Rating of
3/4
"Mad Max: Fury Road" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 05/07/17
Max is captured by a cult that worship an overlord who controls the local population through strict rationing of the water supply and to escape forms an alliance with his trusted lieutenant who mutinies to save his wives from captivity as "breeders". In George Miller's first addition to the Mad Max franchise in 30 years Tom Hardy takes over the role and acquits himself adequately, although the show is well and truly stolen by Charlize Theron as a kind of "Mad Maxine"; the resulting feminist overtones of the story are rather lacking in subtlety but it's a refreshingly different character dynamic to most action films. The plot is something of a rehash of some of the better ideas of the previous film - the rather bloated and tedious Beyond Thunderdome - which it thankfully surpasses in every department. The action scenes, although CGI assisted retain much of the kinetic energy of the original trilogy and although little more than extended chase sequence, it entertains throughout. I still prefer the brutal simplicity of The Road Warrior as the visual spectacle of Fury Road occasionally descends into counterproductive overkill, but I consider this to be the second best instalment of the franchise.
