It’s not a new technique by any means but it makes all the difference compared to the haphazard “frame ****ing” style employed by other action directors. Something that really sets the film apart is how masterful Miller is in tracking this incredibly hectic action by insisting that the relevant information is always framed in the centre of the widescreen image it’s so much easier for the eye to follow from cut to cut. Miller’s all-action style offers up a smorgasbord of “guzzoline”-fuelled delights, presenting a different challenge or adversary with every new set-piece which keeps things fresh, and the film is a master class in storytelling economy, delivering only the essential exposition as it runs-and-guns towards the finish line – the action fills in the rest of the blanks. He still feels like the monosyllabic Max of old but refracted through a different prism as his losses have far outweighed his gains and he’s plagued by visions of those he couldn’t save, and if anything Hardy’s Max feels even more unhinged and aloof than Gibson’s ever was. Max himself is assayed by Tom Hardy, who didn’t seek to impersonate Mel Gibson’s performance. Played by Charlize Theron, this embattled warrior woman is every bit Max’s equal with a bullet or a blade, and the film is her story as much as anyone else’s as she strives to deliver the Wives to salvation and in the process earn herself a measure of redemption. Max rediscovers his humanity as he aids the escape of others – and yet Fury Road also establishes its own clear identity within the Mad Max canon thanks to the character of Furiosa. There are several knowing nods and easter eggs to what came before and the basic premise is nothing new, e.g.
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The movie is intended to be a loose continuation on from Beyond Thunderdome, Max having managed to cobble together another V8 Interceptor according to the prequel comics (hence its appearance at the beginning of this movie despite having been destroyed in Mad Max 2) and it often plays like a supercharged megamix of the previous movies, not unlike the souped-up appearance of the Interceptor itself later in the film. Once again he finds himself shepherding yet another rag-tag band of survivors across the expanse and into what they hope will be the promised land. She makes a break for freedom during a regulation supply run in the meanest big rig she can lay her hands on, and Max inevitably gets drawn into the crossfire.
But Imperator Furiosa, one of Joe’s underlings, has gone rogue and kidnapped his “prize breeders”: a quintet of gorgeous young women, known as ‘The Five Wives’. This outpost is presided over by Immortan Joe, a brutal warlord who rations the water and keeps only the purest human stock to bear him a male heir, employing scores of radiation-ravaged ‘War Boys’ to be his cannon fodder with promises of glory in the afterlife. Both George and Max were back, and they were madder than ever…įury Road begins with Max on the run in the wasteland whereupon he’s swiftly captured by a gang of marauders from an oasis known as The Citadel.
After a protracted period of post-production the movie was released in 2015 to a deluge of critical acclaim, offering up a nitro-boosted action extravaganza that put to rest any fears that Miller had lost his edge, culminating in six Oscar wins at the 2016 ceremony. As Mel’s star power waned (to put it mildly) and Miller took on various family projects ( Happy Feet) in the meantime, they eventually found a new Max in Tom Hardy and were at last able to put the project into motion, shooting in the deserts of Namibia in 2012.
Originally intended to feature the original Max, Mel Gibson, the production was stopped in its tracks by the events of 9/11 and suffered various mishaps for the next decade or so.
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Mad Max’s latest high-octane adventure hits Ultra HD, we take it for a spin…Īfter a lengthy hiatus Max Rockatansky finally got behind the wheel again in the fourth instalment in George Miller’s gloriously giddy series of Ozploitation action films.