"Oh, what a day. What a lovely day!"

The list of directors who have outdone themselves with sequels is a pretty short list. Aside from James Cameron, George Miller is perhaps the most prominent on said list, having outdone himself not once (in 1981 with The Road Warrior) but twice, some three decades and change after jumpstarting his grubby little outback franchise. Nearly a decade after its release, Fury Foad still shines as a stunning piece of art in motion that has still yet to be topped. The fact that it happens to be branded with the Mad Max name -- a franchise that had all but been left in the dust years before -- is just icing on the cake. This isn't just a great sequel, it's great Cinema. With a capital "C." Yeah, I went there.

Buckle your seatbelt (or strap yourself to the grill of your favorite souped-up SUV/war machine) because you're in for one wild ride. Tom Hardy swipes the title role out from under Mel Gibson's failed nose, but is really the passenger in his own story. Taking the wheel and driving most of the plot is Furiosa, an instant icon forged by a well-seasoned Charlize Theron, who by this point has proven she can do just about anything. This unlikely twosome team up to smuggle a pack of sex workers across the desert with the end goal of getting water to the people. Or something. Who cares! The action is so good and so persistent, you'll have little need for the plot to hold your hand. Quite frankly, you'll be too busy picking bugs out of your teeth and making sure your eyes are wide open to catch whatever is coming next to care.

George Miller dragged his crew into the South African desert for one of history's most hellacious shoots, and I think the results speak for themselves. Using minimal CGI, Miller employs a big old convoy of practical effects, crashing and smashing real, actual cars like an overzealous child playing in his sandbox. I can't say I'm jealous of the crew for what they had to accomplish, but what they achieved is a god damn monument, a landmark of modern action that just can't be beat. You can feel the heat and the dust swirling around you, and if that's not enough, the production design creates another world entirely, allowing you to slip into the surreal only to be jolted repeatedly by the superhuman efforts of the stunt people. In an era where action and artifice are familiar bedfellows, the fact that such an experience even exists feels like no minor miracle. And to think, it took a 70 year old boomer to show the kids how to do it right. Lots has been written about it since its release, but like teeth sprayed-painted in silver, I don't think the hype for Mad Max: Fury Road will ever wear off for me.