Mad Max Fury Road is a 2015 film from George
Miller, a man with a film career so eclectic, chances are, there’s at least one film you
won’t believe he directed. He directed: Lorenzo’s Oil, Part 4 of Twilight
Zone The Movie, The Witches of Eastwick, Babe: Pig in the City, yeah, just the second one,
Happy Feet, and not content with just one spin around that carousel, Happy Feet 2. What’s funny about the list is the moment
you realize how good everything he’s ever directed is. I mean he turned a movie about a pig winning
a contest into a commentary on an ever-disappearing American middle class. Or that Happy Feet is a film that teaches
kids that racism makes penguins sad and critical thought is imperative to surviving in a world
where religion exists. Yeah, it’s a film about atheism and it’s
BABY BOK CHOICE. But Mikey, what more is there to be said about
Mad Max? Surely the never-ending carnival of think-pieces
have said everything there is to be said about this film. Surely all thoughts about this film’s thematic
stances on female objectification, slavery, religious idolatry and indoctrination, post
traumatic stress disorder, and Tom Hardy’s pursed, scowling maw have been exhausted. His dreamy, vulnerable, not-here-to-talk-just-here-to-listen
scowling maw. Well, for starters, the one thing nobody pointed
out was BUT IF YOU LIKE CAUSING TROUBLE UP IN HOTEL ROOMS. Come on, you knew the was coming back. The irony of using a boy band song ostensibly
about manufactured ideals of masculinity juxtaposed against the story of numerous men being emasculated
by their own ideals of a male-centric worldview. You know, and murder. Yeah, maybe I wasn’t just playing a “stupid
song.” Keep up, I move fast. But what more is there to say about this film
that hasn’t been said? Let’s find out. Surely everyone has heard this film called
a “visual story” or something to that effect before. There’s certainly a lot of truth to it. Originally conceived as a visual script, composed
entirely of storyboards and minimal dialog, this film is the very definition of visual
spectacle. I’m sure, in some form or another, you’ve
heard about Miller’s use of center-center frame to ensure that fast edits could be employed
without the audience losing track of the action because their eyes aren’t getting tired
darting all over the screen. Think of it like the craziest Wes Anderson
movie of all time. AMAZING WES ANDERSON VERSION. Everything happens in the center so that Miller
has carte blanche to do whatever the hell he wants without the audience getting confused
or growing irritable like your bowels after you went back for thirds on those ice-cold
Rico’s cheese nachos you keep throwing under your seat at the theater. GOT EM – Watch ya back, RICO’S
What’s most fascinating about this film, at least to me, is how unpossible it is that
it even exists. The last Mad Max film, Beyond Thunderdome,
came out in 1985, meaning that 30 years have passed between sequels. And what’s markedly cooler about that fact
is that this movies goes out of its way to feel like it was made in the 80s. This is obviously betrayed by the fact it
gives us a mix of traditional and cg fx that mix together to create an absolutely BUTT
SHIT INSANE number of the the greatest shots of all time tm. This movie is so 80s, it’s actually ridiculous. Look at all the cars, the makes the models,
mostly 60s and 70s, which were the exact same kinds of cars that the series used the first
time around. The sped up footage to create a stylistic
effect on a lot of the fight scenes. Immorten Joe looks like he walked out a Roger
Corman film about mutant demon people that live in the sewer called “Tunnel Bangers”. Practically every group of people in the film
has a reason to be fatalistic, like the War Boys believing that their death will grant
them a second life in Valhalla. So every time they’re on screen, they’re
pretty much whatever crazy thing they can do to die. This isn’t an accident, I think Miller needed
a reason. Um. This guy. Monster Trucks
The title treatment is like something Poison would have been, yo, could you tone it down? As a film short on dialog and even plot, I
continue to find new depths to which this movie goes to structure something. Like the death of Splendid, which basically
ensures that they don’t fail their mission, almost doesn’t happen. Only because Splendid cannot load the gun,
and it is taken away, making her feel like she doesn’t contribute to the group, which
I may add is accomplished only by the look on her face. She, staring at the window to collect herself,
sees that Joe is about to shoot Furiosa, she jumps in front of the bullet, knowing Joe
won’t shoot. A moment later, as she dodges the rock, she
still falls off the door and goes under the wheels. But because Joe has a feeling that one time,
he kills at least one person, destroys his car, and greatly injures himself, all to to
try and save a person they all know is dead. But that’s really the only reason they escape
because it’s the only thing that could actually stop Joe with the tools they had. If anything in that entire sequence had changed,
it’s reasonable to believe that none of them would be alive. Which is a highwire act of a way to construct
your film, which couple with the pacing straight out of Nascar race, makes Fury Road a singular
experience, unlike anything else released in … ever. Think of the pacing this way. The film basically starts in the second act. There’s no reluctant hero, there’s no
call to action, there’s no real set up of any kind. Max is just pisses on a cliff, eating a lizard,
like you do, and then it’s like OKAY ACT TWO. Same with Furiosa. There’s no scene where the movie has to
sell to us that the Wives are mistreated by Joe (thank god,) the decision to risk life
and limb to help their escape is already made. We see her eyes and it’s like, yeah, that’s
