Freak Show : MOVIE REVIEW : MAD MAX- FURY ROAD (2015)

Mad Max: Fury Road is an insanely epic cinematic experience

Director: George Miller
Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Zoë Kravitz, Abbey Lee, Courtney Eaton
Studios: Kennedy Miller Mitchell, Village Roadshow Pictures
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Dates: 7 May 2015 (TCL Chinese Theatre)
14 May 2015 (Australia)
15 May 2015 (United States)

Plot: Max (Hardy) joins forces with Imperator Furiosa (Theron) to flee from cult leader Immortan Joe (Keays-Byrne) and his army in an armoured tanker truck in order to save his five wives from his hands.

Okay. Before we start, I just wanna clarify that I'm haven't seen the first two films of the Mad Max franchise featuring Mel Gibson in the titular role. I was able to watch the third movie though, Beyond Thunderdome (1985) with him and Tina Turner as Aunty Entity. But I was too young back then to remember a lot. So Itherefore I am viewing this film as a newbie to the franchise.
Now honestly, I'm not really into apocalyptic scifi action films like this. So it was surprising to me that I fell in love with this movie right after seeing it's epic trailer when I went to watch a movie in IMAX once. I immediately got sucked into the movie, with it's R-rated quality, amazing stunts and action scenes and it's cast. And when I've seen the movie in it's entirety, I just couldn't stop myself cheering all the way through.
Here's my epic experience with George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road.

It Starts With A Bang!

Okay. I'm sorry, guys but I just have to mention the opening of the film itself. From it's credits, you can already feel that this film is gonna be bad-ass. It looks dirty, gruesome and dark. Then , here comes the opening scene featuring "Mad" Max Rockatansky (played by Tom Hardy) being chased down by the War Boys, the army of tyrannical cult leader Immortan Joe, and taken to Joe's Citadel.

This scene alone really got me pumped up. I love the part where he tried to escape the War Boys and ran through this tunnel and ended up in a dead end. The scene was really fun to watch and looked weird because of the way George Miller manipulated the frame rate by slowing it down and speeding it up.

The World Of The Mad
One of the things that I really loved about this film is it's post-apocalyptic setting. Unlike most futuristic scifi flicks, Mad Max features a world that I wouldn't have even thought about. Though we've seen some of these factors in other films before, Mad Max just feels different. From the Citadel's structures to it's surroundings, up to it's War Boys to the cult itself ruled by Immortan Joe, every single piece that makes up this world, this setting, was crafted with perfection. I remember the scifi space opera film from The Wachoskis released earlier this year, Jupiter Ascending starring Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis. I really loved the universe that they have created around the film, though the story itself was cluttered with a lot of cliches.

Another thing that I loved with the world of Mad Max is it's main mode of transportation. Altough Tom Hardy may be the main star of the movie (obviously, he plays the title character) every scene in the film is always being stolen by one of their big, monstrous cars and trucks. These Monster cars and trucks are the breakout stars of the long car chase through the desert wasteland of the Mad Max universe.
I really love Imperator Furiosa's War Rig, but the one that really got my eyes at was the Truck made out of amps and speakers, where the Doff Warrior, a blind mutant wearing a red onesie, who wields a flame-throwing guitar and never stops playing rock music. And based on what I've researched, the truck and the guy with the guitar was real - no CGI.

Speaking of No CGI

Another thing that really made a big impact on me and the film in whole was it's use of heavy practical effects. This is actually very scarce in big-budget blockbusters from Hollywood these past couple of years. I mean, let's face it. Even our top favorite ones like The Avengers and it's sequel is a menagerie of CGI makings. So it is very, very refreshing indeed to have an epic movie like this that is devouted to practical effects. According to Director George Miller, he wanted to lessen the use of computer graphic imagery in the film as much as possible. This actually makes it more difficult to film the movie since the use of practical effects requires more time, patience and money. But then, just look at the result. Now, 2015 already has it's second movie running for the best film of the year, fighting for the throne against Avengers : Age Of Ultron. I really loved how the final results came out. The movie looked so raw and realistic. I can hardly distinguish if there are any CGI effects at all in the film while watching it.
So Hollywood, you know now what to do.

A Stellar Cast
Have you seen the character posters of the film that were posted online months prior to it's release? Man, I couldn't believe that these bad-ass characters were Hollywood's most glamorous actors and actresses of this generation. I mean, there must be something in this film that really convinced these actors to star in the film.

I must say, I just love the cast. I think Tom Hardy (Bane from The Dark Knoght Rises) is the perfect fit for "Mad" Max Rockatansky of this generation. I mean, he is one hell of an actor. If you've seen him as the antagonist Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, you can see all the emotion that his character is trying to convey just by looking at his eyes (since most of the time, he was wearing this face mask). Well, he also shares similarities here in this film since for the first half of the film, he's wearing this metal mask around his face. So we only get to see him express his anger and fear through his eyes.

Charlize Theron is also a must see in this film. I cant believe that from playing the wickedly hot and evil stepmother/ witch of Kristen Stewart in Snow White And The Huntsman, she would play the bad-ass Imperator Furiosa. She pulls the role with ease, looking so hard and tough at first. But during one of the most beautiful scenes from the film, she shows her soft side as she kneels down and screams in pain and anguish upon learning what happened to her dearest homeland. That was her most memorable scenes from the film.
But the real scene stealer of the movie is Nicholas Hoult as the sick War Boy Nux.
Hoult, just like Theron, had to cut off their hair and go bald for their roles, showing their dedication to their craft. I never imagined Nicholas Hoult playing a role like this. From being a blue hairy beast from X-Men: First Class to a zombie who fell in love with a human in Warm Bodies, now he plays a crazy plae bald guy with chapped lips and a very painfully husky voice. He adds up a lot of humor into the dark and serious tone of the film. No wonder he is my most favorite character from the Mad Max Universe. Plus he has one of my favorite lines from the film...

A Hell Of A Car Chase
And of finally, we've come to the best part of the film itself: the car chases.

Yes. If you've seen the film already (and you should) you'll notice that there's hardly a thread of a story here. Aside from the fact that Max is mad (and we all know that) and that Furiosa is helping five poor women escape the clutches of their tyrrant husband, there's nothing else in te film's plot. But you dont really care at all. And it's all because of the fact that the whole movie is but a big, epic car chase.

Imagine The Fast and The Furious set in an apocalyptic era, featuring monstrous cars and trucks. And guns. And spikes. And flamethrowers. And car crash. And motorcycles jumping from cliff to cliff. And explosions. All jampacked into one big movie. I mean, what else can you ask for, right?

Favorite Line
Nux: I live. I die. I live again!

And the already oft-quoted line...
Nux: What a day! What a lovely day!

Verdict:
Honestly, the whole movie itself gave me too much that I'm really going crazy over it right now. I don't know. It's just so fun and exciting to watch this film. It's full of all these craziness that feels so fresh and raw.
George Miller has just raised the bar for action adventure blockbusters with this latest installment of his saga. I must say, even Marvel and other film studios would need to catch up a lot.
Watching this movie was like a drug. A testosterone-injected cinematic grenade that will definitely blow you away.
It's weird. It's insane. It's demented. It's wild. It's explosive. It's big. It's epic. It's MAD!