Movie Review- Mad Max: Fury Road

I am not a fan of the Mad Max movies, and their enduring cult status is somewhat baffling to me. I had no interest watching Mad Max: Fury Road, but critical and fan reception of the film was so overwhelmingly positive, I felt compelled to see it for fear of missing out. Before watching the series' fourth installment, I decided to revisit the original trilogy to see if perhaps I would find some value in the series that I had previously missed. In doing so I was only reminded of why I disliked the films to begin with.

The first two films are too ambitious for their tiny budgets, and as such fail to deliver on the promise of grand car chases through post-apocalyptic desert landscapes. The third film, Beyond Thunderdome benefits greatly from a higher budget, finally portraying an engaging and visually-pleasing desert locale in the market settlement of Bartertown. Unfortunately the plot derails after the first act and returns to the series' biggest problem: boring stories and uninteresting characters. Thoroughly discouraged at this point, I trudged ahead into Fury Road. Shock of all shocks, I still don't like this series.

I am mystified as to this series' appeal. There aren't many good post-apocalyptic films out there, so perhaps fans of that genre are content to settle with what the Mad Max movies have to offer. Perhaps the series is appealing in the same way that some people find monster truck rallies appealing. I am generally not a fan of watching cars go fast and smash things, unless I have reason to be involved in what's going on. The Mad Max movies fail to engage me on a level that I can stay interested in repetitive vehicular carnage.

As previously mentioned, the first two Mad Max are very low-budget and thus the extent of the vehicle stunts are little more than watching a NASCAR accident. Beyond Thunderdome was a slight improvement with a train chase scene that at least looked expensive, even if it left me feeling empty. Fury Road has been pumped up with a bloated Hollywood blockbuster budget, which is finally enough money to give this series the scope and scale director George Miller has been trying to accomplish. Unfortunately that doesn't fix the boring characters, threadbare plot, and uninteresting action scenes.

Mad Max himself barely participates in the movie; his role feels tacked on as an afterthought, and Tom Hardy seemed to be half-asleep during his scenes (I don't doubt that he was added in to secure a larger budget because of the franchise appeal). The film is more about Imperator Furiosa, played with varying degrees of disinterest by Charlize Theron.We're supposed to care about her character because she nobly decides to rescue a group of sex slaves, but she doesn't exhibit any likable traits or do anything else of interest. Despite being more of a main character than Max, Furiosa does almost nothing other than drive throughout the film. At least Max has the decency to actually participate in the 3rd act fight scene.

The film's villains are basically recycled from the previous three films. An army of zany-looking guys in souped-up cars that huff spray paint. Yawn. There's an attempt at depth with the villains at least. Apparently they're all cancer-ridden child soldiers, but the movie doesn't spend enough time developing this idea to make it truly interesting. The big baddie, the stupidly-named Immortan Joe, has a cool looking breathing apparatus, at least.

The Mad Max series has always been light on plot, and Fury Road is no exception. The film is more or less an extended chase scene punctuated with the occasional shootout or fistfight. That's not inherently a problem. Plenty of action movies, such as The Raid: Redemption or most Shaw Brothers productions have been able to get by on little more than clunky exposition to link the fight scenes together. The problem is that Fury Road''s action scenes lack the finesse or intensity of a kung-fu movie, or even the over-the-top machismo of Schwarzenegger-type action movies.

American action films are in a sad state. They are choppy, shaky messes full of boring choreography. I feel that too many critics give Fury Road too much slack because we are in an era of action movies that can't be bothered to actually create action. Fury Road at least attempts to make competent action scenes, but still falls into the same trappings of modern action movies. The editing at times in the movie is an atrocious eyesore. During the movie's chase scenes, the frame rate will suddenly drop to a jittery mess. Apparently this is Miller's homage to silent films. Put your homages somewhere more appropriate, please. In an action movie it's distracting and disorienting. There's still a lot of shaky-cam used in the action scenes, which when compounded with the frame rate drops, leaves me reaching for a bottle of Tylenol.

I'll give the film credit; despite the uninteresting plot and characters, at least the designs are interesting this time around. All that money has been put to good use. The cars are all neat to look at, and the army of Quan Chi lookalikes are pretty unique as far as movie villains go. The desert locales are gorgeously shot, too. There are lot of swooping, spectacular wide shots that help to convey the epic grandeur that George Miller has spent three films trying to capture. Fury Road is boring, but at least it's nice to look at.

Perhaps I'm biased. I don't like the Mad Max series, so maybe I'm not the best person to judge the merits of the series' fourth installment. But as a fan of action movies, and just movies in general, I can tell you this movie is not that great. Even compared to its colleagues, Fury Road is only slightly more competent than The Fast and the Furious. I just don't get the hype.