Review of the film "Mad Max: Fury Road"
In the near future, the Earth is almost destroyed by thermonuclear war and global environmental disaster. The surface of the planet has turned into one continuous desert with rare patches of fertile soil. Miraculously, the surviving people form bloodthirsty gangs and fight for the “remnants of former luxury”: underground springs, oil reserves, cars and weapons. One of these gangs, controlling the mountain fortress of the Citadel, captures the lonely wanderer Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy), who was once a police officer and who has become one of the best “road warriors” in the new world. The bandits want to use Max as a blood donor for their comrades dying of cancer. Meanwhile, the one-armed Furiosa (Charlize Theron), leader of the gang's raiding squad, escapes from the Citadel with the young wives of the bandit leader, the elderly Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). The woman wants to find a place where girls are considered equal members of society, and not the property of men. Immortan Joe and his men give chase, taking Max with them, and the circumstances are such that Max soon finds himself in the cockpit of a combat truck in which Furiosa is racing through the desert.
Still from the movie "Mad Max: Fury Road"
The past two decades have taught us to be skeptical about the return of famous directors to the world of their classic films. The Star Wars prequels by George Lucas, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull by Steven Spielberg, Prometheus by Ridley Scott... Not the worst in cinema history, but frankly disappointing, and in the case of Star Wars, also a seeming betrayal of long-time fans of the series.
Still from the movie "Mad Max: Fury Road"
Unlike previous films, Fury Road was filmed not in Australia, but in Namibia. At its peak, there were 1,700 people working on the film, and their desert base camp was the size of three football fields.
Therefore, we did not expect much from the fourth series of Mad Max, which, after many years of delays, is being released thirty years (!) after the release of Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome. We thought Fury Road would be a limp, uninspired commercial send-off from 70-year-old Australian George Miller, who spent three decades making family and children's films like Babe and Happy Feet. Well, what kind of hooligan post-apocalyptic action movie could there be after dancing penguins and friendly piglets? I just don’t want to be castrated.
Still from the movie "Mad Max: Fury Road"
We were wrong. How wrong we were! It turns out that all these years George Miller did not move further and further from the world of Mad Max, but dreamed of returning to the desert drenched in blood and gasoline. And when his dream came true, he splashed out on the screen all his creative and production energy, which he had accumulated when he taught piglets to speak and penguins to dance.
Still from the movie "Mad Max: Fury Road"
The filming involved 150 stuntmen and 150 old cars modified specifically for the film.
At the very least, “Fury Road” seems like a sluggish creation of a sophisticated and complacent “old man.” On the contrary, this is a fast-paced and aggressive movie, in comparison with which the recent “Fast and Furious 7” seems like a sluggish melodrama. You can count on the fingers of one hand all the scenes in the fourth Mad Max in which the characters simply stand and talk, and do not rush through the desert, shoot with bandits or resolve internal contradictions (women do not trust Max, and he does not trust them).
Still from the movie "Mad Max: Fury Road"
At the same time, the action of “Fury Road” is not a simple repetition of previous episodes using computer effects. No, in the new film the stunts are much more dangerous, spectacular, grandiose and inventive than in the first three films, and many of them are performed “live”, without green screens and at full speed. So, on the cars of the bandits pursuing the Furiosa truck, there were actually people attached to high flexible poles, attacking enemies with spears with explosives and trying to get onto the pursued cars. The creators of the film found people who decided to perform these stunts at Cirque du Soleil.
Still from the movie "Mad Max: Fury Road"
However, we won't even try to describe all the visual splendor and insane grotesqueness of Fury Road. We could devote several pages to listing the stunts, scenery, costumes, car modifications, make-up techniques (the film has the most colorful villains!), cinematography and directorial decisions that impressed us... But why spoil your pleasure from the surprises prepared by Miller? Just watch the film's trailers and take our word for it that these videos are not a collection of all the best shots of Fury Road, but only a small fraction of the incredible awesomeness of the film. A film that should be seen by any person who even slightly appreciates blockbuster action films and does not a priori reject cinema where there is no deep meaning.
Still from the movie "Mad Max: Fury Road"
Yes, Fury Road is not a “smart” film. Chas
Frankly speaking, the same “Fast and Furious 7” requires a greater load on the gray matter. But were the previous three episodes a feast of intelligence? That's why these are action films, because they are based on simple and understandable stories about salvation, revenge and redemption, which provide the heroes with clear motivation and do not force the action to be diluted with long rantings with hints of current politics. And it’s very good that “Fury Road” does not try, like “Happy Feet,” to sell environmental advertising with an entertaining sauce. In such a movie, this advertisement looks like a cherry on a birch tree.
Still from the movie "Mad Max: Fury Road"
What about Tom Hardy? How did he cope with the role that once made Mel Gibson famous? To be honest, not really. Hardy looks masculine enough to play action heroes, but he doesn't have Gibson's eyes at all, and he seems psychologically weaker—more a follower than a leader. Plot-wise, this is justified by the fact that years of trials and losses have broken Max and that he has turned into almost a zombie, who spends most of the film caring only about his own survival. But, of course, this is not the hero that fans have been waiting to meet all these years.
Mad Max: Fury RoadTrailer #3 (Russian)
Fortunately, Miller did not place the painting on Hardy's back. Max in the film is extremely important, but, in essence, a secondary character. Much like Kalidor, Arnold Schwarzenegger's character in Red Sonja. The central figure of Fury Road is Furiosa, and Charlize Theron has the right eyes! Her character, with her prosthetic arm, Amazon upbringing, ruthless bandit past, and still-unlost hope for a better life, is so compelling that, frankly, we wish Miller had made a sequel about Furios rather than Max. His story is long over, but a strong woman in a world of obsessed men is a character worth returning to.
