HIT THE ROAD, MAX

MOVIE
Mad Max: Fury Road
Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron
Director George Miller
Review Ray Chan

HOLY COW. This movie, surely one of the best action films of all time, must put Aussie director George Miller on the pedestal with the greats.
    Mad Max: Fury Road is a relentless, nonstop and breathless post-apocalyptic thriller, starring Tom Hardy as Max, who wanders the desolate wasteland of his shattered world simply trying to survive.
    It makes up for what it lacks in storyline and character development with a groundbreaking blend of battle flick tropes and death-defying stunts atop a constantly moving canvas of motor-driven insanity.
    Even the set design astounds, with imaginatively redesigned vehicles such as tanks with caterpillar tracks for wheels and long-spiked dune buggies, ridden astride by drivers on collapsible stilts and catapults, and led by manic punk rockers blazing out heavy metal riffs on killer guitars.
    Indeed, the cars themselves are fully developed characters, exemplified by the Gigahorse, a six-wheeled behemoth made up of two fin-tailed Cadillacs stuck together with mounted rifle stands attached on its back.
    Miller, the creator and director of all of the Mad Max films, delivers a shamelessly badass rock ‘n’ roll dystopian chase movie, and the viewers are taken on the ride right from the start.
    Fury Road moves at breakneck speed from beginning to end, offering only the merest of brief respites when the viewers can catch their breath to prepare for the next jaw-dropping sequence.
    The picture’s depth lies in its blistering backbeat of fast-paced action fulfilled by a cast of gnarly Wild West-inspired characters “living to die and dying to live”, in a setting where a lack of water and oil has turned humanity into hordes of people living by their primal instincts.
    And then there’s the focus on feminism, with Charlize Theron’s uncompromising bionic-armed heroine, Imperator Furiosa, leading the lion’s share of the action.
    Oil truck driver Furiosa turns a fuel delivery into a rescue mission to transport five mistresses away from Immortan Joe (played by Hugh Keays-Byrne in a franchise return), the demonic despot who controls the flow of water to the starving masses.
    Furiosa and her femmes are no slouches at holding their own, and often Max is simply along to serve as facilitator with his muscle and proficiency with weapons.
    This is truly a movie in which action speaks louder than words. Miller and his production team fill the screen with a wide variety of amazing and impressive stunts, which will have you gaping in disbelief, while holding the dialogue to a minimum.
    Fury Road is a thoroughfare lined with road rage and mayhem, wit and touches of grace and humanity that will make you want to go on a return trip.


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