Mad Max: Fury Road

I can't remember much of what happened in the first three Mad Mad films, and I was planning a rewatch but then that didn't happen. All I do remember is Tina Turner's mullet. That mullet has been in my brain for thirty years. That be some mullet. After seeing this, I am putting the rewatch back on the list of things to do.

Mad Max: Fury Road was directed by national treasure and fellow Queenslander, George Miller. Miller directed the first three Mad Max films and Happy Feet. Now that's range. Miller co-wrote the screenplay with Brendan McCarthy and Nick Lathouris.

Meet Aussie Bane. Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy - The Dark Knight Rises) is on the run. But he is captured and brought to the Citadel which is under the rule of Immortal Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne - Farscape), the deserts answer to Darth Vader. Joe controls all of the water in this dusty, post-apocalyptic society and human beings are commodities to be owned like things. Once you are owned a contract is tattooed on your back by an unkempt Angus Sampson (The Mule) and the back of your neck is branded. Life sucks. And to make things worse, there are more skinheads here than in Romper Stomper.

The Force is strong with this one.

Max, who now has a metal mask on his face (like Bane!), tries to escape again but he fails again. He's not very good at this because he keeps having visions of his family and his little girl - he wasn't able to save her. (This is why I need to watch the others again! Backstory is really handy). Max is used as a 'blood bag' to give nutter Nux (Nicholas Hoult - Warm Bodies) a much-needed transfusion.

Meanwhile, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron - A Million Ways to Die in the West) is about to make a run to get some much needed gasoline. She heads out in her massive tanker truck with a bunch of her workers. But on her way to Gastown, she chucks a left turn. Joe is told that Furiosa has gone off course and sends out an army to find out why. Nux wants to come along so he straps his blood bag (a.k.a Max for those not paying attention) to the front of his car and follows. As you do.

Hood ornaments in the future are a little excessive.

Turns out, Furiosa has smuggled Joe's most prized possessions, his five wives known as 'breeders'. One of them, The Splendid Angharad (Rosie Huntington-Whitely - Transformers: Dark of the Moon) is pregnant with Joe's baby. Furiosa is trying to get them to Green Place where she grew up. What follows is the most awesomenest road movies ever.

Mother-flipping wow. I really hope this film makes a shit load of money, here and overseas because it is frikken amazing. It is non-stop bat-shit crazy but it's the best kind of bat-shit crazy. There are a couple of Star Wars references too; first, there's white Darth Vader, then there's a few guys who look like Tusken Raiders who drive cars that look like echidnas (I think one of them was a VW!). There was another but I didn't write it down. Blogger fail.

 ROAD TRIP!

With all this frenzied action going on, the film is also wonderfully shot. The dusty oranges of the day are juxtaposed by the moonlit blues of night. Aussie cinematographer John Seale, who has also worked with desert before in The English Patient (he also did BMX Bandits!) has created some beautiful images out of this harsh landscape we call the back yard. And I'm sure there will be a bunch of Cosplayers wearing Jenny Beavan's (Sherlock Holmes, The King's Speech) costumes to the next convention.

I'm not a car person but gosh darn! Talk about Pimp my Ride: Outback Edition. The machines are absolutely amazing. I loved the big truck with the guitarist playing non-stop in front of a wall of amps, behind him are four dudes banging on timpani. I wonder if Brisbane Car Sound would hook up something like that in my Suzuki?

 Cirque du Soleil: Outback.

I didn't see this in 3D but I can see how the whole experience would have been enhanced by it. I might even give it another whack and pop on the ol' funny glasses to see what it's like.

You must see this film. If don't, you are un-AUstralian. Even if you're not Australian. Also, this is what is going to happen if we don't take action on climate change and run out of water so take note.

Things I learnt: THAT'S MY JACKET; there's nothing scarier than a blind guy with a machine gun; lip balm, people, lip balm.

What a film. What a lovely film.
Ten out of ten.