, along with a young ruffian that doesn’t fit into Joe’s assembly (Nicholas Hoult). And the movie, ten or so minutes in, continues from there.
Don’t get caught up in the plot. “Fury Road” doesn’t get too interested in it either. And besides, there’s a whole lot more going on.
Like the fact that the stunts, carried out with motorcycles, oil carriers, and dune buggies, are jaw-dropping. As Hardy and Theron make their way across the wasteland (just because they can, I guess), relentless bandits bombard their rig with bombs, bullets, and grenades so fast that we wonder what just happened. By the time we figure it out, about five more explosions have gone off.
If Miller held the camera a little more still, we would realize how raw these performances actually are. I’m pretty sure at one point, an extra jumps from one moving vehicle to another with barely any editing. Whether these actors have a death wish or not, “Fury Road” displays a rare occurrence, an action film where the action actually complements the theme of the movie: absolute madness.
It’s what makes “Fury Road” a freight train. It might be an innovative freight train, but not a reserved one. It’s too psychotic to stop once it’s started. The action I was just talking about hardly takes a pause. Not unwelcome, maybe a little unfit for some. Think about the way a story is told through an orchestrated movement in a symphony. Now drop the story part.
I also think the set design is a little surprise thrown in there. Viewers might miss how creative the film is and how hard it’s tried to set itself apart from the other “Mad Max” movies. That it does. The costumes, makeup, and scenery are rugged enough to speak for themselves. For real. Tom Hardy’s character hardly says a word in the whole two hours.
And sure, I’ll go ahead and say it. This movie gives women the big chance to take the screen. Theron’s character is deeper and more elaborate than Hardy’s (like a two-inch pool compared to a one-inch pool, but you know, how deep can an action movie get?). It’s Theron that gets to be the hero when all’s said and done, both in her screen time and her performance. And for as much as the plot has, it still leaves the abused females the right to say they’re not going to take it anymore. Hardy’s still there (I don’t know why I’m making it seem like he’s dispensable when he’s not), but it’s a good thing that “Fury Road” reminds us there’s another gender in which its members can do things on their own as well.
A lot just happens in Miller’s new film. I guess the nuclear holocaust would just happen, too. So when “Fury Road” thinks to run first and ask questions later, I think, sure, I can see why these people are still alive.
