"What a lovely day!"
There is an obvious reason that cinematic veteran George Miller (Mad Max, Babe, and Happy Feet, among others) has this exuberant quote at the top of his movie posters for the latest installment in his monumentally monstrous series of motorized mayhem, "Mad Max: Fury Road" - because no other statement can define it better. Customized cars crash and burn in the scorched desert wasteland, pole vaulters wave back and forth while snagging passengers out of speeding vehicles, humans hang upside down as living blood-bags, and so much more. What a lovely day, indeed.
Fury Road is a comeback for a certain kind of creativity that many of us had forgotten existed, one that Miller and his crew seem to be able to harness here better than anyone else: chaos. In a world where action blockbusters primarily exist on digitally produced superheroes and explosions (for reference, see "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and "San Andreas," both of which release this month) this determined group of filmmakers pave their own furious road down a path to what seems like chaos, while in reality, Miller probably could not have more control over the bombastic action taking place on screen - but that is this film's magic, and the magic of every "Mad Max" film at that - this untamable energy that looms around each scene like a spirit, granting the raw powers of speed and spontaneity to the live-action stunts being performed before our eyes, proving yet again that nothing is more exhilarating than the real deal.
Perhaps this ethereal "spirit" is Max himself, physically embodied here by Tom Hardy as a shell of a man, perpetually haunted by the death of his wife and child. They appear to him in sporadic visions, and show that Max's past will always be catching up to him, much like the bloodthirsty fanatics tailing him across the wasteland in their all-consuming, awe-inspiring machines of war. Early on in the film, Hardy is forced to wear a metal face-mask, reminding us of his work as the hulking villain Bane in Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises," (2012) and how visceral of an actor he can be when he is forced into desperate situations on screen. I like the scene where his only hope of survival is based on whether or not he can successfully hold a group of people at gunpoint - using a broken gun. There are several scenes similar to it in the sense that Max must use his guile and wit to succeed, but this is a particularly interesting part of the movie because it is the first time we truly get to see Furiosa (expertly portrayed by Charlize Theron), the leader of a small group of female stowaways who are rebelling against their tyrannical, misogynistic ruler and fleeing to the "Green Place," where they are to be treated as equals and given supposed sanctuary. Theron, sporting a shaved dome and black make-up streaked across her forehead, owns this role with more than enough intensity for a whole trilogy of Mad Max movies, and can devastate more with a single glance than a whole page of dialogue (which is appropriate, since time for chit-chat is understandably sparse in a 120 minute long chase sequence). Someone remarked that she would make a great silent-film actress, and I must agree. When Hardy and Theron are on screen together, it seems that anything is possible.
They are both being chased by Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays Byrne, who many may remember as "Toecutter" in the original Mad Max), and his army of followers. Arguably the best Mad Max villain to date, Immortan Joe is literally viewed as a god by his worshippers. According to one character (an apparent crazy named "Nux" who gets some enjoyable and well deserved screen time, played by Nicholas Hoult), a single glance from him promises eternal life, and those under his wing gladly follow him into near-certain death, being told that "Valhalla" awaits them on the other side. Ritualistically dawning a plastic body suit and a breathing mask that rests in an eternal grimace at the beginning of the movie, Miller transforms Immortan Joe into a half-human demon of the wastes, who treats those in his way as either property or nothing more than objects to justify his conquests. One of the more shocking and disgusting shots of the movie shows itself as Immortan is in his tower, surrounded by his women - what he has them doing I will not say, but I was genuinely appalled by this character.
Fury Road is full of interesting shots and scenes meant to shock, though, and yet somehow, they almost all end in the audience's laughter. I think it is the pure delight we experience when we realize that we have just been shocked, and that Mr. Miller has presented to us something so ridiculous that we cannot help but laugh at it. You can feel the smile underneath everyone's faces as this chief of a director almost whispers to you, "Yes, that did just happen," after every scene.
To summarize it all: nothing feels out of place in this movie. The action is ridiculous and over over-the-top, the characters speak in sharp looks and grunts with additional lines of frenzied dialogue in between, the "cool-down moments" last just long enough to get us excited by the time the next chase sequence begins, and - perhaps most importantly of all - everything feels fresh and supremely original. The legend goes that George Miller and a collaborative team of artists made a storyboard consisting of nearly 3,500 conceptual shots before even writing the script for this movie. Every scene and every stunt is broken down on a second-by-second basis, executed minutely, and without fail. "Mad Max: Fury Road" is the vision of a madman that has slowly been turning into reality for the past thirty years, and now that it is finally here, little else really needs to be said. How lovely is that?
- Jared Mullis
5/16/2015
P.S. Many die-hard fans of the "Mad Max" series have criticized Tom Hardy being cast as its titular character as opposed to Mel Gibson in the original trilogy. My say on the matter is that both actors do an excellent job portraying Max as a man broken down to relying on his bare and essential instinct: survive. That is what Max is at his core - he is an instinct. A force of nature. He is not an actor. Thank you for reading. Please feel welcome to leave a comment regarding your thoughts on the film!
-Heading photo taken from:
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