Mad Max: Fury Road (8/10)

by Tony Medley

Runtime 120 minutes.

Not for children.

A more peripatetic, high octane, testosterone-fueled chase film you will rarely see. Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) is trying to escape from a Citadel run by a warlord who has enslaved seemingly thousands by his domination of the source of water. Max Rockatansky, aka Mad Max (Tom Hardy)  has decided to go it alone in the dreary, dry, deserty post-apocalyptic world in which he finds himself, but he gets captured and then involved with Furiosa’s escape. The result is a well-directed (George Miller, who also shares a script credit with Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris) heart-pouding chase across the bleak landscape, made even more intense by the powerful music (Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL) which keeps the pace extremely high.

Other than money, I have no idea why good actors like Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy would sign up for this CGI-inundated, special effects extravaganza, but they did. Like the other films of this ilk, there’s no acting to speak of, so little dialogue that the script must be the size of a comic book.

But it’s got action, I’ll give you that. Charlize and Tom (Max) spend the entire film being chased by the bad guys. In accordance with the protocol, it’s filled with ridiculous fights, car crashes galore, things blowing up, stunts that ignore the laws of physics, etc., etc., etc., all of which defy logic and common sense. But the action is so intense and constant that credibility is irrelevant.

I guess the good thing is that I never got sleepy. Its desolate location is a downer, and there’s not an iota of humor. While it’s very exciting, the prospect of the characters’ future is so dismal that if you think about it, it’s also pretty depressing. So don’t think about it. If you want entertainment from a film that won’t keep you looking at your watch, you could do a lot worse than this.