What’s the most exciting movie coming out this summer? Avengers Age Of Ultron the sequel to one of the most successful comic book movies ever? Furious 7, the latest installment in the increasingly over-the-top Fast and Furious series? While both of those are destined to make more money than you could ever make in a hundred lifetimes, the movie that looks like the purest rush of adrenaline hitting theaters this summer takes the action of the former, the cars of the latter and puts them in a blender with a heaping dollop of sand and dystopia. The resulting post-apocalyptic smoothie is a refreshing treat that audiences haven’t tasted in thirty years. I’m talking of course about Mad Max: Fury Road.
Practical FX > CGI
The second full length trailer for Mad Max: Fury Road dropped recently and it is a doozy. Chock full of crazy stunts, high speed chases and set in a grungy, Deiselpunk wasteland cobbled together from car parts and S&M gear, the Mad Max trailer blows the last Avengers Age of Ultron trailer away in terms of sheer spectacle. But the Mad Max trailer is missing one thing that Age of Ultron has in spades: copious amounts of computer generated imagery. Fury Road director George Miller has stated that over 80% of the movie is practical-done on set-actually happened- effects. That other 20%? Mostly erasing wires and making it look like Charlize Theron has a robot for a hand. So there’s a good chance that all those jaw-dropping stunts in the trailer were all real. If that’s not cool than I don’t know what is.
Mad Max? I Think My Mom Used To Watch That…
It’s a good thing that the movie looks so awesome because the name Mad Max alone isn’t likely to get anyone under 30 into the theater. The last Mad Max came out in 1985. That’s long enough for a whole generation to have been born, grown up and had kids of their own without ever knowing the adventures of Max Rockatansky. Of course, it’s highly unlikely that many have fully escaped the influence that Mad Max has had on cinema. If you ask anyone if they’ve ever heard the phrase “Two men enter, one man leaves” or some variant, they will undoubtedly answer a resounding yes, even if they have no idea of where the saying originated. The concept of Thunderdome has been copied, spoofed, and recreated in several cartoons and movies that have come out since 1985 as have the general look and aesthetics of the Mad Max films. There is almost no post-apocalyptic film, from Waterworld to The Book of Eli that doesn’t owe a debt to Mad Max
Introducing A Whole New Audience To Post-Nuclear Australia
Having a lasting influence and remaining relevant in the public conscience are two different things though and while Mad Max: Fury Road could probably have coasted on nostalgia alone it’s opening weekend, it’s much better if your film is strong enough to stand on its own two feet independent of what came before. It’s pretty clear that director George Miller wants Mad Max: Fury Road to live or die by its own merits and not those of its predecessors. Any established franchise is going to have some sort of built in audience but the goal with each new film is to try and draw in new fans who have never watched a single previous installment and it’s clear from the trailers that that’s what Mad Max: Fury Road is aiming for. The trailers contain no major callbacks to previous Mad Max films, no repeat villains, no returning characters other than Max, and even then it’s not the Max we are used to.
But He’s Not Even An Aussie!
The Studio and the director deserve credit for having the guts to replace Mel Gibson with Tom Hardy. If the studio was really adamant on bringing back the good ‘ol days, it would have had no problem trotting out a geriatric Gibson and having him go through the motions (paging Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull!) hitting all the fan favorite story beats and essentially doing Mad Max: Greatest Hits. Instead they brought in Tom Hardy, a competent actor in his own right and more than capable of putting his own spin on Max and redefining him for a new generation. And make no mistake, that’s what this movie is about: introducing Mad Max to a new generation of movie goers.
Don’t Call It A Reboot…
Despite looking on the surface like just another reboot of a famous ‘80s property, Mad Max: Fury Road is a labor of love that the original creator of Mad Max, George Miller has wanted to make for years. These reboots have a way of looking like cynical cash grabs and to be honest, most of the time they probably are but this one is different. Mad Max: Fury Road isn’t even a reboot technically. Of course it’s not exactly a sequel either. In The Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome it’s pretty much established that Max becomes a legendary folk hero. And like all folk heroes there are many stories told of his exploits, by many different people of varying reliability. Thus we get a story of Mad Max that takes place after Thunderdome, but with a younger Max.
Tony Stark Is Great And All But He Doesn’t Have A Flame Shooting Guitar
So we know what Fury Road isn’t: it isn’t a reboot OR a sequel, it isn’t a cold CGI video game and it isn’t just some desperate attempt to make a quick buck, so what is it? Well going by the trailer, Mad Max: Fury Road is waterfalls in the middle of the desert. Its cars covered in spikes, people jumping from vehicles with spears, and explosions, lots of explosions! Its chastity belts and sand storms. It’s guitars that shoot fire…GUITARS THAT SHOOT FIRE!
Its punk rock meets the Australian outback, and it’s easily the most exciting movie coming out this summer.
