Mad Max: Fury Road

Set within a desolate post-apocalyptic wasteland, Mad Max: Fury Road follows Tom Hardy’s Max Rockatansky as he must help a fierce warrior (Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa) smuggle precious cargo out of a warlord’s ruthless grip. Filmmaker George Miller has clearly spared no expense in bringing this almost alien world to life and the movie does, as a result, possess a lot of potential in its early scenes, with the stunning production design heightened by Miller’s crisp, refreshingly coherent visuals and a series of above-average performances. (In terms of the latter, however, it’s impossible to overlook the fact that much of the film’s dialogue is rendered unintelligible by heavy accents and a cranked-up soundtrack.) It’s only as the thinly-plotted narrative begins moving in earnest that one’s interest begins to flag, as Miller’s difficulties in establishing any real sense of momentum makes it impossible to care about the various characters’ continuing exploits – with the erratic atmosphere perpetuated by a screenplay that essentially lurches from one aggressively over-the-top action sequence to the next (ie the connective tissue is so slight that the myriad of larger-than-life set pieces eventually just become exhausting.) The viewer’s lack of interest is exacerbated by Miller’s refusal/inability to transform any of the movie’s protagonists into legitimately engaging figures, and it is, as a result, difficult to work up much enthusiasm for their progressively perilous exploits or their ongoing efforts at taking down the aforementioned warlord. The endless action of the film’s third act ensures that Mad Max: Fury Road concludes on a decidedly underwhelming note and it’s ultimately impossible not to wish that Miller had, at any point, followed the old less-is-more axiom.

** out of ****