MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is pandemonium on wheels, a wildly creative two hour chase through a desert wasteland. I like the bizarre, post apocalyptic world of this new MAD MAX as well as the gritty acting of Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron. But the constant violence and mayhem of the chase become numbing after two hours.
Max in voice over: In this wasteland, I’m the one who runs from both the living and the dead… a man reduced to a single instinct: Survive!
Tom Hardy is the new Max, a lonely survivor haunted by the fact that he couldn’t save his wife and child. Goons capture Max and turn him into a human blood bank for a skinhead who serves the ruler of this barren world, a grotesque beast who imprisons women for breeding purposes.
Charlize Theron is Furiosa, a fierce rebel with only one arm who frees the ruler’s captive women and heads for the wide open spaces in an 18 wheel tanker truck, igniting the frantic chase that lasts for the entire movie.
Leader: I want them back. They’re my property.
Meanwhile, Max, is strapped to the front of a chase car, so that his blood can keep flowing into the war baby who’s driving.
Deranged warlords and war baby freaks with souped up cars, trucks and motorcycles constantly attack Furiosa’s fleeing truck. And after Max escapes in the chaos, he turns to Furiosa’s women for help.
Naturally she assumes he’s part of the enemy army, so she fights him tooth and nail until the approaching convoy turns them into wary allies and the furious high speed fighting continues with more than a few inventive stunts.
You won’t find any logic or real suspense in MAD MAX. Much of the over-the-top action is ludicrous. So if fiery explosions are not to your taste, you should avoid this movie. But if you’re looking for an extravaganza of pulse pounding violent action, MAD MAX will fill the bill.
Terry Hunter, Hawaii News Now.
thunter@hawaiinewsnow.com