Mad Max: FURY ROAD

"It is by my hand! You arise, from the ashes, of this world!"

That quote could've easily belonged to director George Miller as his rallying cry to action movie junkies craving the next big thing.

The Plot

His name is Max (Tom Hardy) and he lives in a world of fire and blood. The Road Warrior finds himself caught in the crossfire between Warlord Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) thanks to the machinations of an eager War Boy, Nux (Nicholas Hoult). This brings Max on the chase of his life across the vicious Fury Road as he decides to aide Furiosa with her cause in defiance against the monstrous Warlord. To deliver the Five Wives (Rosie Huntington-Whitely, Zoe Kravitz, Riley Keough, Abby Lee Kershaw and Courtney Eaton) to freedom in the Land of Mothers.

Review

Oh what a film! What a lovely film! MAD MAX FURY ROAD is hands down probably, and will be, the best action movie of 2015! Some are already considering putting it in the category of The Raid and The Raid 2 as some of the best new action movies of all time! Do I think it deserves to be up there? Hell yeah I do!

But okay, let's be serious though. I'm going to point out the two negatives of the film so that I can just go on and on about what makes this movie incredible. First off... the plot is pretty straight forward. It get from point A to point B because of reason X. Simple and not exactly that complex. Luckily the film is done with very little dialogue and forces great performances to show off character growth as well as propelling the story. Second... the second half of the movie feels like it slows down a little bit too much than the first half of the movie. This is mostly attributed to the more quieter scenes that set up the finale. But despite slowing down, the entire film is still one hell of a thrill ride!

This is the first action movie that George Miller has directed in 30 years, with the last one being Mel Gibson's last outing as Mad Max, Thunderdome. Pushing 70, you'd think that he would be too old to direct something as vicious and dangerous as this beast. But no, Miller is still completely capable of delivering the thrills the same way he did decades ago directing the first Mad Max movie. The man knows action has evolved, but he wants his old school techniques to evolve to meet the challenge. This is evident as 90% of the film is done with practical effects and very brave stunt men. It is this old school style of filmmaking that ramps up the intensity and makes the danger feel more real than ever. However even he knows that CGI can be a useful tool when utilized properly, and he uses it as a cleaner or to make subtle changes rather than rely on it. This is what will definitely set the film up there in the pantheon of Action Movie Greats. And it doesn't hurt that the cast he assembled to go on this mad adventure with him is filled with talent.

Tom Hardy takes over Gibson's legendary role as Mad Max. In here, he is still a broken man wandering the world with a very mythic quality to him. This is a character who has truly gone insane but is pretty much fighting to keep his sanity in tact. And driving beside him in the spotlight, Charlize Theron as Furiosa. Theron delivers a strong and subdued performance as the ferocious one armed Imperator driven by her singular mission of achieving redemption. Chasing after the duo, with his entire armada of muscle cars from Hell, Hugh Keays-Byrne as Immortan Joe. This isn't his first drive through the apocalypse as he was the original villain in the first Mad Max movie. But here, he plays a completely different animal who is both evil, yet extremely practical with crafting his society. But the true scene stealer of the film is Nicholas Hoult as Nux.

Hoult delivers probably the most human performance and most relatable character in the film. His Nux is pretty much a devoted disciple to Immortan Joe who will do anything to please him. While he could've easily fallen into the category of creepy mad henchman, he transcends it by actually going through a journey that changes his character drastically. This comes from his failures as well as his interaction with the Five Wives, the reason for Immortan Joe's pursuit of Furiosa.

Rosie Huntington-Whitely, Zoe Kravitz, Riley Keough, Abby Lee Kershaw and Courtney Eaton play the objects of Immortan Joe's desire: a healthy breeder for his heirs. While most of them were played by models, with the exception of Kravitz who is a legit actress, they all do a fine job as playing these determined young woman hoping for a better tomorrow. Whitely in particular delivers a performance that elevates her above the rest, mainly because of the position she is in, but proves that in the hands of a talented director, she can become a good actress. But all in all, they are all just fine. And that's okay. Because this entire picture is filled with crazy people already. It's good to have some people who still clench to sanity.

Final Thoughts

There are a couple of smaller details I could point out and one small plot twist that I wish I could talk about, but I'd rather the viewers experience this on their own. This is a film that has to be seen on the Big Screen. A MASSIVE SCREEN! The film is definitely special in a time where blockbusters are pretty much almost recycled by story and method of filmmaking. It is definitely a film that will go down as one of the greatest action films of all time. And it deserves to be. I can't imagine any other film this summer coming close to the amount of fun and insanity that this film delivers. GO SEE IT!

SCORE: 8.5/10 if you think about it, but 9/10 immediately after watching it!

Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Analysis and Review

The action gets better and the story gets longer

After the revelation of actually analyzing Revenge of the Fallen, my expectations for the next film were quickly set on low. However when the first trailers popped up all of a sudden my expectations were high and the new addition of Rosie Huntington Whitely (who I predicted probably can't act but would like more than Megan Fox after what happened in the last movie) so like last time: myself and 7 of my other friends (not the unusually large number of 14 like last time) decide to go see the movie. And again, even though we all showed up really really really really early to the premier showing, we still wound up in the front row. So was the reaction exactly the same as my experience with Revenge of the Fallen? Well...

The Plot

Despite being awarded by the President for his heroic acts in the last film and meeting a new girl (Rosie Huntington Whitely) after Mikaela breaks up with him, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is having a hard time finding a job. Lucky for him he does get one while at the same time the Autobots led by Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) discover that there is an ancient secret hidden on the moon. That secret? Their long lost leader Sentinel Prime (Leonard Nimoy) who has a device that can save their home world of Cybertron. Unfortunately for them a battle scarred Megatron (Hugo Weaving) and his Decepticons forces are once again after this device, leading all plot points to collide in Chicago.

