C.J. Foxx Movie House Reviews #9: Mad Max: Fury Road

“What a lovely day!”

The Road Warrior is one of my favorite films. That movie is the origin of the post apocalyptic world that has been copied repeatedly. One of my favorite anime series, Fist of the North Star, uses this exact style environment and the lead character Kenshiro is basically dressed as Max Rockatansky.

Fury Road is chock full of strange imagery and a story told at 120 mph. The movie kicks

off with Max in his legendary V8 Interceptor being chased down and eventually taken down by the War Boys. After being dragged to their home and a failed escape attempt, he is locked up and chained to serve as a blood bag for a war boy named Nux who you may recognize as Nicholas Hoult, Beast from the X-men or Jennifer Lawrence’s two-time ex-boyfriend.

The leader of the War Boys, Immortan Joe does his best Dr. Proto impersonation as the sermon on the mount. He is the overlord of the Citadel a safe-haven where the Immortan Joe and his bizarre family rule with an iron fist. They have control over a seemingly endless supply of water, which he warns the citizens below not to become addicted to. One thing they don’t have is fuel which they get on supply runs from a neighboring faction. The leader of the supply crew is Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) She and her group of War Boys leave the city towards Gas Town.

About halfway there she take a turn into the desert, which is spotted by Immortan Joe’s lookout. Immortan goes to his coven which is locked by a bank safe and realizes his brides are gone and he sends all of his War Boys after her. Nux joins the chase strapping Max to the front of his vehicle ala the Lord Humungus hostages. The rest of the movie is one long chase scene with brief interludes of character development and storytelling.

The intial premise is simple but there are layers of madness displayed in the characters forced to live in the wasteland. Max is haunted by the death of his family his inability to protect them and is always seeing images of his daughter. Every character is broken in one way or another.

Ok let’s be honest, most people are going to see this movie for the driving and Fury Road didn’t disappoint. It’s is jaw-dropping to see a film limit the usage of CGI. They kept things as authentic as possible and it shows. These sequences are on par with the Road Warrior and the volume of them is insane. You can really see where the budget went. The pole bit was the best.

On the downside the story is told at such a pace that it is hard to figure out what exactly is going on when it’s happening. This is problematic in the beginning of the film and it’s not until at least an hour in before you have any real idea why any of these characters are doing what they are doing. There are elements you just have to pick up on the fly and go with and there is some unusual behavior going on.

Fury Road is a fun watch, not quite up to snuff with the Road Warrior but a solid picture nonetheless. It’s well acted although, Tom Hardy used his “Bane” voice half the time which was weird considering that he's not the villain. Charlize Theron played the tough as nails Furiosa like a champ. Nicholas Hoult got to use his actual accent for a change which was lovely. I love it when actors and actresses get to use their native accents, instead of trying to be “American.” Hugh Keays-Byrne used his piercing eyes to strike fear as the Immortan Joe. He was also the menacing Toecutter in the original Mad Max, which is worth the watch.

I give Fury Road 7 out of 10 exploding lances.

Agree? Disagree? Post a comment below

C.J. Foxx 

Author of Super-Hero Bowl VI
@CJFoxxAuthor on Twitter
C.J. Foxx Like us on Facebook