Mad Max: Fury Road

dir. George Miller – 7.8 – This is the first Mad Max film I have watched. Sure, I’ve seen clips from the earlier ones but it never grabbed me.  If it was not for several friends telling me about the anti-patriarchy themes I may have passed over this one as well. I am glad that I did not.

I watched it originally in the theater a week, or two, into it’s release and I knew that it would easily be one of my favorite films of the year (especially considering how few new films I watch in their year of release).

The bottom line is that the story is more important than the vehicle. It is an incredible action film and marrying the story with the action is important and it’s main strength but I am suggesting that the action/chase movie is could be bigger. There is little time spent on building relationships between the characters and the viewer. Now is a good time to remember that I prefer drama films so this could be the perfect feminist action film and I may not recognize how perfect it is.

I waited to watch it a second time because I wanted to have a better sound system which I now have. The first time one of the diesel engine turns over it sounded perfect and then I turned the base down; I could feel the nails shaking loose.

Mad Max: Fury Road is an important movie and should be enjoyed.