Just got back.
I don't think I've enjoyed a movie in its totality like this in years.
It really is Mad Max, dialed up to 12, with a more obvious political message than the Road Warrior or Thunderdome.
As my friend said "This movie is not about women's lib. But it IS an all out assault on patriarchy."
So much of this movie was smart from a story telling perspective. The lack of exposition, letting the world explain itself. The build up to unleashing Max, the little homages to the 2nd and possibly 3rd movies. Enough humor without getting stupid about it to keep the movie from getting totally overwrought. Glorifying its own brand of excess shamelessly and unselfconsciously. The hundreds of little details, from the engine diagram scarification of the war boys, to the psuedo religion of Immortal Joe, the different little factions, to the smiley faces on the War Boy's tumors.
And the cars. I about lost it when I saw the muscle car chassis and body mounted on tank tracks. To whoever looked at those VW Bugs and said "MORE FUCKING SPIKES!", thank you.
Props for the action too. These days, what happens in action movies goes by pretty quick. Jump cuts keep things feeling edgy but often go too far, where things become a blur and I ask myself often "What did I just see?" Not this movie. The action and choreography, the choice of angles, it was all really well-executed and clean. Tons of practical effects and stunt work. The CGI was as good as anything I've seen, although a few bits meant to blend in did stand out to me. For some reason Guitar Guy was really noticeable when he was done in CGI, but I expect that's because in 3D he's meant to stand out, so the corresponding 2D CGI is pretty noticeable when it's used. Other similar 3D shots did stand out pretty bad, but they were minor overall.
I really can't say enough good things about it. It's an action movie with real character, and a message I think you can get on board with because it doesn't brow beat you into accepting it. (Depends on how you view the bad guys. I like that they bought into their own mythology, and they were kinda iconic. But I could see where someone would take a different interpretation on characters designed to be hated.) I liked Charlize Theron although I think a lot of her in this movie is looking moist-eyed and desperately determined. I would have liked to have learned a little more about her character by the end.
I think I actually like this Mad Max more than Mel Gibson's. He plays an anti-social, borderline crazy person in a believable yet enjoyable way. I found his grunts and crappy communication skills kind of endearing before he sort of normalizes midway through the movie into you average hero. Still though, I think it's his lack of smarmy Mel Gibson charm, replaced by furtive silence, that made me like the character.
The two main heroes of the story seem like they have the least lines out of everyone, but they're still the bedrock of the plot, quietly being who they are when they need to be, as opposed to a lot of fantasy/sci-fi movies where the main characters are so in your face as the center of the plot that you feel smothered by them. I think this was an example for me where less can be more. It also left room for a lot more of the cast to shine. If I have one complaint about the characters, it's that Good War Boy does an about face pretty quickly. But I guess he's young and impressionable and that red head was pretty hot.
It's good enough and there were so many details to take in, it's one of those movies I'd be willing to go back to the theater to see.
I think my favorite part was the dust storm. Lots of CGI goes to extremes to be epic and somehow loses you on the way. But the simple yet beautifully rendered mega-storm, clouds arcing up into the stratosphere, hooked me the minute I saw it. That's when I was like "Ok, I buy into this world."
One last minor gripe, is some scene transitions. Dropping to utter silence and a black screen for 4 seconds to punctuate the end to the chaos and cacophony once or twice is good. But it got used what felt like a lot more than that, and it was so quiet in the theater I could hear a pin drop. It was almost awkward, or maybe that's just my brain suddenly deprived of mayhem and the utterly over the top soundtrack. I could talk in my friend's ear and his in mine when the action was going, only to have stop dead mid-sentence or end up being the loudest thing in the theater.
This is movie is so fucking Warhammer 40,000, I adored it. Part of me hopes we get to see more offerings in this world, but another part of me thinks George Miller might to be too smart to try and one up himself. Also, getting this movie made was hell.
I don't know if this is a movie for the ages, but I think it's one I'll cherish for just being itself to the hilt, and understanding what makes a post-apocalyptic action movie work.
There's also the angle that Furiosa strongly contrasts with the rest of the female characters, by being a grungy butch woman she's essentially treated with the respect of a man by way of looking and acting like one, but I haven't heard anybody discussing that angle except myself.
Two points:
1. Not all women are slaves of Immortal Joe. Only the prettiest of them. I do agree though there are zero tangible examples of other respected women in that society except Furiosa, and since they never tell you why she's so bad ass, they just ask you to accept it, it does seem a tad forced.
2. Youth has been a constant theme since Road Warrior and I think it continues here. The fact you have what you can call stereotypical pretty, scantily clad young women as bait, contrasted to Furiosa, I think still hinges on the fact most of those girls are probably mean to be 18 or younger. I think what gives Furiosa her edge is that she's older. That's sort of reinforced by the Vuvalina.
I guess one thing that surprises me is that there are almost no children to be seen other than the War Pups. No scrappy little kid character. Maybe it was too much to put a kid in the middle of all that, or maybe they didn't feel it was appropriate for theme. (The kids in the other movies were often comic relief.)
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Topic: Mad Max: Fury Road [SPOILERS] (Read 11469 times)