1047. Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road
2015
Directed by George Miller

So this is another film I've been avoiding for quite some time. For one thing, I wasn't impressed by the original Mad Max and wasn't interested in watching an updated version with a creepy Dune aesthetic. It seemed like it was going to be hypermasculine garbage and I get enough of that in real life.

After a nuclear holocaust, the world is a desert wasteland run by Immortan Joe, a war lord who has multiple wives and an army of skinheads at his command. Max Rockatansky is captured and used as a blood bag for one of Joe's war boys. Gross. Anyway, Imperator Furiosa, one of Joe's lieutenants is sent on a mission to get gasoline. Unbeknownst to Joe, Furiosa has smuggled five of his wives out of the citadel and is taking them to the "Green Place" that she remembers from her childhood. Joe leads his entire army to chase them.

Car chases, minimum dialogue, and an insane amount of jump cuts...I knew right off the bat that this movie wasn't for me. I was actually surprised by the message of the movie; how it presented femininity as the antidote to toxic masculinity. Men destroy earth, women save it. It wasn't the most subtle or sophisticated message, but that's never really what the Mad Max series was aiming for.

Overall, not my cup of tea, but I didn't spit it out. Like I do with normal tea (sorry all my British readers).

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

George Miller and Charlize Theron reportedly did not get along with Tom Hardy during filming.

Body count of 110.

657. Mad Max

Mad Max
1979
Directed by George Miller

I think Charlize Theron's Mad Max may be what people think of when they hear the title of this film.  I haven't seen the remake or sequel or whatever it is supposed to be and if it is anything like this, I have no desire to.

Mel Gibson plays Max, an officer in dystopian Australia's highway patrol.  His job is track down gang members that are terrorizing people.  Eventually he tires of spending all his working hours killing people and decides to spend more time with his family killing people.

I suppose this is the kind of dose of testosterone that men may enjoy.  Heavy violence, car chases, Mel Gibson in leather.  Of course, there is no male equivalent for the word "chick flick" since society doesn't feel the need to belittle genres men enjoy.  In any case, as far as revenge cases go, this was rather half assed.  Definitely missable.

RATING: *----

Interesting Facts:

Toe Cutter's performance was based on the actor's research on the behavior of Genghis Khan.