Even at the beginning, there’s no hint “Mad Max: Fury Road” is going to a stop. Right at the very start, the engines are already rowing, gathering furious fires of vengeance and redemption, and before the audience could snap out of the sheer moments of brutal grittiness and exhilarating high-octane drama, they are surely already held hostage within the confines of a post-apocalyptic world, where everything is horrendously scarce.
Not that it’s a bad thing, no it’s not. I tell you, this is like being hurled into the space in a roller coaster ride. It’s dangerous, but it’s also thrilling. Witnessing this dystopic world and all its hellish drama unfold might make you grope for seat belt under your seat.
The film shares Max Rockatansky’s (Tom Hardy) adventures. Max is an ex highway patrolman. He’s been haunted by the past, by family he never saved. He meets the Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) who is being pursued by the dictatorial Wasteland leader “Joe”. Furiosa reaches for Max for help in keeping the ‘Five Wives’—women she brought with her—into safety, as Joe’s deranged breed of warriors called The War Boys, that are barely humans, are raging across the desert to capture them. This pursuit throws the unlikely partners into the whalloping dangers of bloody escape, suddenly sending them into a game of survival.
After a rip-roaring opening chase sequence, Max is held captive in the Citadel, the city where the ruthlessly totalitarian leader “Joe” is ruling over. The grotesquely brutal lord maintains tight grip of every valuable resources across the land. This brings the entire populace crippling under his control. As for Max, he becomes merely a blood bag for Nux (Nick Hoult) one of Joe’s War Boys, who is a fatal devout to the cause of their fascist leader, who has promised them the glory of getting into Valhalla, the promised land.
Everything in this cinematic behemoth screams grandeur, even the feverish chase, even the dark erubescents spurred from the ruthless violence. Miller has molded a world where darkness is an escape from the stream of clichés and retreads, surging into the cinemas, today. It’s a visual feast, but surprisingly, with sense. It’s explosive in every unimaginable ways, but it’s not devoid of a human story, which in this case, is propelled by stellar performances from incredible actors on the movie’s payroll.
Tom Hardy is utterly capable as the main hero, but the emotional spine of the narrative mostly runs on Theron’s character. At some point, there would be a sense that Max isn’t the only one playing under the spotlight, as it gets evident Furiosa is equally as massive as his role is. Hardy here is singularly stunning, playing his role with utmost credibility as he is required. His mission transcends past his emotional torments and he’s never pulled himself free from the ghosts if his past. Same can be said with Furiosa, who is not only running from Joe because she wants to get herself free from his cut throat grip, but also to bring every woman into safety, back to freedom where they belong.
Much of the movie is spent with furious speed chases that goes from end to end of Joe’s subjugated land, while also taking surprising twists and turns along the way. It’s like it doesn’t know how to stop, and if it does, that’s surely only to allow us breathe and catch up with the next electrifying action set piece. There’s an enigmatic style Miller has employed to provide distinctions in his fantasy world, and it keeps the momentum in tack, if not ever progressing. The tone of the movie, all those vividly dark colors, that magically shifts from something to another, imparts a drowning experience, only it’s enjoying and looks festive to the eyes. This makes every eye-squashing spectacles take mammoth forms of visual extravaganza, turning all those burning combustions, metal blasts, and endless pursuits, from mere technical marvels into a hair-raising escapade.
Amid these sanity-grabbing action sequences, though, is an emotional streak that keeps Max and Furiousa’s humanity alive. This prompts them to survival, into carrying out their similar humane causes, clinging tightly to their only mission even if they get hurled into the barbaric hostilities of their dystopian society. This turns the movie into something visceral, cathartic in some ways that probably only a small fraction of the audience could understand.
It will not be enough to merit this achievement with merely a splurge of superlatives. This needs to be experienced, felt, and forever cherished. “Mad Max: Fury Road”, ignites eternal fire, and it will keep burning through the stretches of cinematic history.
RATING: 9/10 (JE)
