So… rushed out to see Mad Max: Fury Road… a movie with 99% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes so had to see it before any more got spoiled. And the movie is exactly what it’s advertised as – an unadulterated 120 minutes of beautiful, hard core, in-your-face action that does nothing more than it promises. I can’t say its deep and meaningful but that’s a nitpick when you’re dealing with a movie that isn’t pretending to be and does everything it can be to live up to its promises. This is an outright killer action flick that was done largely outside studio meddling so we don’t get predictable. We don’t get normal. We may not even get sane.

The movie is, as they promised, basically a 120 minute chase movie… though that doesn’t mean it doesn’t slow down and breath a little bit. There is a lot of story here that is told in images… crazy crazy images. There’s plenty told in these fast images and muttered dialog but it doesn’t feel the need to stop and over-explain much of anything. But it FEELS like they film makers thought all this through – the environment, the machines, the weird religion, the inflictions people had, etc. I think they decided we as an audience could piece it together.

Yes, this is a movie that has imagery that is really nuts and its just presents it and moves on. It doesn’t blink at the idea of a tricked out car with drummers in the back and a guy in a gimp suit and flame-throwing guitar in the front. Why? Maybe it’s so the bad guy can have a metal concert wherever he goes. You throw out logic and just deal with the levels of crazy… let the weirdness wash over you. The introduction of the bad guys and their army of cars is just a few minutes of film-making virtuoso, nutso abandon.

A lot of this movie was also done with practical effects and real tricked-our post-apocalyptic cars (think of the earlier Mad Max movies and now think double and triple decker death wagons). I don’t know how much was faked but it’s the kind of movie that looks so convincing that I want to see the making of to see just how insane the film makers were making it. I know that some of the crashes had to be CG… right? .

So the movie is called Mad Max and Tom Hardy replaces Mel Gibson… and I’ll mention more on that in a moment… but I really should point that Charlize Theron is the real star of the film. Bald, one-armed, grease coating the top of her head like war paint, with just enough hints of a character arc… she’s pretty great in the flick and is arguably the main character. She sets the plot in motion, she has the story arc and the mission and the motivation.

That said, Nicholas Hoult as a bad guy (in the trailer, he’s the “What a day. What a lovely day!” albino weirdo) is surprisingly interesting. His character is as mental as everyone else but he gets a character arc and some personality as the movie progresses. It’s fun to see even limited character development handled deftly in a movie that is so full-tilt boogey as this flick.

Now, Tom Hardy is fine… I will say that he doesn’t speak much and when he does, it’s sometimes in this weird grunts and noises which was distractedly weird until I realized he was imitating Mel Gibson from the earlier movies. Mel didn’t talk much either. A lot of those movies took place without narration and dialog (especially from Max) so this movie is certainly taking up that mantle.

Which means this movie is a direct sequel to the first three movies (recast) though there’s not much more than a passing reference that fans will get (but won’t matter to non-fans). As it stands, we’re given a character with the most minimal of backstory (he had a family, they died) who does equal parts selfish and heroic things but if you aren’t familiar with the earlier movies, it’ll feel like his character is largely unnecessary to the plot. Like I said, it’s more Charlize Theron’s movie and Mad Max kind of wandered into it accidentally. Which, to be fair, is exactly how Mad Max 2 (Road Warrior) and Beyond Thunderdome were structured. So fair’s fair.

And I should also note, from an action standpoint, this movie is very much a modern action flick visually. Looking back at the previous movies, they are of their time – great action scenes feel a little slow by today’s “you can do anything” standards. That said, maybe this is what the director would have done back the late 70s and early 80s. I dunno. I can say that, while filmed with the wild abandon of modern movies, it still feels like the same world. A little cranked up to 11 but close enough.

It was 120 minutes (I guess) but it didn’t feel like it in the least. I watched with bug-eyed fascination, realizing part-way through I may have stopped blinking. I normally want more story or import to my action flicks but when it’s done this well with this much abandon while still being clearly thought-out, I can play along just fine. I can even argue for a movie with such anarchistic spirit, knowing if the good guys win and the bad guys lose isn’t even a forgone conclusion so there was genuine suspense on top of the wide-eyed action. Good show.

Score: 90