Review: Mad Max: Fury Road

Cinéma Pur, a film movement that aimed to return to the elements of film, vision and movement, was adopted by 70's genre filmmakers. George Miller, a filmmaker born in this era has made the a stunning example of Pure Cinema in his new film Mad Max: Fury Road. This is two hours of concentrated cinematic vision.

Mad Max (Tom Hardy) is hunted like an animal by a tribe of diesel loving warriors and haunted by the voices in his head. His need to survive intersects with the plans of a battle-scarred woman named Impertator Furiosa (Charlize Theron). She leads a flock of lovely ladies in a desperate quest for freedom, asking along the way "Who killed the earth?" The answer is in the men they flee from. The sheer amount of creativity in designing the villains is amazing. A guitar playing, bungeed psycho shooting flames out of vehicle made of amps is just one example.

In a relentless two hour car chase, this film throws audiences into a visionary world. The exceptional John Seale deserves huge amounts of praise. The use of color, whether its the powdery flares, the shimmering stars, or the dusty deserts is where Seale's masterful eye really shines. The production design, set designers and music by Junkie XL only add to the experience here.

All of these forces combine their talents to support George Miller's vision.  Miller seems to have tapped directly into his dreams here. Pure Cinema has rarely seen such a crystallized post-apocalyptic world. This is too weird and odd a film to fit into the standard car film such as the Fast and Furious Franchise. Miller almost invents his own hybrid genre here.

The performances drive the mayhem on screen, and Charlize Theron is the emotional center that holds the film together. Furiosa is the film's true star and watching Theron shine here harkens back to the signature performance of Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2. She's a badass heroin with more than just a tough exterior. Tom Hardy lives up to what is asked of him here but the other standout performance comes from Nicholas Hoult. Hoult plays one of the goons hunting Furiosa and Max down but there is so much more to his character and Miller never lets him be a throwaway.

Mad Max: Fury Road is minimal on the dialogue but heavy on the world building. There is so much to unravel here and yet no one has to stop the film to explain any of it. Miller trusts his audience. This film is for the cinephile junkies who are ready for a hard hit of pure cinema to the veins. 

5/5