Week 25, 2015
Joensuu, Finland
Title: Mad Max: Fury Road
Director: George Miller
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Dystopia
Year: 2015
Country: Australia / USA
IMDb: 8.6/10
Thesis: Fight for survival
Watched on 18.6.2015
Before I start with my review I acknowledge I was not ready to watch this movie. Let me clarify: I was invited to watch the film and I happily accepted. For an unknown reason I thought Mad Max was something related to cartoons. I haven’t seen before a Mad Max film and I did not do my homework to check where I was heading to. So, of course I got a shock in the movie theater and later I read several reviews about the movie. This film apparently has not middle way, people love it or hate it.
In brief, the story of the movie is simple. A group of persons, mainly women, are running for their life across a dessert, while they are chased by a man (Immortan Joe) who “owns” them. All this happen in, I would call, a dystopia. It is a desert world where people main concern and challenge is to to survive with not water.
The movie starts when people from Immortan Joe capture Max. For those who have seen previous movies of Mad Max, might know more about him. In my case, only for looking at this film, he is a lonely quiet fighter who, honestly, I have no clue how he survives.
Furiosa is the main actress of this film. She is a fighter and a determine woman, who believes, due to her memories, that is a green world out there.
The women in this world are, literally, cows. At least that is my impression. The Immortan Joe wants the fresh, virgin women, which are not that many, to have his children.
Most of the movie, if not all, is mainly action. The chasing starts few minutes after Max is trapped and Furiosa starts driving an AMAZING truck for a mission Immortan Joe send her. But once she on the road, she took a detour to the east to follow her plan. To reach the “green world” and change the destiny of the young women are traveling with her as incognito. As soon as the Immortan Joe noticed this, the movie’s pursue starts because all those women are his.
The women, including Max and Nux (a war boy warrior from the Immortan Joe’s fanatical army, who now is part of Furiosa team) managed to cross the dessert after A LOT of action, where Furiosa remember was her childhood land. Once they reach their destination, they realized they must be back to the original place. So, of them have to cross the desert again, so there is more action.
That would be the story of the movie. It is not a movie of dialogs. It is a movie of action, special effects and fighting. If you are in this type of mood and type of movie, unquestionably: Mad Max Fury Road is well done.
Personally, I like Furiosa’s truck, it is amazing. Her bionic arm was also interesting for me, and some landscapes were really immersive. The film plays with the visuals and sounds a lot. From the action, the “jumping warriors” were interesting. They were fighting from long sticks, and the band creating “heavy metal” music for the army of Immortan Joe was also attractive for me.
Directors look a whole experience, and in this film Miller pays attention to it. Even though I was not ready to watch it and try to close my eyes (and ears) at moment, because I was getting in the experience I was not prepare to have. Need to watch it, now aware of the facts. 🙂 So, I think Miller did a good job on building the whole experience.
Despite there is not much dialog, there are two quotes I really like of the film:
1. Nux: “Oh what a day. What a lovely day! “
2. The other is between Dag and Toast:
Toast: What are you doing?
Dag: Pray:
Toast: to who?
Dag: anyone who is listening
Here the film’s trailer:
From this type of films, I wonder where the gasoline and bullets are produced? Maybe that would be another film.
So, if you are in the mood and you like this type of movies, I think it is a good movie!
Thank you for the invite!