Mad Max: Furiosa Road
This movie.
…I mean, holy shit. THIS MOVIE.
Let me back up. I haven’t seen any of the Mel Gibson Mad Max movies. Never got around to it. Further, I hadn’t planned on watching Mad Max: Fury Road. (Editor’s Note: We will correct this next time Tim is in Seattle for a Dorkadia staff meeting!) Not for any grand reason; I just don’t get out to the theater to see new movies that often. It’s why most of my reviews are of the “way too late” kind. That I’ve seen three movies on the big screen over the past two months is something of a recent personal record.
But then the Mens’ Rights Activists (MRAs) decided to hate on Fury Road. Which, as a perfect example of the Streisand Effect, made me want to go see it. Before Fury Road was released, MRAs saw the trailer and threatened to boycott the movie, because (they claim) Charlize Theron’s character Furiosa was acting far above her station but really (I say) because MRAs are thin-skinned and can’t bear to watch a trailer where a women speaks without having conniption fits.
(Author’s Note: The above link directs to We Hunted the Mammoth, a blog mocking online misogyny, which first reported the story. I won’t link to the original blog post, which is dumb and poorly edited.)
MRAs felt that because the movie featured an appropriately dressed ass-kicking strong female character, the movie deserved not to be seen. To which I reply: the reasons MRAs hate Fury Road are all the reasons I loved it. While the world was clamoring for a Black Widow solo movie director George Miller dropped Fury Road on us like a bomb. Theron’s Imperator Furiosa is an amazing character who holds her own against other ground-breaking female roles, such as Ripley, Janeway, and Sarah Conner.
Released 30 years after Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, but set in the same contemporary time, Fury Road picks up the story of Mad Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy). Trying to survive in the wastes after the deaths of his wife and daughter, Max is caught by the disciples of Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and taken to the Citadel, where he serves as a living blood bag to Nux (Nicholas Hoult), one of Immortan Joe’s War Boys. When Imperator Furiosa (Theron) makes off with Immortan Joe’s five wives, Joe orders the War Boys after her. While Nux initially hunts Furiosa (with a chained Mad Max strapped to the hood of his car), Max and Nux end up helping Furiosa in her quest to get the wives to safety, out of the grasp of Immortan Joe.
Right away, Fury Road feels different from your average summer blockbuster. For one thing, the cars are real, which means the explosions are too. The cast spent six months shooting Fury Road in the Namibia desert and the director’s preference for practical effects over CGI give Fury Road a welcome grittiness. (Speaking of practical effects, that flamethrower guitar is real and I want one.)
Junkie XL’s soundtrack keeps pace with the action, never letting up or allowing the audience to catch a breath. The dialogue is sparse, which is typical for blockbusters that favor explosions over exposition. But what’s amazing here is how fully realized all the characters are. Fury Road spent years in development hell, which, like Back to the Future before it, worked in the script’s favor. George Miller had the time to pare down his script to something lean and mean, and develops all of his characters through flashbacks, costume design, and yes, even through dialogue.
It’s this character development that the naysayers seemed to have a particular problem with. One point in particular is how director Miller hired the creator of The Vagina Monologues as a consultant, to work with the actresses who played Immortan Joe’s wives. So what? Speaking on behalf of my gender, this doesn’t threaten my masculinity. Part of the wonder of Fury Road is how logical it is (for an over-the-top summer blockbuster). Having someone who spends her time talking to rape survivors coach actresses who are playing rape survivors seems no different from bringing in accent coaches or material arts coaches, on a practical level. Since the wives are central to the story, the audience needs to care about them, which means they needed to be believable. By bringing in experts to coach his actors, Miller did just that.
The other main whining point concerned Imperator Furiosa and how strong Theron’s character was, as if women aren’t allowed to be strong characters. Again, I say so what? Charlize Theron sells this movie. Don’t get me wrong, Tom Hardy put in a brilliant performance as Mad Max, making me say “Mel who?” But Theron is co-billed with Hardy for good reason: Furiosa isn’t a second fiddle also-ran. She’s a fully fledged character with her own motivations and Fury Road is better for it.
Remember the first Terminator movie? Tom Hardy plays Mad Max like Arnold Schwarzenegger played the Terminator. Schwarzenegger delivered an iconic performance despite only speaking 16 lines of dialogue. The movie may have been called The Terminator, but it was Linda Hamilton’s film. And no one in 1984 got pissy that a woman was trying to kill Mr. Universe. Don’t let the title deceive you. It may be called Mad Max: Fury Road, but this is Furiosa’s show. And despite my initial indifference to the franchise, Fury Road has set a new standard for summer blockbusters. Miller, Hardy and Theron proved that it’s possible for a summer blockbuster to entertain, while at the same time be filled with a wide representation of believable, interesting characters.
So MRAs…grow up. And to everyone else: go see Mad Max: Fury Road. Blockbusters like this deserve your support.
tl;drs
Quick summary: Mad Max: Fury Road is two hours of nearly nonstop post-apocalyptic car chases and surprisingly deep characterization.
Too many writers? Three, but it doesn’t feel like it. The story is told with minimal dialogue, relying instead on the dense, layered visuals.
Recommended if you like: Summer blockbusters not directed by Michael Bay, ass-kicking women roles.
Better than I expected? Um…everything? The whole movie was a delight and I needed a proverbial cigarette once it was over.
Better than The Room? Hell yes.
Verdict: When MRAs want a movie boycotted you run, you don’t walk, to your local movie theater. My only regret about Fury Road was not seeing it sooner.
Related Reading: Obligatory Wikipedia article
Top Gear article on the cars of Fury Road
Read this post and still can’t tell an MRA from an MBA? Check out this Intro 101 from We Hunted the Mammoth