Analysis

Just in case you didn't read my review on Revenge of the Fallen, particularly the Analysis portion, I'll just summarize it for this one. Its better to watch this movie with a crowd of rowdy fans on opening night than to see this a week later or home alone. Because watching this movie alone and not surrounded by rowdy fans will result into a startling revelation: the movie is shit. Well for me personally not complete shit but I liked it enough to say that I still enjoy it but I'm not going to deny that it is still bad.

Review

There is a pattern I'd like to point out. Strange Prologue. Sam is down on his luck. Something gets discovered. Autobots enter the picture. Government enters the picture. Decepticons show up. Confront the villain. Make out with hot girlfriend who is way out of Sam's league. That seems to be the pattern that these movies are going at. It worked well for the first movie because... that's the first movie. It didn't work well for the second movie because the writers tried to hide that it is the same movie by adding a bunch of other stuff that does a poor stuff of hiding the sameness. Then there is this movie that once again adds a lot of stuff that is not really necessary. However this time around all that other stuff is actually characters this time. That's right, this time more characters that I don't remember their names are added in order to give this movie a more ensemble feel than the long drawn out epic feel they were going for from the last one. However like I said I don't remember most of the new characters. And if I do, I'm trying to understand why do they have to be in the movie.

The biggest addition that should be noted is Patrick Dempsey as..... Dylan Gould. Had to look that up for a moment. He plays Sam's new girlfriend's boss who also happens to be in an alliance with the Decepticons. Why? Uh.... I don't really know why. Other than the fact that he'll be spared from whatever it is the Decepticons planned to do with humanity, just know that he's evil. This could've been a great role for Dempsey who at the time was only known as McDreamy from Grey's Anatomy. It is obvious that he wanted to use this role to break away from the mold, but it doesn't really help him because the character was not really well thought out other than he's good looking and he's evil.

Then let's talk about the obvious. Megan Fox is gone after having a dispute with Michael Bay. So she was written out and replaced by a character straight from the cartoons called Carly. And who did they get to play this character from the G1 show? A Victoria's Secret Model that Bay worked with on one of the lingerie empire's commercials. Oh yeah, and because she's British the character is now British. Rosie Huntington Whitely does offer something fresh despite having no great acting skills and not a very good range. Unlike the relationship between Mikaela and Sam in the previous two films there was something genuinely real about the relationship between Carly and Sam in this film. Again, I'm going to stress that she's not that great. And critics expecting her to wow them were really harsh. But then again that's what we do. But the thing is she was more believable as someone who genuinely likes Sam rather than Fox's Mikaela character. And if the goal was to make the relationship believable, then by all means it worked. Could they have gotten a real actress and made it better? Honestly no, because even a talented actress like Gemma Arterton (who was in the running before Whitely) would not have been able to save a poorly written role. The only thing that saved it was the way she is around LaBeouf's Sam. And frankly that's all I could ask from her really. Plus her character does a really ballsy move in the movie that automatically makes her better than Mikaela.

Shia LaBeouf does what Shia LaBeouf does... play Sam Witwicky. And yup. He's still Sam Witwicky.

Then of course lets get to the big villain of the story: Leonard Nimoy's Sentinel Prime. PLOT TWIST! Okay I know I shouldn't spoil it, but the movie has been out for a long time by now and even when you see the movie you kinda see it coming. Because first of all the Marketing and Official Plot Synopsis released by the studio makes it seem like Shockwave (the cyclops robot riding the gigantic metal worm squid thing) is the main villain. The thing is in the trailers you never see this supposed villain do anything except for one shot pose to cock his gun. So it leads one to wonder is he really the bad guy? Then of course when Sentinel comes in one immediately knows that there is going to be a twist that he's the bad guy. And why is he the bad guy? "The Needs of the Many, outweigh the Needs of the Few." Good way to quote Spock, Mr. Nimoy. So really his motivations don't exactly make sense about bringing an entire dying planet next to a live planet when the device that can teleport things could've easily just teleported human slaves to their planet if that was the plan. What was the point of teleporting the entire planet if they can just do that? It doesn't make sense!

Yes, the action in this movie is a lot better than the previous two combined. Things can be seen clearly and we can easily tell who is fighting who. This is mainly attributed to director Michael Bay adjusting to IMAX 3D cameras which forces him to shoot this way. And thankfully for those of us who just want to watch a movie where giant robots kill giant robots, it is a blessing. However the action does get dragged out. And I mean really dragged out. The Third Act usually consists of the last 30 minutes of a movie while this one it seems to consist of the last hour of a movie. And to top it all of the beginning did kind of drag as well. But at least it didn't drag to the point where things got boring. It was still fun and the action is exciting to watch. And even though the action is clearer, it seems like one could care less about the safety of the heroic Autobots against the slew of nameless Decepticons.

Also, yes, the final three way battle between Optimus Prime, Sentinel Prime and Megatron (remember him?) was not as great as the rest of the action. And too bad that once that battle ends, it is the end of the movie. Literally.

Final Thoughts

This was a lot better than the last movie, yet still not as good as the first. It definitely could've used a trim on the running time and it probably would've been at least equal to the first movie. At least I can still watch it and find it enjoyable. Just pure fun dumb enjoyment. But then again, nothing beats seeing this film with rowdy fans on opening night.

SCORE: 6.5/10 - The best action in the trilogy

For a review of the previous film, CLICK HERE
For a review of the next film, CLICK HERE