REVIEW : Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Warning 1: This post contains a lot of GIFs.
Warning 2: I might have sunk into just an abyss of fangirlism. So proceed with caution.

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If you've watched the trailer for Mad Max: Fury Road, you're probably very weirded out by now. And yes, this film is so weird. And it's absolutely bonkers. What you see from the trailer is practically in the first 30 minutes of the actual movie itself. Think the trailer is crazy?

Trust me, it only get crazier from there.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world in the future, civilization has pretty much crumbled. One cult of remaining humans that still roam the earth are ruled by Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Bryne), a despot who controls the people as he controls the water supply, and he has an army of bald, pale-white War Boys at his disposal. It's the War Boys that capture Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy), and it's a War Boy named Nux (Nichoals Hoult) that Max has to serve as a blood bag to. At one point, Max is even chained to the hood of Nux's car to continue feeding him his blood.

But while Max is the titular hero, it's Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa that carries the weight of the film on her shoulders. She's Immortan's best fighter, revered by all. But when he sets her out to scavenge for more resources, in reality, it's a guise for her to smuggle Immortan's Five Wives out from the citadel, as they are treated as breeding livestock that will carry his heirs. It is on the battlefield where all our main characters come together.

Max Bane? Bane Max?

The setting of Fury Road is undeniably bleak and desolate, a wasteland that's essentially a demolition derby. The land has turned sour, and little to no vegetation are allowed to grow. I went into the cinema with a slight hesitation, as I feared that the imagery of the film would be off-putting, despite the critical acclaim and 98% standing on Rotten Tomatoes. But in the hands of director George Miller, it transforms into something that's nothing but beautiful.

I don't know where to start singing praises for Mad Max: Fury Road because this is perhaps the most perfect movie I've watched so far in 2015 (then again, there isn't much competition up until now; and I'm most likely exaggerating my socks off). There are elements in this movie that I would worship but I wouldn't know where to begin. But I'll try, and I'll probably fangirl to the brink of no return.

Ready? Okay, good, Let's go.

I haven't watched the previous Mad Max movies because to be completely honest, I've never even heard about them before Fury Road, and the only George Miller film I've watched was Happy Feet back when it came out. I remember it was good, it was cute because penguins!, and I was still a kid, But in terms of serious work, no, so I didn't know what his films are like.

It's easy to focus on all the louder things in Fury Road: the car chases, the fighting, plenty of things that go boom. But to me what stood out was the ones that were much more silent. Miller could probably teach Christopher Nolan a few tips and tricks on how to be subtle, and how to make the audience be in the loop of things without spoon-feeding them with information. No one really explains how things in this grim post-apocalyptic future work, but the audience still figures them out through the bits and pieces littered all around.

There is beauty in Fury Road's brutality.

Characterisation is especially solid in Fury Road; no one in this film (except maybe Immortan Joe) feels trope-y. Be it Max, Furiosa, Nux, or even the supermodel wives, it's easy to love them because of how real they are. It's Max's offhanded comments about War Boys stealing his car and the grumblings under his breath that made Max likable, despite the lack of actual dialogue he has. Or maybe that's just Tom Hardy being Tom Hardy. (I may or may not be bias) You feel for Nux, and in extension, all the other War Boys when you realise that they're just delusional, deceived into thinking that a grand afterlife awaits them when they sacrifice themselves for a cruel tyrant. But be warned: on more than one occasion, George Miller is like George R.R. Martin, just when you think you're starting to love one character, Miller kills it off in an unflinching fashion.

One does not praise Fury Road without touching on the subject of the stunts and cinematography. Did you know that most of the action in Fury Road are practical effects as in real stunts and there's mnimal CGI? #nowyouknow It's amazing how at it's peak where things are the most chaotic, even when it's all explosions and fires and people launching themselves into midair while clutching onto a pole, it's still easy to make out what's happening. There's never a sense of things being too cluttered in Fury Road, nothing gets muddled together despite how insane things will get.

Composed by Junkie XL, Fury Road's score is of epic proportions. It's loud, and raw, and so exhilarating to listen to, even on its own. But the most important thing is how fitting the entire score is in the background of the film, making the film so much more immersive. I'm usually acutely aware of a film's score for two reasons: it's either absolutely awful, or mind-blowingly good. In Fury Road's case, it's simply mind-blowingly epic. Part of me just couldn't stop thinking: Holy balls, the score is love; the score is life.

It's a rock concert e'rybody

But the icing on the cake for Fury Road has got to be the female characters in this film. Sure you have your guys in Max, in Immortan Joe, his sons and those who fight alongside him in the battle to reclaim his wives, in Nux and the War Boys. But except for a few, they all blend together at some point in the movie. (Like I said, Immortan Joe and co. are quite trope-y and cliched) But the women: the wives, Furiosa, and the Vuvalini women they meet in the latter half of the movie, stand out as individual characters. Women in Fury Road are powerful, they make the movie. Not to mention all of them are just badass af. It's not something you find that often in action blockbusters like this.

I could go on, but I believe this article sums up my view on Fury Road's feminist sentiments quite nicely.

WE ARE NOT THINGS.

To some, Mad Max: Fury Road is one messy affair of monster car chases in an ugly and barren land; to me and many others, it cannot be more perfect. It may be an action-packed summer blockbuster–albeit an unconventional one–but I'll be damned if it doesn't deserve an Oscar nomination for its ingenuity, if not the actual award itself.

Mad Max: Fury Road - Like Fast and Fruious that's very much high.

I rate it : 10/10 stars

THE GOOD : Everything

THE BAD : Nothing

WATCH IT IF YOU...

• Don't watch it if you're not a fan of just generally very loud actions, but if you don't mind them, THEN THERE IS NO REASON FOR YOU TO NOT WATCH THIS FILM

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015)

Genre : Action Adventure

Runtime : 120 mins

Director : George Miller

Cast : Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz