Review of Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) by Kyle M — 22 Feb 2017

George Miller, the wonderful Australian director, struck gold with his comeback movie Mad Max: Fury Road. The marvelous choice of actors, with Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, and the wonderful camerawork, that seemed to cover every necessary angle for every battle, help explain how this movie left me on the edge on my seat.

Mad Max gets things rolling by having Max crawl out from under his badass vehicle. The entire movie you get to see these amazing sand vehicles coming at you from every direction, trying to capture Max. When he escapes with ease from his first set of enemies, you start to realize that he's never going to be alone with a sense of safety (Literally, I don't think that there was ever a scene without an intense, high-speed chase). George Miller does a wonderful job of never letting you take your eyes off the movie.

I think the production is what makes this movie fantastic. The camerawork, the terrain, and the backgrounds all provide nice, jaw-dropping scenes that give this movie life. I caught myself many times taking a step back and saying "Damn, that's a nice shot there". The first three Max Movies were all filmed in Melbourne, Australia and Mad Max: Fury Road was moved to the southern African country of Namibia. The lengthy scenes were filled with roaring trucks flying through the desert so you never wanted to look away. Shots are always filled with chaos and many antagonists that are just waiting to make their move. George Miller keeps the images and backgrounds coming at you like a meteor shower. One second you're looking at a huge sandstorm and the next you're looking at a battle filled with over 50 vehicles. The stunk work and tracking shots are unreal as it shows people flying off their vehicles left and right the whole movie.

Max goes through the movie having constant flashbacks that hurt his ability to focus. These flashbacks consist of rapid, unsteady close-ups of his lost daughter. This aids to create a story that will also keep the non-action lovers craving more. Mad Max however has its fair share of funky, unnecessary scenes but the film doesn't seem to suffer from it at the slightest. Does every movie make sense the whole time? No, so just go with it and strap back in your seat and continue to watch the action-packed film.

Before watching this movie, I didn't know what to expect... And even after watching it, I still couldn't tell you what was going on, but I weirdly was fond of that and how George Miller left me feeling a different type of way. This movie has its own personality and I think it might be years until a similar action film comes out. This movie won an Oscar, was nominated for numerous other ones, and after watching it, you can easily see why. Mad Max will leave you craving more so get ready for a new standard of action movies because you won't know what hit you. If you think that a scene is breathtaking in Mad Max, just wait about 5 minutes until the next one and I bet you'll be saying the same words.