REVIEW: “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015)

WRITER'S NOTE: A shorter version of this review was posted on my Instagram page @be.kerian on March 18, 2024. 

It had been thirty years since we last saw a Mad Max movie on the big screen, and seventeen since franchise co-creator George Miller directed a live-action feature. The question was, would audiences today be interested in seeing a new installment/iteration of this post-apocalyptic series that launched the career of original star Mel Gibson? 

Mad Max: Fury Road was said to have been one of the most difficult shoots in Hollywood history. Production was delayed several times due to budget concerns, location scouting, logistics, and safety. Filming lasted for over six months in the country of Namibia, with grueling weather conditions that ranged from scorching hot (during the day) to freezing cold (at night). And lead actors Tom Hardy (taking up the mantle this time as the wandering Max Rockatansky) and Charlize Theron (as the fearless and determined Imperator Furiosa) didn’t get along. To make matters worse, executives at Warner Bros. were skeptical—and dismayed—by early test footage. 

With that in mind, a better question was if this new Mad Max would actually be any good. As recounted in author Kyle Buchanan’s 2022 book, “Blood, Sweat & Chrome” (an in-depth and eye-opening oral history of the making of the film), Miller described the genesis of his years-in-the-making project this way: 

I was in Los Angeles, crossing the street, and this very simple idea popped in my head. What if there was a Mad Max movie that was one long chase, and the MacGuffin was human? Can you tell an entire story on the run, and how much of the backstory can you pick up on the way? The essential task was to see how rich the story could be while it’s on the road.

Miller added, 

In one way, it was surprisingly restricted: When you think about it, most of the key characters are sitting in the same spot all the time, and those vehicles are hurtling through the wasteland in some form of chase or race. Those sorts of restrictions are stylistically interesting as a filmmaker but also, it’s a very seductive world to work in because of the allegories. It’s all there for you.

So, is Fury Road any good? The answer: a phenomenal yes. Essentially a two-hour car chase (as Miller described), Fury Road pulls off the challenging feat of sustaining a narrative that’s in constant movement. (That's why they're called "moving pictures," right?) To describe the experience of watching it is like getting a (pardon the expression) humongous shot of adrenaline in your chest and going full-throttle. 

Originally written on storyboards (the filmmakers also seriously considered shooting in native 3-D), every character, vehicle design, and prop has a specific and unique function and history, not to mention real substance. As they did with The Road Warrior, the crew creatively took scraps and pieces of junk, and made them into works of art. Reportedly, 90 percent of the action and stunts (meticulously and expertly planned out) on screen were done practically, with post-production visual effects that removed safety wires, and added massive sandstorms and other compositing. (The same went for nighttime scenes, shot during the day but changed to a blue haze for the final movie.) And wait until you see the flame-throwing guitar and polecats! (I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like that in movies before.) 

Yet, for all of its heart-pounding spectacle, the story (written by Miller, Brendan McCarthy, and dramaturgist Nico Lathouris) is rather simple and linear. Hardy's Max (haunted by memories and visions) may be the title character, but he really plays passenger while Theron's Furiosa is in the driver's seat, as she leads a dangerous trek to free a group of women from a violent warlord (the infamous and intimidating Immortan Joe, played by Hugh Keays-Burne) and to a Garden of Eden of sorts.

The film is so exhilarating and jaw-dropping that we’re more invested in the story, characters, and genuine stakes, rather than the behind-the-scenes drama. (Hardy and Theron reportedly resolved their differences near the end of production and have since apologized, especially after seeing the finished product.) Still, I don't know what's more amazing: the amount of effort and layers put into the making of this film, or that every single person who worked on it survived. It's a unique and incredible story of tenacity, persistence, integrity, and survival against overwhelming odds. Buchanan, perhaps, summed it up best, 

We go to the movies to be transported, and Fury Road takes us to the outer reaches of our imaginations . . . But the epic journey of [getting the film made] proved even more meaningful for the people who made it. What they had all accomplished by the skin of their teeth was a very rare thing indeed. (pp. 324) 

I would argue that Fury Road has more craft and substance than most action movies put together. Many contemporary filmmakers, like Guillermo del Toro and Bong Joon-Ho have declared it as one of the greatest films they’ve ever seen. Executive producer Iain Smith called it “a victory of filmmaking over studio expediency” (read Buchanan's book, pp. 290). Unlike, say, Apocalypse Now (which also had a tremendously difficult production, and a very depressing narrative), Fury Road is a film I could watch again and again, because it’s greater than the sum of its parts. (Which is not to take the otherwise complicated behind-the-scenes stories, nor the film’s violent nature, lightly or passively.) It's also a rare movie of its kind to get the recognition it did at the Academy Awards, maybe the first since The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King the previous decade. (Fury Road won six of its ten nominations, the most awarded to an Australian film to date.) Both were game-changing juggernauts on so many levels. Plus, a black-and-white "chrome" edition of Fury Road (which Miller himself favored more) was released in 2016, with its own unique and dynamic results. 

But it’s not a film for everybody, especially the squeamish. Because it's a two-hour chase, the action sequences are relentless, wild, and gonzo. They're the primary reason for the film's R-rating, with a high body count, a few sad deaths, and one particularly graphic moment. The subject matter is heavy, with references to sex slavery (the Five Wives wear revealing garbs for most of the story), human sacrifice (blood is a visual metaphor for life-stealing--hence, the "blood bags"--but also for life-giving), and suicidal fanatics (although, the pale-bodied Nux, played by Nicholas Hoult, does have a redemptive arc). 

For everyone else, they may find a lot of mythological and theological elements under the hood. There are themes of environmentalism and some biblical parallels (the aforementioned "Green Place" a.k.a. this story's Garden of Eden). Other themes include feminism, standing against those who abuse power (i.e., political, sexual, physical, spiritual), taking back what was stolen, facing the harsh realities of the world (“Out here, everything hurts”), and looking/fighting for hope and redemption—not just for the central characters, but also for a community or more. Just be sure to strap in.