Mad Max: Fury Road

[FlowerChild]

So, with the Mad Max franchise being one of my all time favorites (Thunderdome aside), I saw Fury Road tonight, and much to my surprise, and despite being a jaded old bastard:

I fucking loved it.

Made me feel like a kid again. Definitely has that "Road Warrior" vibe to it, with my only (very small) complaint being that at certain times it imitated that film almost a bit too much, in a "didn't I see this before?" manner on some of the individual shots.

I really never thought I'd really enjoy an action flick again, as it had gotten to the point where I found myself just thinking that I'd rather be playing that kind of film than watching it, but this one somehow managed to blow my socks off just the same and had me cracking up laughing at the totally over the top absurdity of it at several points in the film (in the good way).

Anyways, much happiness. Would be really interested in knowing what other fans of the series thought of it.

[Syruse]

I thought it was amazing, too. Tom Hardy did a fantastic job as Max and lives up to Mel Gibson's performance in the previous movies. At no point in the movie did I think that this Max was a different character. Tom Hardy really did his research on Mel Gibson's performance and nailed the character.

Fury Road, with out a doubt, is one of the best action movies i have ever seen. There's just too much to go through. The cars, stunts, fight choreography, its all so damn fun to watch. Its been like 4 years since I've watched Road Warrior, so i can't really comment on the shot similarity. The only thing that really bugged me was the final big crash sequence. I didn't see Fury Road in 3D and that last sequence looked like it was purpose built for 3D. There was a really spectacular crash going on, but it was really distracting having shit fly out of the screen at me.

Now, I really hope the next sequel doesn't take another 30 years to make.

[FlowerChild]

Fury Road, with out a doubt, is one of the best action movies i have ever seen. There's just too much to go through. The cars, stunts, fight choreography, its all so damn fun to watch.

Yeah, that's the thing: it's just totally relentless and with the exception of 30 seconds of "plot" in the middle that all comes to "let's turn the truck around and do it again", is otherwise just non-stop sensory overload in a way I don't think I've ever experienced in a film.

Its been like 4 years since I've watched Road Warrior, so i can't really comment on the shot similarity.

Well, let's put it this way: it's like they decided to take the last 30 minutes of Max driving the rig in the Road Warrior and turn it into a two hour movie. The fortress rig itself is very Road Warrior, so many of the shots involving it are very similar, but there's also stuff like the moment of hopelessness towards the end where everything is going to shit and he's hanging off the side of the rig by one leg, that are almost identical to that same shot/vibe when he's sending the feral kid out on the hood of the truck in the first. I think there's even similar music playing in the background, and Furia has a similar injury in the driver seat.

Here, this bit from the Road Warrior

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Although, holy shit...in watching that I just realized that Fury Road may have spoiled what I thought to be the greatest action sequence of all time and made it look quaint and simplistic by comparison :)

Yeah...forget that point. Even though Fury Road made me *feel* like Road Warrior did back in the day, I don't think you can really compare the two at any kind of technical level.

I think I just realized that while the new Star Wars films tainted the memories of my youth with totally crappy sequels, Fury Road tainted them by making something so impressive that it makes the originals look crappy :)

The only thing that really bugged me was the final big crash sequence. I didn't see Fury Road in 3D and that last sequence looked like it was purpose built for 3D. There was a really spectacular crash going on, but it was really distracting having shit fly out of the screen at me.

Hehe...you know, I hadn't thought about it at the time, as I was too busy chuckling that the shit flying at the screen was the guitar on bungie chords to realize it was pandering to the 3D thing (I didn't see it in 3D either, but am considering watching it a 2nd time that way). But you're absolutely right there. There's a shot earlier when they fly into the dust storm where a body flies at the screen too, that seemed a bit odd, but makes sense in the 3D context.

Now, I really hope the next sequel doesn't take another 30 years to make.

Ditto, although I'm really hoping the director doesn't go all Thunderdome on it again ;)

[Wafflewaffle]

I fucking loved it.

Who are you? What you done to the old grumbling man that we all love?

[FlowerChild]

Who are you? What you done to the old grumbling man that we all love?

Nothing like a bit of the old ultraviolence to make you feel young again ;)

[Gears]

So, as a youngin' whose never seen the original before, which one would you suggest I watch first?

