Carmageddon! The Magnificent Desolation of Mad Max: Fury Road

If David Lean dropped acid then immediately watched Blade Runner and Apocalypse Now, he would probably have made a movie that looks a lot like Mad Max: Fury Road, easily the most deliriously entertaining movie of the year so far. 

The accolades for Fury Road have been pretty enthusiastic, and it’s easy to see why. At age 70, director George Miller has returned to the franchise that made him famous and made an action film the likes of which we haven’t seen in ages. Fury Road isn’t just an action movie, it’s cinema, in the purest sense of the word – a relentless, surreal, gasp-inducing juggernaut of stupefying detail and imagination that makes The Road Warrior look like Driving Miss Daisy.

 

There are a few visual effects in Fury Road, but they’re minimal and utterly seamless. The overwhelming majority of what’s onscreen is the most stupefying display of physical stuntwork I’ve ever seen, perpetrated by both humans and vehicles – often simultaneously. You’ve just never seen anything to compare with the vehicular mayhem that Miller has unleashed here. Perhaps the director’s best decision was luring legendary cinematographer John Seale (Witness, The English Patient, Cold Mountain) out of retirement to shoot the film. Fury Road is utterly stunning, visually. Seale and Miller have created a world here that’s completely unique and unforgettable. Alternating between sweeping vistas and in-your-face close-ups, if Seale isn’t nominated for Best Cinematography, it’ll be a complete disgrace. There are shots here that look impossible to achieve,  particularly when moving at high speed in the midst of one-take-only sequences of kinetic destruction. It’s the collaboration of a lifetime.

 

Tom Hardy is a great fit as Max, in nearly perpetual survival mode for the entire film. But simply get out of the way for Charlize Theron as Furiosa. She creates an iconic character that dominates the film and that you can’t look away from. Hugh Keays-Byrne who played The Toecutter in the original Mad Max (1979!) is the villain here, now called Immortan Joe, leader of the maniacs in hot pursuit of Max and his companions. 

 

Miller has created a simply astonishing vision of the apocalypse here. In the 34 years since The Road Warrior, he must have watched every bungled depiction of societal collapse from Waterworld to The Postman, steeling himself to learn from their mistakes. There’s an insane level of detail on display here, impossible to absorb in one viewing, especially with the editing gusto with which Margaret Sixel orchestrates her cuts. The score from Junkie XL is pure adrenaline and ratchets up audience involvement to near nervous breakdown levels. 

 

The production design is revolutionary. Enough can’t be said about the vehicles here. They’re like massive onion-layered welds of three-in-one jet-fueled  carmageddon. Immortan Joe’s stronghold is like something out of Dune. Everything onscreen from the massive scale of the locations to the detail of each costume is phenomenal and unique. 

 

Simply put, Fury Road is one of the classics of modern action filmmaking. Miller hasn’t just raised the bar, he’s launched it into outer space.

Without a doubt, YOU MUST see Fury Road in the theater – don’t wait for home video. It’s an epic masterpiece that wants to rip out your eyeballs, smear them in gasoline, then juggle them as they go screaming off a cliff. Highest possible rating. Run, don’t walk!