Mad Max: Fury Roadby Wolfen MoondaughterReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Studio
Credits Grade: 8 In a post-apocalyptic, largely desert world where water and fuel are the big commodities lies an oasis of sorts. There, the leader, Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), keeps the people subservient via tight control of the water supply. He also keeps a harem of women as brood mares, and considers his children to be his property. The elite members of society are deformed -- by genetics or illness (either probably involving radiation), and self-mutilation. The warrior caste are convinced that dying for their leader will see them go to Valhalla. Max (Tom Hardy) is captured and made to serve as a "blood-bag" for Nux (Nicholas Hoult), a young warrior. When an Imperator, Furiosa (Charlize Theron), betrays Joe by smuggling his harem out of the community, Max and Nux find themselves along for the ride.And it's quite a ride -- most of the two hours is basically a car chase! It's gripping, to be sure, and very impressively shot in the sense of cinematography, choreography, and special effects alike. I appreciate that there isn't a lot of gore. If you're like me, though with a phobia of automobiles, it may prove exhausting. I don't do to well with guns, either, so basically I spent the whole movie thinking about how dangerous the stunts were. I also had a problem with the sound -- I frequently found myself having to plug an ear, it was so painfully harsh between the music and the motors, and yet I had a lot of trouble making out the dialogue, especially in the beginning. Add in all the quick movements, all there was to take in visually, and the film was sensory overload for me. I didn't truly start getting into it until halfway through, when there was a break in the chase and they got some downtime, and we really started to get to know the good guys. The protagonists, on the whole, were great, especially Furiosa -- a brave, capable, disabled heroine whose story doesn't focus on her disability? Awesome! And the story passes the Bechdel test -- also awesome! The harem girls fight and die to protect each other, don't just sit passively and hope to be rescued -- yay! And there are some super bad-ass elder women. Max transforms from practically an egocentric animal to allowing himself to care for others again -- that was nice to see. And (mild spoiler -- skip to the next paragraph if you want to avoid it) Nux undergoes a beautiful-to-watch transformation from cult member to his own person -- I know as a feminist I should love Furiosa best, but while I do love her, Nux is actually my fave character of the film by far. We get a really solid sense of who all these people are emotionally -- and it's done through action more than words. It's impressive. It frustrated me, though, that we didn't really get to know about their lives, except, to some degree (but still not enough to satisfy me). The harem girls were nameless to me -- if we were told any names, I didn't hear them. Whenever we did get a detail, it left me hungry for more -- the movie was like one big tease. The villains were all one-note, and it bothered me that deformity seemed to equal evil, for the most part. I felt quite uncomfortable with seeing the only dwarf character put on in-your-face display as one of the most grotesque beings. Yes, Furiousa, a good guy, was an amputee, but she was, we know, once a member of the evil elite, one who came to seek redemption, just as Nux, a guy with tumors and scars who started out a bad guy, eventually did. At least the deformities weren't "othering," I guess, since they were in charge instead of ostracized. Spoiler time. I wasn't thrilled with Nux's fate. I get him dying for something worthwhile rather than for his boss, and that he was going to die anyway, but I really wanted him to be able to embrace life and freedom for a while, as the true antithesis of what he'd been brainwashed to be. Well, at least he got what he wanted, I guess. I loved the scene where the red-headed girl reached out to him with compassion, despite all that he'd done, and his awed reaction -- I'm betting no one had ever treated him with kindness before. The moment perfectly embodies the philosophy of the transformative powers of kindness and love, how the world might become a better place with it. It was wonderful seeing how Nux was eager to please her and his new companions then, understanding how they were better than his old leader. Max frustrated me for a while (although I like Hardy better than his predecessor in the role, Mel Gibson). He had to know that the women were trying to escape the same people that he was trying to escape -- the same people who were still following the vehicle he wanted to escape in -- and yet he still holds them at gunpoint? Women who were barely clothed and, at that point, unarmed -- half literally, in Furiosa's case? And he leaves them stranded? I get that he's in full-on survival mode, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend! To me, it felt forced for the sake of drama. Also, if he's so devastated by his losses, why is he striving so hard to survive? Why doesn't he immediately see helping these girls as a means of atonement, and not see abandoning them as another failure? I wasn't thrilled about him leaving at the end, either. Abandoning food and shelter for the desert? Dude, where the hell are you going to go? What are you looking for? You earned a place with these people, and they could probably use help establishing a new government. Are you leaving to go die? I get that he can't stay if they do another film, but I'd rather see him leave the oasis on a mission in the next one (preferably with Furiosa), risking giving up his new life, rather than ending this film with some pointless, even illogical, lone-wolf cliché. Oh, well. I did love that he went from someone who had life taken from him -- by Nux taking his blood -- to someone who gave it, again by way of his blood, to Furiosa. I love how he went from hating everyone, not caring about anyone, to being desperate to save her. And I loved her using him to steady the rifle, and him being totally cool with it (even though I fully expected him to get hit in the face with it, maybe even burned). It reminded me of the scene where Bard used his son's shoulder to aim the giant arrow in The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, and gave me similar feels. If the story is in the journey, not the destination, then this was quite a trip! I'm glad I went on it once, especially in 3D, even if it's a journey I probably wouldn't be able to handle again. Written: May 24, 2015
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