It’s been several years since George Miller left the dancing/singing penguins to return to a world with barren wastelands, fast cars, and one bad-ass protagonist. This time, Tom Hardy will take up the titular role while Charlize Theron‘s Furiosa opposes him. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD still has a year to go before it’s official release on May 15, 2015, but the first screening of it went down last night and reactions have already hit the web.
Randy from AFTimes says:
This movie feels like thirty years of Miller holding in passion for a world that he built so long ago, exploding on the screen. You, remember the third act of The Road Warrior, the bad-ass truck chase that is still hailed as a masterpiece of filmmaking? You do? Good. Because that’s what this whole movie pretty much is-and it works! A chase that goes long and deep into the heart of Miller’s post-apocalyptic world, trying to get out of the Wasteland. It opens up and hardly slows down.
In regards to where it fits within the MAD MAX mythology:
This is movie designed for anyone to step into, neophyte or stone-cold Bronze. In a world of movies, tv and videogames that have used, borrowed, homages and/or stolen from the dark world of Mad Max, this film is informed by that media and incorporates it into this new vision three decades later. There are nods back to all of the trilogy throughout, organic and purposeful, rather than placating a die-hard fanbase. Where does it play within the trilogy? Somewhere between the first and second… and off-to-the side.
It’s good to hear that any nod to the original flicks will not be in your face, as a lot of franchise films are guilty of doing. Most importantly, I feel that this kind of action featuring real stunts and real danger is mostly missing in the sea of CG wizardry. I’m not knocking the artsts who are capable of creating some amazing visuals on the digital end of things, but there’s a weight lent to action films that can get away with practical effects and go the extra mile to do so. From the sound of it, our patience will pay off.
On whether or not the wait was worth it:
Its beginning feels like part Miller’s burning passion bursting forth after so long and part a gift to those who’ve waited so patiently for a “real” Mad Max movie. You could watch only the first act as a die-hard fan and you feel like the wait has been worth it.
Also reported from the screening is a new synopsis:
“MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is the fourth film of George Miller‘s Road Warrior/Mad Max franchise co-written and directed by Miller. The post-apocalyptic action film is set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and most everyone is crazed fighting for the necessities of life.
Within this world of fire and blood exist two rebels on the run who just might be able to restore order… There’s Max (played by TOM HARDY from The Dark Knight Rises), a man of action and a man of few words, who seeks peace of mind following the loss of his wife and child in the aftermath of the chaos.And… Furiosa (played by CHARLIZE THERON from Prometheus), a woman of action and a woman who believes her path to survival may be achieved if she can make it across the desert back to her childhood homeland.”
While we still have a year left before we join in on the post-apocalyptic madness, it sounds like everything is headed in the right direction. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, starring Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult, will hit cinemas May 15, 2015.