Next time you are on the treadmill at the gym, play “Heavy Fuel” by #DireStraits. The heavy bass guitar strumming notes as the song kicks off are guaranteed to pump your adrenaline and keep it going. Here is a movie that employs the strumming of the guitar not just as BGM but has a character employed to do just that right through. And talking about adrenaline, well if there was a meter for that from low to high, the needle would point to “Are you nuts??” by the time you finish watching this!
ASHOK’s FIVE reviews the 2015 Australian post-apocalyptic handiwork of #GeorgeMiller whose limitless innovation is breath-taking. #MadMaxFuryRoad is the fourth in the Mad Max series and this is one road adventure which you won't forget in a hurry. #TomHardy takes over from #MelGibson and he teams up with Furiosa (#CharlizeTheron) to take on the evil Immortan Joe (#HughKeaysByrne). Joe controls the world order by restricting access to water and gasoline. Furiosa escapes with four of his wives. Max escapes from being a prisoner and they team up with Nux (#NicholasHoult) a warboy to seek redemption.
#GeorgeMiller eschews CGI and focuses on flesh, blood, stunts and the roar of heavily done up motor vehicles to deliver on the excitement. The Pole Cat sequences as the daredevils swing on the top of the vehicles are daredevilry at its best.
#MadMaxFuryRoad is wild, imaginative and hilarious. The emphasis is on minimum dialogue and maximum adrenalin rush. The characters, script and concepts are the brainchild of immense creativity. Mad Max is a ‘blood bag’ kept alive to infuse blood into Joe’s lackeys - the warboys. The true hero of the film is a crew cut, prosthetic arm in tow Furiosa with that middle-distance look perennially in her eyes. The war boys with their identical look, the heavy-metal guitarist and the fleet of customised, armoured and futuristic vehicles completes the picture. Immortan Joe on his part looks positively ugly with the respirator mask clamped to his face. In one scene, Max washes the blood off his face with mother’s milk siphoned off from a gas tanker!
The film can alienate a lot of viewers but that's the way it's meant to be. This is not for everyone. The Mad Max franchise has almost become a cult for the adrenaline junkies. The film is not all madness though; the cinematography by #JohnSeale is outstanding. The locales, the costumes, the action and the attention to detail is pure delight.
#TomHardy brings more action and more energy to the role. Its funny to watch him almost do a repeat of Bane in #TheDarkKnightRises with the mask on his face. As a result of this contraption, you can barely understand what he is saying. But like I said earlier that's the way its meant to be!
As Max and Furiosa head out to the ‘green place of many mothers’, it dawns on them that true redemption lies in heading back to where it all started. And that leads us to even more riveting action!
At a mind-blowing 150 mn USD, the film is a work of passion. It has its moments of high and moments of low. It has a certain ‘punk cred’ written all over it. They say that the band #DeepPurple once asked their sound engineers to make ‘everything louder than everything else’ And that positively insane quality to whatever the Mad Max franchise takes up is what makes this a modern cult classic!
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