GEORGE MILLER DIRECTS MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

year: 2015 rating: *1/2

George Miller’s original MAD MAX films might have broken too much ground since every other barren landscape within a post-Apocalyptic action vehicle is compared to the source – and here’s a reboot by the man himself, perhaps bringing something fresh to the dilapidated table...

Well the action scenes are done all right, and the direction is quick and tense. But the characters… including MAX himself, cursed with sudden flashbacks to partially explain his brute-like mannerisms and Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa, equally bad ass and a far better driver… are about as important as avatars controlled on a noisy video game.

The score seems intentionally melodramatic, encapsulating a grandiose old school epic vibe, trying way too hard for genuine cult status – treating our heroes like they’ve earned their thick skin without being fleshed out beyond cool weaponry and nostalgic roots – FURY ROAD actually feels more like a second film following a proper introduction. Meanwhile, the tyrannical main villain looks straight out of a HE-MAN cartoon, and the only hint of a plot evolves around beautiful slaves being protected from his banal wrath.   

Technically, a ROAD is a particular section of a larger area that takes you down one specific lane, but FURY has too much open space where everything is going on while absolutely nothing happens, back and forth, in either direction.