By Beth Percy
“Hope is a mistake. If you can’t fix what’s already broken then you’ll go insane.”
Max
Overview
Available: Amazon Prime or HBOMax
Creator: George Miller
Production company: Warner Bros Pictures
Publication date: May 2015
Length: 120 minutes
Plot Summary:
Max, a disturbed desert traveller, Furiosa, a skilled rig-driver, and The Wives, formerly imprisoned ‘breeding stock’, must all work together to flee the clutches of evil despot, Immorten Joe. This post-apocalyptic wasteland tale features all of the awesome parts of a classic action film married to the thoughtful exploration of current world issues, such as resource hoarding, gender equality, reproductive rights and the environment.
In a harsh world where people can only survive by fighting for scarce resources, this film flips the genre’s tropes around to demonstrate a realistic kind of hope.
Thoughts:
1. The cinematography alone is a reason to watch – it is breath-taking. The playfulness with light and colour creates huge tonal shifts and really affects the atmosphere of different scenes – injecting energy into action and sobering more emotional sections.
2. The action sequences are just so rad. It’s big, it’s explosive, it’s just crazy – we’ll all recognise that one shot of the guy with the flamethrower guitar – it’s a spectacle but it doesn’t lack substance!
3. The manner in which Max and Furiosa are shown to develop a mutual respect and are further presented to be equals throughout the film is refreshing for such a male-centric franchise and genre. This film is about female emancipation and the rejection of toxic masculinity in the effort for a better future.
4. Immortan Joe’s caricature as a capitalist tyrant, shown through his referencing of water as ‘Aqua-Cola’ and promising his War Boys a ‘McFeast’ in the afterlife, demonstrates how effective powerful companies can be in controlling the masses. This also further makes the connection that basic resources being controlled and branded (looking at you Nestle!) is cause for concern.
5. I just love the fact that Mad Max is presented as a ‘dumb action film’ but within it demonstrates so much excellent criticism of current society. Oppressed characters ask ‘who killed the world?’ and the answer is the selfish people in charge who put war and profit over people and the environment.
6. This is sort of a spoiler – the conclusion of the film is that there is nowhere to escape to and instead they must turn around to oust/kill Immortan Joe to begin the hard work of rebuilding the current broken society. The honesty and realism within this film is powerful and I’ve yet to see anyone else do it better.
Critical Reception:
Won six Academy Awards (Editing, Production Design, Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing).
Named the nineteenth-greatest film of the 21st century in a 2016 BBC critics’ poll.
Ranked third on Variety‘s “The Best Films of the Decade.
Recommendation: 10/10
Fun Fact: Tom Hardy thought the film was totally nonsensical during production and that it would be a flop. Upon seeing the film cut-together, he profusely apologised to George Miller during the Cannes film festival press conference and called it ‘brilliant’.
Enjoyed our film review of Mad Max: Fury Road? Then check out more of our thoughts with our other reviews! Why not submit your own as well?