Writer: Naseem Randhawa

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Watch this if you liked: "Mad Max" movies, "The Blade Runner", "12 Monkeys"

The Good, The Bad and The Madness:

"Mad Max" is utter chaos bundled into a tightly packed two hours of Max Rockatansky's life. There has not been a post-apocalyptic film quite like this which gets one feeling queasy just looking at the colossal amount of sheer destruction, violent barbarism and also, it's all really, really loud! Now, this isn't a bad thing if you're looking for a hyper-charged action film that's truly devoted to give you your money's worth from start to finish.

Returning 30 years later to tell the "Mad Max" story, George Miller really outdoes himself this time making the wait justified for eager "Mad Max" fans especially since a new actor has taken the lead.

Hardly any time is wasted on character's backstories, especially with Max Rockatansky played by British actor Tom Hardy. Audiences are expected to take a leap of faith and follow Hardy right into the action based on what they already know from the past three movies starring Mel Gibson as Mad Max. However, Miller has made the movie in such a way - that with its less dialogue, more explosions style - all we have to know is who are the good guys and the bad, as they navigate themselves throughout the course of this very simple story. Charlize Theron plays one of the good guys, Furiosa, who along with Hardy, want to take their precious cargo from Point A to Point B, however, they are chased by the bad guys led by the barbarian fascist Immortan Joe and the whole movie is basically just this ruthless cat and mouse chase set in the Wastelands.

With not much to go on where the characters are concerned (due to the lack of backstories, dialogues and monologues), the movie's stylized visual of orange hues for the daytime and blue for the night time is quite the visual spread, the action sequences which are shot at a noticeably higher frame rate makes this a visual feast instead! Where most directors would shy away from focusing on the tough action sequences, giving audiences a blur of movement that hardly registers, here Miller gives one an eyeful of intricately and masterfully shot action sequences that are raw, gritty and so detailed, that you can blink and you still won't miss exactly how Hardy managed to land a punch and then swings from one vehicle to the other.

There are plenty of "Mad Max" references from the past movies that would surely not be missed by fans of the franchise, and if this is your first "Mad Max" movie, then you're set for a maniacal, fast paced non-stop action feature, that will make you feel as if you just crawled out of the Wastelands yourself.

Trivia:

George Miller claims that only 10% of the action scenes in the movie are aided by visual effects. A large part of the action scenes were all real and planned with detailed storyboards.


Cinema Online, 13 May 2015