By Kate “One Take Kate” Taylor
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| Image via Mr Leon Taylor |
George Miller has returned to his beloved road warrior universe to bring us a revision of the iconic gasoline fueled action that has cemented his contribution to cult film forever. Mad Max Fury Road is a cinematic experience I truly don’t think you’ll be prepared for. It’s a totally immersive world; one of those films that when you leave the cinema everything in “your world” now looks bizzare and plastic after taking a visual bleaching in red dust vistas and endless barren terrain. I was fortune enough to see Fury Road in stunning 3D IMAX badassery but I’m confident that any cinema experience; of this sure to be instant cult classic, will be worth your time.
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| Dusty epic action, legendary stunt work. Image via |
Fury Road won’t be for everyone mind you; it’s a film of simple themes; with choices of great consequence, made with small gestures that carry great intent. An intricate narrative would only serve to pull audience focus away from the WTF nightmarish reality of the inhabitants of The Citadel and the mind blowing (No really, get prepared…) action and fight sequences you’ll be subjected too. There’s some conversation bandying around the innernets that Fury Road carries a fiercely militant Feminist agenda. I agree. The true definition of a feminist is a person, regardless of their own gender; that strives for the protection and preservation of all life and the efforts to create equality through the ability to live comfortably, healthily and without persecution. Yes, these themes most definitely apply to Fury Road then. But it’s worth noting that in the horrifying reality of the inhabitants of The Citadel and the wastelands that surround it, all genders and peoples are united in their crushing poverty, their equality comes from the fact that they alll have nothing. You’ll be thankful turning on a tap in the bathrooms post watching this flick I can tell you!
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| Wow. Just…wow. Tom Hardy as Max Rockatansky, bringing the brood as only Tom can. Image via |
Against this incredible ever-moving world you need solid anchors to keep us centred on objective. A simmering, precisely measured performance by Tom Hardy as Max Rockatansky is matched amiably by Charlize Theron’s memorable Emperator Furiosa. No cheese, no bullshit tacked on love interest, all grit. A predominantly silent performance from Tom creates a few moments of what
Alfred Hitchcock called Pure Cinema; where the story can advance, histories can be relayed or alliances forged from merely a look across a dusty dashboard. I’m a shameless Tom Hardy supporter (objectifier…) and would watch him burping for 90mins and think it was an amazing piece of cinema; but I can say, without some bias that I believe Tom has created a solid version of Max; with perhaps the possibility of an extension of the role if the franchise continues?
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| Deathly Duo: Tom Hardy as Max Rockatansky and Charlize Theron as Imperiator Furiosa; stomping major ass. Image via |
Joining Tom and Charlize is a huge ensemble of “oooh I know them from” acting talent with perhaps the most transformed being the ever versatile Nicholas Hoult. He’s barely recognisable as one of Miller’s War Boys and has a fantastic, touching character arc. Keep your peepers peeled to spot former WWE wrestler Nathan Jones, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Zoe Kravitz, Megan Gale as well as plenty of Aussie talent keeping that authentic Mad Max Austral-global drawl that his characters screech into the silt soaked wind. Check out a personal favourite of mine and rad spook dude from the Insidious film series; Angus Sampson as the creepy Organic Mechanic. Plus a blazing performance by Australian singer/songwriter iOTA as the equally hilarious and terrifying Doof Warrior. Perhaps in the most cool casting note though; we see Hugh Keays-Byrne return to the George Miller world as Immortan Joe; from his first appearance as villain Toecutter from the original Mad Max (1979).
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| Half the man he used to be: Nicholas Hoult is barely recognisable but delivers a HUGE performance as Nux a destined War Boy. Image via |
It’s real…bloody real; thanks to a greater weighting on physical stunt work versus digital effects (of course there’s some though...) which I could tell from the credits; but also from the roar of appreciation of a small pocket of the audience at the screening I was at. The NZ stunt performer massive must have been in attendance at the premiere screening that evening?!
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| Naarrrghhhhg!!! Australian actor, strongman, power lifting champ and former WWE wrestler Nathan Jones is one of many exciting ensemble or cameo performances in Mad Max Fury Road. Image via |
Breathtakingly beautiful in it’s ugly, disgusting horrors this is one for the ages. Don’t download it and whinge about it being boring on your tiny wee screen…get off your butt and make the effort to become enraptured by this stunner in a theatre setting…the bigger the screen the better.
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| If you’re impressed when watching the exhilarating action in Mad Max Fury Road then it’s a good chance it was created by a stunt person. Awesome effort! Image via |
How do you feel about Mad Max? Open to checking it out or are you staunchly denying this revision?
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| Shall we just objectify Tom one more time? Yeah…alright. Lookit at the brood. Gosh. Image via |
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