‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
By John Lyons
Tom Hardy as Mad Max in a spot of bother.
Oh what a day. What a lovely day.
It seemed like it was never going to happen, but die-hard ‘Mad Max’ fans the world over can finally rejoice, because the wait is officially over.
The fourth entry in the series, ‘Fury Road’, has finally made its way to cinemas, some 30 years after the release of ‘Mad Max III: Beyond Thunderdome’.
It’s hard not to be excited at the prospect of a new ‘Mad Max’ film, but at the same time it’s also hard not to be a bit trepidatious going into ‘Fury Road’, especially since the three decades wait was probably a desperately needed palette cleanser after the disastrous ‘Beyond Thunderdome’.
Not to mention that cases of older directors returning to their classic franchises often result in mixed-to-negative responses. ie. ‘Prometheus’, the fourth ‘Indiana Jones’ film, and of course the ‘Star Wars’ prequels.
The pressure intensifies when you realise that all early descriptions of ‘Fury Road’ essentially boil it down to “a two hour chase sequence with minimal dialogue,” an idea that sounds wonderfully ambitious in theory but exceedingly not so in practice.
But director George Miller must be a miracle worker of some kind, because not only has he achieved the impossible, he’s crafted a thing of beauty.
In what is unquestionably one of the most adrenaline-inducing opening sequences that I’ve seen in years, we’re introduced to Max (played by Tom Hardy), a lone drifter wandering through a desolate post-apocalyptic desert. Water and oil are scarce, and the only thing more hazardous to Max than his haunting memories and vivid hallucinations are the other psychotic inhabitants of the desert.
Max is captured by a group of sadistic thugs known as the ‘War Boys’, who take him prisoner with the intention of keeping him as one of their permanent blood donors.
He breaks free and flees, handcuffed and gagged, through their hideout, frantically looking for an exit while being pursued by dozens of War Boys. The frame rate is subtly sped up and altered throughout this scene (and others), ingeniously lending a sense of panic and urgency.
After a death-defying escape attempt, Max is captured once more and mercilessly dragged back inside their torturous compound.
This scene captures the very essence of the film before the title card even appears. An exhilarating game of cat and mouse set in an overwhelmingly grim wasteland.
The War Boys are part of a giant cult, led by an oppressive and didactic leader, Immortan Joe. He sends a group of his men on an oil rig, driven by Furiosa (played by Charlize Theron), to a nearby town in order to conduct an exchange. But Furiosa has a plan of escape in place, and seizes this opportunity to carry out her plan.
Who follows is a two hour chase that has very few intervals throughout. The stakes are high, suspense is always lingering, and the practical effects are nothing short of magical.
Though Tom Hardy’s incarnation of the character somehow has even less lines than Mel Gibson’s, he still manages to fill the shoes of Gibson with ease.
All action sequences and vehicular mayhem aside, ‘Fury Road’ still manages to have an impressive amount of compelling character development for Furiosa and Nox (played by Nicolas Hoult), a member of the War Boys who uses Max as his personal blood donor and slave.
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ is not to be missed while it’s in cinemas. Not only is it the perfect sequel to ‘The Road Warrior’, but it’s the most inventive and astonishing piece of action cinema that I’ve seen since ‘The Raid: Redemption’.
It’s everything that the previous ‘Mad Max’ films were trying to be and so much more.
9/10
Follow John Lyons on Twitter: @Fireinthelyons
