www.madmaxmovies.com

Hey everyone,

I know Fury Road came out in 2015, but I just saw the movie yesterday for the first time. I really enjoyed the film - I feel like the main complaint about "no plot" is invalid because while George Miller certainly didn't spell everything out for the audience, he used subtle cues or more obvious ones (i.e. "Who killed the world?") to give us context and provide much deeper meaning to the story.



Despite all this, however, I still can't help but feel that Mad Max: Fury Road is just another action film. I felt that the imagery was fantastic, but I just didn't see anything else "great" about the movie. I thought Charlize Theron stood head and shoulders above the rest of the cast, and I honestly didn't care all that much about Tom Hardy's Max at all. While Furiosa had a pretty typical action story of trying to escape the villain and get revenge/freedom, Max just showed up out of nowhere, was attacked for no discernible reason other than that Joe is evil, and then switches allegiances/mindsets multiple times throughout the movie. By contrast, Nux similarly switches sides and has no real backstory but his obsession with Joe which subequently turned into a feeling of resentment once being discarded makes a whole lot more sense and is much more compelling. I know there's not a dense plot, but I felt I needed more hints or consistency to understand Max's character.



Additionally, I really didn't like the whole bait-and-switch of the Green Place. I kind of expected this place never existed, but to have the protagonists overcome incomprehensible odds to reach the Many Mothers only to have them say "we're all dead and the Green Place is gone" seemed a bit lazy to me. Just an excuse to extend the movie in my eyes.



I hope no one misinterprets what I'm saying - Mad Max is NOT a bad movie by any stretch. I really enjoyed it. I just can't seem to wrap my head around its near-perfect rating on Rotten Tomatoes and its being revered by so many film critics.

Thank you!

It would appear that what you thought obvious cues were subtle, and subtle ones non-existent, lol

Max was attacked because humans and machines are valuable resources, capturing them is useful to Joe's empire. Max is motivated by survival and selfishness, this changes as he learns how to become a person again through the events of the film. Nux has enough backstory, his entire life being painted through the portrayal of all of the War Boys; he doesn't resent Joe, but rather realises that he has been living a lie and then aspires to outgrow his upbringing.

If you fancied trying to find more depth or to catch more detail, I'd suggest watching Movies With Mikey's episode on Fury Road, it's on youtube and touches on some of the deeper themes (although there's more in there, depending on how geeky you are about cars or fictitious world building).

Nux is the best character, the movie should have focused mostly on him.

Furiosa and the wives had little character development or backstory. Furiosa looks cool and is mostly well played by the actress, though. She's not as memorable a character as, say, Warrior Woman from Mad Max 2, or even Tank Girl from the comics/film.

Max we don't know much about either (he's not Gibson's Max).

Overall, the movie has great action scenes and visuals, but I'm not as invested as I am with Mad Max 1 & 2.

it isnt a great film ..

rfullarton wrote:it isnt a great film ..

This link says different.

And so does this one.

For me there were a number of things that made the film a truly 'Pin point' film experience. There are films I have seen before Fury Road, and there are films I have seen afterwards, but this film just always pops into my mind! This is just my opinion and so amounts to nowt but warm air and some passion

The storyline worked well for me and included a number of parts from the other Mad Max films that made it recognisable as a Mad Max film but not too repetitive. (We could go into how many times they blow round things up in the Star Wars Nontette of films!)

It does have moments where you feel that there is something odd about the storyline because as you read more about the films protracted production time, and the amalgamation of two or three films worth of stories, you see the classic issues, but the main story works well and is complete. I like to look at Immortan Joe's life as that of Henry VIII. Both had numerous wives, and coveted them. Both are despots with loyal followers and have enemies from out side their territories.

Overall, it is an exciting watch and never stops chucking more action at me. My only thought is why they didn't go back through at night? The clans would have been less alert and the War rig would have made it much further before Joe knew stuff was up. But, maybe there is a logic as the fewer roadworthy vehicles the War boys have the less of a threat they are in the future!