Film Review on Mad Max: Fury Road

Years after the collapse of civilisation, the brutal dictator Immortan Joe subjugated all survivors within a desert fortress called the Citadel which he controlled by restricting peoples everyday needs such as water. Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) attempts to escape with Immortan Joe's five precious breeding wives, and return to her homeland where she was taken from many years ago. They're apprehended by Immortan Joe and his 'War Boys' where she meets Max, a recent captive being used as a 'blood bag' by a war boy. They form an alliance and together try to outrun the ferocious army in a deadly high-speeds chase through the ruins of their destructive earth.

Mad Max was released in 2015 and won 6 academy awards in the 2016 Oscars Ceremony such as: Best costume, best film editing, best sound editing, best production design, best sound mixing and best makeup and hairstyling as well as countless other awards. Mad Max is an action adventure movie that also includes elements of fantasy and speculative fiction which together create a touching but highly violent and somewhat disturbing story allowing it to withstand a vast target audience.

Although I love to see all the amazing things filmmakers can now accomplish with CGI, one of things I enjoyed most in Mad Max was the lack of CGI and how so much of it was filmed on location with hundreds of stuntmen and highly elaborate set and props. I felt like this created a really immersive and engaging foundation for the film and made it seem more realistic which was almost quite worrying as the narrative of Mad Max presents a possible outcome for our world. This was one of the Director, George Miller’s main objectives, to make the film as realistic as possible to make the audience slightly uncomfortable because we may well experience similar circumstances one day.

Personally, my favourite character was Furiosa, an imperator of Immortan Joe’s and driver of his war-rig, played by Charlize Theron. She was one of Immortan Joe’s most valued possessions but she’s also a very determined and ruthless character which is why she not only left but took his five wives. She didn't believe in giving up and staying in the Citadel as a belonging of Immortan Joe’s. 

I also love all the stereotypes she breaks within the film. All the other women who we see in the film have a determination to leave just like Furiosa but they are presented quite differently. Immortan Joe’s wives are locked in a volt so they cannot escape and all have to wear chastity belts so that no one else can lay their hands on them. Immortan Joe needs these women to try and have a healthy son to be his heir as his other two sons along with himself and all the war boys have severe health problems probably due to repercussions of the collapse of humanity. The wives are used for nothing but breeding and are seen as almost completely helpless without Furiosa. Whereas Furiosa doesn't need the help of others to leave. If she hadn’t taken the wives and a lot of the Citadel’s valuable oil, she wouldn’t have had any problem leaving. She is one of the protagonists in our film which especially in action adventure films, is quite rare. Her mental strength encourages the audience to trust her. However, when she finds out the truth about her homeland and completely breaks down we see the wall that she uses to protect herself completely fall and she crumbles into a vulnerable character.

It is at this point in the film where I feel Max's character becomes vital to the survival of Furiosa, the wives and the other women from Furiosa's homeland who have joined them. Up until this point in the film, I didn't feel like I could properly trust or associate myself with Max as you usually do with the protagonist. However, when all hope seems to be lost, we see Max assuming the role of the protagonist alongside Furiosa. Together, they strike back on the army chasing them. The high-speed chase creates a lot of tension

as we see the characters putting themselves in jeopardy to protect each other. On of my favourite moments during the chase is when Max is trying to make his way back to the war-rig and Furiosa just catches him. Just when we think everything going to be fine, a war boy comes up behind Furiosa and stabs her. The reason why I really liked this moment is because usually we see the protagonist as very independent and sure of themselves but this moment and the moments after show that they can't always rely on themselves. 

There are several times throughout the chase where you see either Max or Furiosa going out of their way to help each other. These moments were quite touching because they whole film is based around the consequences of of a collapsed civilisation but there is still humanity left within a few people- these were the people who would save the others in the Citadel from their strictly dictated lives.