Luke Thorne’s review published on Letterboxd:
George Miller’s action adventure. A woman (Charlize Theron) rebels against a tyrannical ruler in post-apocalyptic Australia in search for her homeland with a drifter (Tom Hardy).
After the Mad Max trilogy with Mel Gibson (in what his perhaps his most memorable role), director George Miller is back with Fury Road, the fourth instalment, but the final result is, for me, one that could and should have been better.
A really long time after the downfall of cultivation, the oppressive Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Bearne) dominates catastrophe survivors inside the desert stronghold the Citadel.
When the combatant Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) leads the dictator's five wives in a bold seepage, she falsifies an association with Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy), a recluse and previous detainee.
Encouraged in the huge, non-breakable truck the War Rig, they attempt to outpace the cruel warlord and his henchmen in a fatal very fast chase through the Wasteland.
Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron both give good performances in their respective roles as Max and Furiosa, the two who are determined to get away from Joe as best as they can, but they know it won’t be an easy task.
Elsewhere, there is a decent performance to be had from Hugh Keays-Bearne in his part as Joe, the immortal who aims to cause as much trouble as possible.
The direction from Miller is good because he allows the facial expressions to be seen to a strong effect throughout, while also keeping a tense atmosphere happening as well and the script is written to a decent-enough standard by the director, Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris.
I say decent-enough, because there are some scenes that did not need to be in the final edit, so the duration didn’t need to be as long as it was and, as a result, the pace is slow.
Having said this, the set, camera, music, costume, sound, editing and makeup stand out best in terms of the technical aspects, because the set is very decent to look at; the camera makes very good use of the locations and also captures the tense and dramatic moments well, which get the edge-of-the-seat status; the music is enjoyable to listen to; the sound is excellent as you have to listen carefully; the film is edited to a terrific effect; the makeup is outstanding.
Overall, Mad Max: Fury Road has good performances, direction, tension and technical aspects, but the sometimes-weak script, slow pace and long duration does make it forgettable at the same time.
