MechaPig

Driving into the past.

I was thinking this morning about how long ago 2015 was. That was 11 years ago but I still remember it feeling new, and exciting, like we had just scrapped at the entrance of the future! Now it’s ancient history. A child born that year is in the 5th grade. That’s what’s weird about the future, it’s always on its way to becoming the past.

In honor of my mild existential crisis, I thought it might be fun if I went back through some of my old writing and reposted some of one’s that haven’t aged to badly and post them here with a little historical context. Here’s the first one: A review of Mad Max: Fury Road.

OLD REVIEW FROM 2015:

This movie good. This movie damn good. Like a rusty blade into a bandit’s sternum, Mad Max: Fury Road punctures the mind of the viewer with the intensity of sprinting through a mine-field and the beauty of a washing machine with a brick thrown in it.

I didn’t think I would enjoy this movie.  Typically, I have contrary tastes to those of the public consensus.  Argo? Ar-go shut up already about that slog. Casablanca? More like casa-BORING-ya! The Breakfast Club? Is a treasure. See, I’m not a monster. Anyway.  Finding no end to the overwhelming positive reviews this film has received, I felt compelled to see it for myself. Wow, it delivered.  Fury Road is a masterclass in filmmaking for effect. The effect in this case is a heart pounding, adrenaline fueled spectacle.  I am enthralled to the edge of my seat as shards of metal and bone are liberated from their host forms while bathed in the intense rays of the hot Australian sun (It’s actually Namibia, but who’s counting). Through the use of practical effects, and a career’s worth of experience, director George Miller stays the fatigue that haunts at the margins of typical wall to wall action movies.

The story concerns a brilliantly intense Charlize Theron as Furiosa, a lieutenant in a warlike post-apocalyptic civilization who turns on her dictator by staging an escape plan with his many “wives.”  All the while Tom Hardy’s Max, the titular angry protagonist, finds himself captured by said warlike post-apocalyptic civilization and used as a human blood bag until he becomes ensnared in Furiosa’s plan. This is followed by the most badass two-hour car chase I’ve ever seen put to screen. Still Fury Road feels bigger than that. Providing just enough details though dialogue and set decor to build out the idea of a massive world living just on the periphery of this seemingly straight-forward tale.  Straight-forward, however, it is not. Themes of feminism and patriarchy are clear yet not overbearingly obvious and almost every character gets a nice personal progression as the action ramps up, or in some cases, devastatingly down.

Not that it’s without flaws. The blue night-time filter is kind of cheap looking at one point. And the aforementioned living world leaves a lot of interesting ideas on the table that I would have loved to see get more exploration. Other than that, it’s rather difficult for me to think of flaws or missteps that I can’t reason away with the internal logic they use to justify having a two-hour long car chase. Why are they fighting? They’re trying to get away. Why is it all a big desert? Who cares. Why is Max so gruff and grunty? Because he’s just been used as a human IV for a cult and is really dehydrated… For the most part.

It helps that the script -while light on actual words- is concise and gives plenty of time for each character to show off his or her own quirks and/or beliefs while moving the story along at a brisk pace. A surprising amount humor helps create resting places from the constant murder and explosions. Also helping turn the tide over the mediocre is the stunt work, which is extraordinary. Every crazy thing we have come to expect CGI to compensate for is fully realized with actual people on actual crazy swinging pole machines and real cars that get really eviscerated in shockingly explicit detail.  If you are a car, do not watch this movie. It will rock you to your core.

Mad Max: Fury Road is an epic, adrenaline fueled roller-coaster ride in a beautiful, destroyed world anchored by excellent performances and beautiful vistas racked by metallic carnage and hardcore feminist ideals.  

VERDICT
+ Gorgeous vistas and well choreographed vehicular mayhem.
+ So well edited it will make your eyes hurt… With joy. Because they’re not being over or under worked.
+ Tom Hardy is a step up from Gibson.
+ Furiosa is possibly the most bad-ass character ever.
+ Everyone from Rose Huntington-Whiteley to Nicholas Holt is awesome.
+ Flaming guitar guy!
+ Is about something without being stupid like Elysium.
– Leaves me wanting more information.

MAD MAX: Fury road gets: 8 FLAMING GUITARS OUT OF 9

END OF OLD REVIEW.

While it’s become a classic renowned for its efficient storytelling and mind-blowing visuals, at the time it was just a really cool movie that I had just finished. With over a decade of experience between the man who wrote this review and me it’s neat how much I stand by.

Some of it is odd. Like when I proudly proclaim that “Typically, I have contrary tastes to those of the public consensus.” Which is the most 20-year-old thing to say. Overall, though I think I was pretty fair. The movie is an “Adrenaline fueled roller-coaster ride.” Though I wonder what I would change if I’d write a new review off a fresh watch. For example, I have NO IDEA what I’m saying about the nighttime sections looking “cheap.” As it lives in my memory I’ve warmed up to nearly every part of the movie, and my admiration has grown after numerous discussions with friends and internet discourse.

Welp! There you go. That’s what I thought of this 11-year-old movie 11 years ago. I hope you found that interesting. I know I did!

P.S. Why did I rate it on a scale out of 9? What a weirdo, that guy.