[FlowerChild]

So, as a youngin' whose never seen the original before, which one would you suggest I watch first?

Bah, just see the new one. If you're young enough to have not seen the originals by now, they're just going to look like complete crap by modern standards.

With the exception of the very first, which has an only tenuous connection to the rest, there's no real chronological order here or back story that needs to be digested.

Like I was looking around for a bit of info last night and this new one is supposed to take place somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd, but he still has his car at the start of the 4th which is destroyed in the 2nd, so your guess is as good as mine as to when this takes place or how it's related to the others :)

Like the very first movie Max is a cop on holiday in a dystopian society. Beginning of the 2nd essentially throws that out the window in the first five minutes and says "hey...World War III happened and this movie is now set in a post-apocalyptic nightmare where Max is roaming the wasteland in a black V8". Third one seems to take place an unknown number of years beyond that and opens with him sitting on a defunct APC being pulled through the desert by camels. 4th starts with him standing next to what is apparently the same black V8 which was destroyed in the 2nd and goes into action mode within about 20 seconds. It could be argued there's some tenuous connection between them other than "Mel Gibson in crazy vehicles fighting punked-out road gangs at high speed" (now with live heavy metal guitar!), but really, there's not much of a connection at all other than the occasional utterance of "I used to be a cop".

They're essentially pure post-apocalyptic action films that don't try to have any kind of real plot or continuity. The third one tried to, but that's largely what made it crap, and the 4th one dropped all that and got back to its roots which is largely what makes it genius IMO ;)

It takes a certain mindset to appreciate any of them IMO. I think it's almost along the lines of "this is the world's greatest action video game, which I can't play, but I sure am enjoying watching it", whereas like I mentioned in my previous posts, most modern action movies just strike me as "here's a video game you could currently be playing with modern technology...but just sit there as a passive observer for two hours instead".

In my post-movie internet roamings last night I saw many complaints from people about Fury Road not having a plot, and it definitely doesn't. It really isn't that kind of movie, probably having more in common with an amusement park ride than with a traditional film.

[Gilberreke]

The whole movie can be summed up by that one scene of the guy getting really giddy about everything going to hell shouting "What a lovely day" :D

I just loved it. No pretense. Still think I prefer the second one, but it's certainly close and the new one just beats the hell out of it cinematically.

Also, that guy playing the war kid did a crazy good job, I enjoyed that character as much as Max himself

[MoRmEnGiL]

I am still speechless. I expected a tries-to-be-but-fails attempt at the 80ties mad max movies feel.

Yeah, I am wordless. Fucking epic movie. Max had very little actual dialogue, and that is the best thing, because otherwise nostalgia and melgibsonitis would be an issue. I haven't got the slightest bit to complain, other than typical post movie depression. I want to watch it again.

By the way, the guy who played Immortan Joe? Yeah, it's that guy in my avatar! :D

PS: Oh, and by the way the movie is 90% practical effects. 90%! How crazily awesome! It is one of the main reasons it looked so awesomely good! Screw you cgi! :D

[FlowerChild]

I am still speechless. I expected a tries-to-be-but-fails attempt at the 80ties mad max movies feel.

Very cool man! I was specifically wondering what you would think of it when I wrote the OP of this thread, as I know you're a huge fan of the series as well :)

By the way, the guy who played Immortan Joe? Yeah, it's that guy in my avatar! :D

Seriously? Man, I used to have a good time shouting out "I AM THE NIGHT RIDER!" playing auto-combat games or just driving like a maniac long ago, and it was far from being a David Hasselhoff reference ;)

Had no idea it was the same guy. Good catch.

PS: Oh, and by the way the movie is 90% practical effects. 90%! How crazily awesome! It is one of the main reasons it looked so awesomely good! Screw you cgi! :D

Yeah, I definitely hear that, and it was big-time the way to go with that film. One of the reasons the end scene in the Road Warrior remained the best action movie scene ever in my mind was that it was all done with zero CGI. Limiting the CGI in this one to environmental effects like the dust storm or what have you made it feel much more real than I think would have been possible otherwise.

