Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
About This Movie
A war rig driver and a drifter form an unlikely alliance and flee across a post-apocalyptic wasteland, pursued by a tyrannical warlord and his army of fanatical War Boys. The film is essentially one long chase sequence, and it never lets up for two hours. George Miller was seventy years old when he made the greatest action film of the 21st century.
Why It's a Classic
Miller shot the vast majority of the stunts practically, with real vehicles, real explosions, and real stunt performers strapped to swaying poles at highway speed, and the result makes CGI action sequences look weightless by comparison. Charlize Theron's Furiosa is the film's true protagonist, a one-armed warrior whose quest to liberate enslaved women gives the relentless action genuine moral weight. The visual storytelling is so precise that the film could work as a silent movie; Miller storyboarded the entire thing as a comic book before writing dialogue. The editing rhythm is extraordinary, keeping every shot on screen just long enough for the eye to register the action before cutting to the next. Six Academy Awards recognized the craft, though the film's deeper themes about bodily autonomy and environmental collapse give it substance well beyond spectacle.
Fun Fact
The film spent over fifteen years in development, with Mel Gibson originally attached to return as Max. The flaming guitar player (the Doof Warrior) was played by Australian musician iOTA, and the guitar actually shot real flames on set. Miller hired his wife, editor Margaret Sixel, specifically because she had never cut an action film before, reasoning that a fresh perspective would keep the editing from falling into genre clichés.
Parent Note
The violence is intense and nearly constant, including vehicular carnage, hand to hand combat, and disturbing imagery of human trafficking and forced reproduction. The themes of slavery and bodily exploitation are handled seriously rather than exploitatively. The PG-13 rating may surprise given the intensity, but there is relatively little blood or gore. Younger teens may find the relentless pace overwhelming.
Quick Facts
- Year
- 2015
- Type
- 🎬 Movie
- Category
- Adventure / Action
- Age Group
- Adults (Ages 18+)