All in all, this film is highly entertaining with few flaws in terms of leaving the theatre satisfied.
By Michael Menendez
Fasten your seatbelts: George Miller is back in full force. In a world full of reboots, remakes, and long delayed sequels that no one really asked for, Miller has managed to create a fantastic and enthralling follow-up to one of the most beloved trilogies of all time.
More so than any other of the films in the series, George Miller creates a gorgeously bleak landscape that captures the desolate world within which Max (Tom Hardy replacing Mel Gibson) lives, due most likely to the much larger budget given to him for this film as opposed to the original trilogy (even factoring inflation in).
Beyond saying that the film is gorgeously filmed, well-acted by its cast (especially in the case of Charlize Theron as Imperior Furiosa), and exciting from beginning to end, something has to be said about the feministic turn that this film takes, further differentiating itself from its three predecessors.
While Tom Hardy does a fine job as Max, the titular hero, it is really Charlize Theron and her quest to free five women from the label of property from an evil dictator of sorts called “Immortan Joe.” Controlling most of the water in the world, Immortan Joe horrifyingly teases his “subjects” with only drops of water per person, culminating in a god-like figure to the general public.
Furiosa has had enough and abandons her post to rescue Joe’s “Five Wives” from their apparent slavery. Then ensuing filmfocuses on her struggle to fight for what she believes in to give these women a better life, something that can be highly admired.
With saying that the film is well acted, well directed, and with a hefty dose of amazingly engrossing actions sequences (especially in the desert storm sequence), there is a lot to be said about the lack of screenplay. While in some senses this is a plus for the film, focusing more on the chemistry between the characters and the action sequences surrounding them, it is also a drawback that poses the question “Was this film necessary?”
With no real character development, the film really was driven by its action sequences, resulting in a film that truly exists as one long car chase, but an impressive one at that. Only one is very delved in to, and that is Furiosa, but evenwith her we’re left wanting more of a backstory to understand her drive.
All in all, this film is highly entertaining with few flaws in terms of leaving the theatre satisfied. Fans of the franchise, though, may find it to be an empty entertainment. Still, though, if this is the last film of George Miller’s long career, he would be going out with a definitive bang.
4/5 stars
Michael Menendez is a student at the University of Central Florida, where he majors in journalism.
