Stepping into the role originated by Mel Gibson, Tom Hardy is Max, a former cop in a lawless wasteland, haunted by the lives he couldn't save along the way. "My world is fire and blood," he states in the opening voice over, right before we see him take a bite out of a two-headed gecko. He's a loner, only interested in survival, and what it takes to survive is not often pleasant.
After a quick scene of zooming cars in the desert, just a taste of what's to come later in the film, Max is captured by Warboys and taken to The Citadel, where the key players are a tyrannical warlord known as Immortan Joe (played by original Mad Max baddie, Hugh Keays-Byrne), ruling his people as a god and promising paradise in the afterlife, and Imperator Furiosa, a battle-forged champion driver played by Charlize Theron.
Furiosa leaves on a routine mission driving a huge rig full of "guzzoline" and a secret cargo: five of Immortan Joe's fiercely protected, disease-free breeding beauties, whom he keeps locked safely away from other men. Played by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Zoe Kravitz, Abbey Lee, Courtney Eaton, and Riley Keough, they are all committing treason by leaving for a chance at freedom. Their destination is The Green Place -- a beautiful, lush land from Furiosa's childhood memories.
When the truck goes off course, it sets into motion what is essentially a giant chase for two hours. Immortan Joe sends all his Warboys and every available car, truck, dirt bike and dune buggy after them, with Max dragged along for the ride. Nicholas Hoult is Nux, one of the brainwashed devotees of Immortan Joe. He gives religious extremism a human face, a kamikaze Warboy searching for glory in this life or the next.
This is a very macho action film that happens to contain a number of strong female characters and no romance. If that's feminist, it's okay by me. I was supremely entertained, and my hat goes off to Charlize Theron, in particular, for not only portraying Furiosa with grit and emotion, but also being 100% believable in every action shot. Part of the credit for that goes to Miller, cinematographer John Seale, and the stunt team, but Theron simply nails it. Furiosa is a fully-formed character, a bona fide action icon, and Theron becomes the most convincing female badass in a Hollywood movie since Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2. So, rock on, Ladies.
Fury Road is a sequel that reaches the rarified air of surpassing the previous films in the series. The Road Warrior will always be held up as an example of great action cinema, but Fury Road is bigger and badder and more extreme. It reaches moments that are so completely bananas that I was filled with a giddy sense of awe, especially knowing that Miller went to great lengths to achieve everything he could through practical means. (Yes, those are real cars and real stuntmen flying through the hot desert air!) The score by Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL is percussive and sweeping and the pacing is relentless. While other blockbusters stop and start like city traffic, Fury Road takes the autobahn and dares us to keep up with it. Admittedly, this cuts down on scenes that exist solely for other purposes -- character development, exposition, etc. -- but, Miller finds a way to incorporate those things into the action itself, crafting concise moments of visual storytelling that provide all the context we need. It's a remarkable example of large-scale action filmmaking that will be referenced for years to come.
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