enough act one for me, let’s do dis. It’s life blood may be that of an 80s movie,
but it’s execution is as modern as anything made recently. Think of Fury Road like it’s the greatest
Michael Bay movie ever made. It’s not a stretch. It’s pretty much entirely action, it’s
color palette and contrast somehow manage to push beyond even TRANSFORMERS. Teal and orange teal and orange teal and orange. Max is, by virtue of his capture, a blood
bag. But he’s also a scavenger, knowing what
kinds of things he won’t come across all that often. So he fastens his blood tube to his shirt,
which comes in really handy to save furiosa’s life because, wouldn’t you know it, they
also set him up as a universal donor. Pay attention to everything. Every little detail in this movie gets reincorporated. Here’s a few other things. Max loses his shoe in the first fight, steals
Nux’s off screen after the second one. Later, when Max murder a gaggle of people
off screen, he returns with a shoe for Nux because he cares about his buddy’s toes
getting cold. Nice guys finish first. The scene where Max plays find the gun with
Furiosa sets up every single gun and ammo cache used over the rest of the film. The moment Furiosa decides she needs to trust
Max, is the moment she asks for his name. Only at the end of their journey, does he
give it to her. At this point, he finally trusts her. HE HAS TRUST ISSUES OKAY
Black and white. Maybe it isn’t about that. Maybe it’s about systematically breaking
something down to gaze in stunned awe at the breathtaking craftsmanship on display in so
many areas. Because, maybe, this is a film chiefly about
one thing. Sure, it’s definitely about five women fighting
the patriarchy that has enslaved them, aided in their journey by Max, a sixth team member,
who despite being the title character, is not the person in charge, because it isn’t
about giving the orders, it’s about how far you’re willing to go to fight injustice. Heeeey, that has cultural ramifications now. He never says this is what we’re going to
do, he offers ideas and allows Furiosa to make the calls, because this is her fight,
not his. But it goes deeper than that because it exposed
that the people screaming the values of their patriarchy under the pretenses of false gods
are actually entirely full of shit. The irony of a boycott claiming that a movie
where Max haphazardly runs into a group of women and just goes along for the ride isn’t
a real Max Max movie, is really nothing more than proof that the very people boycotting
the film have never actually seen a Mad Max movie, or even worse, they fundamentally didn’t
understand that it’s exactly what happens in a Mad Max movie. Because in a lot of ways, Max has more agency
than he ever has before. Hell, this is the first film he actually got
to his own voice over. Or did you forget it was Feral Kid in the
Road Warrior? Max is a tragic figure. He lost a wife and a child to the violence
that has permeated his entire life. So the entire birth of his character was about
fighting injustice in a world that has no reason not to be cruel because it is no longer
propped up on the amenities of a civilized society. Since his beginning, Max has been about trying
to prevent the very thing that created him from happening to any one else. I mean, Jesus Christ, it isn’t about which
one of them fights better, or who contributes the most. It’s about why working together and understanding
are the only things allowing us to retain our humanity in the apocalypse – which we
are almost surely heading toward. The very criticisms against this film are
a fundamental misunderstanding about what any of George Miller’s films are actually
about. It’s almost comical at this point that the
opposition in this film is a repugnant liar toting the virtues of subjugating females
into archaic gender roles and sending the “War Boys” after anyone that doesn’t
agree. Surely, we are all capable of at least some
self-awareness. And it’s perfectly rational to find that
message preachy, especially if you find yourself in opposition to it. But if you are a male I would ask that you
attempt to reason out what this film actually is and what it means for yourself, not to
be lured in by the propaganda of others Just be like Nux. He questioned his role in all of this and
realized he was helping to prop up a wholly corrupt system. That a character named Capable proved to Nux
with finality that women are in fact capable, a fact he was earnestly was not aware of,
shows you how far this movie is willing to go to break things down into easily digestible
pieces. Unless, that is, you simply refuse to eat
it because symbolism is gross and I don’t like movies that make me feel things and question
my own belief system. Then, my friend, I’m afraid you don’t
like movies because the second we don’t allow our art to challenge us and our beliefs,
is the moment we cease to be human. Unlike practically every film ever made, instead
of putting it at the front, Miller chose to put his quote at the end, punctuating all
that came before it. ‘Where must we go, we who wander the Wasteland
in search of our better selves?” Which better selves do you think he is referring? To punctuate the punctuation, the quote is
in black and white, because there are not two sides to this argument. And then we become more like Immortan Joe,
an inhuman ghost man with an octopus face. So maybe the one thing that this film is about
… is being a good ally. Because, sometimes, it isn’t our fight. And sometimes, we need to give too much of
ourselves for no other reason than to stand up with those that need us to. And that’s harder when you know it’s a
losing fight. Because you’re hanging by a thread, and
people are stabbing you in the back, and you can’t keep everything together. You fight. Because there’s a better world on the other side of it.