[MoRmEnGiL]

And the stuntwork man! I haven't seen stuntwork like that in ages!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86oL3TbQvs

Miller is one crazy man I gotta say. Must be the Greek blood in him :P

Yeah overall it far exceeded my expectations, given that the last time Miller visited the Mad Max world was exactly 30 years ago! I thought 30 years will soften a man up too much and make him a very different person, but that maniac got even more hardcore!

Man, they just do not make movies like that anymore.

[FlowerChild]

Yeah overall it far exceeded my expectations, given that the last time Miller visited the Mad Max world was exactly 30 years ago! I thought 30 years will soften a man up too much and make him a very different person, but that maniac got even more hardcore!

Dude, what's really messed up about it is that in between he was making animated movies about dancing penguins :P

The man must have a really interesting story-arc to his life. Makes the original, then Road Warrior. Then goes all fuzzy bunny, decides to take one of the most famous antiheroes out there, "give him a heart", and makes Thunderdome.

Goes off, makes dancing penguin movies, I suspect lets out a scream of "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!", breaks some shit...makes Fury Road.

There's got to be a good story in there somewhere :)

Seriously...

[MoRmEnGiL]

Exactly, how does one go from Happy Feet to Fury Road is surely interesting!

He has said on multiple occasions that Pinocchio is one of his favorite movies too. The 40ties Disney one.

[FlowerChild]

Exactly, how does one go from Happy Feet to Fury Road is surely interesting!

He has said on multiple occasions that Pinocchio is one of his favorite movies too.

I suspect he has a secret room somewhere in his house with a bunch of decapitated doll heads with blackened eye sockets hanging from the rafters :)

[MoRmEnGiL]

All clad in leather asymmetric armour :p

[Gilberreke]

Btw, have we mentioned the concepts yet? Those vehicle concepts were fucking inspired. Using salvaged old motor vehicles to create new monstrosities and such strong lines. The character concepts were great too (Immortan Joe is probably my favorite villain out of all the movies).

Minor gripe: was the color filter necessary? I mean, sure, the first two movies lacked contrast, but to go from that to super high contrast and everyone looking like they ate a lot of carrots at the spray booth? Meh.

The reds used on guitar guy were cool though, I really digged that whole choreography, visually. Oh and the greens in Immortan's City, those came out great too. Basically just a lack of yellow/red, too much orange.

[DaveYanakov]

Most movies these days use a teal and orange colour scheme. It's one of those things that executives demand and few directors can argue the point.

[Taleric]

Going to watch this on Saturday, you guys have me pumped lol. I will toss an edit up for how it was.

Edit: It was great! :D. The camera work and editing were wonderful. Many shots were at a distance and speed that some detail was left to the imagination.

I understand now how the limited dialogue from max helped. For sure an action packed ride very glad I went to see it!

[FlowerChild]

So, I just went to see this again in 3D, and I'd like to revise my previous rating from:

"I fucking loved it!"

To:

"Fuck me! Fuck me!"

Seriously...it's really really worth it. The additional visual chaos that 3D introduces pushes many of the scenes into total and complete sensory overload and leaves you not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

[DaveYanakov]

Well damn, I'm sold. I do wish they would make 3D glasses that fit over prescription lenses tho. I end up having to hold the 3D frames in place through the entire movie and it makes watching a chore.

[FlowerChild]

Well damn, I'm sold. I do wish they would make 3D glasses that fit over prescription lenses tho. I end up having to hold the 3D frames in place through the entire movie and it makes watching a chore.

Huh, interesting. I manage to wear them over my glasses just fine, but I have pretty small frames.

Never realized they weren't made to do so :)

[DaveYanakov]

Your clearly superior frames may well be. The local theaters use the ones that have not a centimeter of spare plastic that are tight even if I didn't wear glasses

[FlowerChild]

Your clearly superior frames may well be. The local theaters use the ones that have not a centimeter of spare plastic that are tight even if I didn't wear glasses

Well, you could always bring a roll of tape, strap them to your head, and say that you're "in costume" for the film :)

[DaveYanakov]

That's the kind of genius that keeps me coming back

[Taleric]

That's the kind of genius that keeps me coming back

Lol reminded me of this, FC is using the first principal and I pictured your glasses getting the second.

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