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LTTP Mad Max Fury Road

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P

PhoncipleBone

Banned
Death Metalist said:
One of the few movies I had to go and watch a few times in theaters. It has been a while since I've seen a segment from a film that made me want to yell from all the exhilaration. It's so good. Also, plus 1 for these ridiculous closeups, really added a punch to those chase scenes.

76J1uHG.gif


What a godlike film in every aspect.
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Ah, the Cruella Deville shot. I love it.

tumblr_mmwxti5ysU1qk2qd0o1_500.gif
 
XOMTOR

XOMTOR

Member
InsaneTiger said:
I thought while it was a visually stunning film, I was extremely bored by the whole thing.
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Well, I wasn't bored by the whole thing but it certainly overstayed its welcome.

highrider said:
Haha, I mean I'm not expecting loads of support on a dissenting opinion about this film. In Road Warrior they were scary, but it grew stale in Beyond Thunderdome and Fury Road didn't evolve the formula at all. If anything it kind of regressed. So despite your involvement with my favorite videogame, You're Wrong!!

All the more reason, I think to do something a little more interesting.. But hey.
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That rape scene in Road Warrior was legit awful; the villains were no clowns. The antagonists in Fury Road felt comedic in comparison.
 
M

Michael F. Assbender

Banned
Altairax15 said:
there's nothing else like it, including the predecessors
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Road Warrior is good. It's got a low-budget charm and some memorable scenes and characters. It's cheesy and hammy and fairly delicious, so long as you know what to expect.

Mad Max (the first one) was a prime example of a grand vision being snuffed out by budget. There are flickers of greatness there, but it's obvious Miller was held back by what he could afford to do.

Thunderdome was Mad Max with a budget, but the writing is mostly shit. Characters are either underdeveloped or poorly developed (mostly the kids), the setting of Bartertown is mostly bland besides the dome, and most scenes serve no other purpose than to get to the end of the scene. There's very little in the way of character progression, and Max becomes kind of a basic Hollywood good guy versus the conflicted/self-interested character he was shown to be in Road Warrior.

So yeah, I'd say watch the first and second if you want to lay some groundwork on the series (though neither is required to understand Fury Road), though really only the second is of any real quality.

Skip Thunderdome unless you're dying to see Max with a bitchin' 80s 'do.

Edit: I should add that I think both of the first two Mad Max films were affected by their small budgets (I feel maybe I left the impression that only the first film had this issue).

But whereas Road Warrior suffered slightly for it but rose above those limitations, Mad Max was nearly crippled by it.
 
Y

YuShtink

Member
Christine said:
I think it's sad that people are talking about movies that they think might be better action movies than Fury Road and I'm the first person to mention Predator.
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Haha just what I was thinking until I got to your post.

Also the first Matrix.

And John Woo's early stuff like The Killer and Hard Boiled imo.

Fury Road might crack my top 10 though, it's extremely well done.
 
M

Michael F. Assbender

Banned
YuShtink said:
Haha just what I was thinking until I got to your post.

Also the first Matrix.

And John Woo's early stuff like The Killer and Hard Boiled imo.

Fury Road might crack my top 10 though, it's extremely well done.
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I can't put The Matrix quite that high. It's good and it's stylish, but has no real depth, in my opinion.

Plus, it's one of the rare movies where the sub-par sequel(s) actually ruin my view of the original because it undoes a lot of what the original movie built up.

Take the conversation with the old man when we learn that Neo is just the latest in a long line of messiahs who have gone up against the Matrix.

Or the fact that the only reason he succeeds where the others failed is because he magically develops superpowers in the real world, thereby destroying the underlying theme of all three movies that regular, plain-old humanity is strong, capable, resilient, and intelligent enough to conquer anything, even a computer prison that has enslaved us all.

Turns out, nope. Humans suck and have sucked every single time they've stood up to the Matrix and can only win when Neo finds life's cheat code (
it's the Konami code
).

Just ugh.
 
Zoe

Zoe

Member
OP: Please try to see it in the theater if it ever replays near you!

So did the comics ever amount to anything?
 
Simo

Simo

Member
Rhomega Beta said:
I'd like to know this as well. I've seen the poster, and that's all I really know about it.
Click to expand...

What poster? Officially there's nothing other than Miller and a couple others saying there's a script for 2 follow ups. That's it sadly.

Zoe said:
OP: Please try to see it in the theater if it ever replays near you!

So did the comics ever amount to anything?
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They weren't bad. They were essentially prequel/origin stories Miller came up with and the Max one was supposed to be the story for the video game until Avalanche threw it out.
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
Toxi said:
I love how much the movie relies on small facial expressions or eye movements.

landscape-1474282621-furiosa.gif

tumblr_ogy48lOFAm1vpsbx4o3_500.gif
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It really does. This is one of my favorite moments in the film for how much it packs into a couple of seconds.

Zabka said:
wqNNd6Y.gif
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Furiosa has just entrusted her life to Max, out of raw necessity, and he came through. She climbs back into the cab and he returns her rifle to her - a reciprocal show of trust. They lock eyes for a moment, Furiosa processes that they're now a team and gets read to fuck shit up together.

I think a lot of people miss just how much character work is going on in Fury Road, just because there's not a lot of dialogue. It's rich with these kind of interactions.
 
D

Discotheque

Banned
Toxi said:
I love how much the movie relies on small facial expressions or eye movements.

landscape-1474282621-furiosa.gif

tumblr_ogy48lOFAm1vpsbx4o3_500.gif
Click to expand...

The moment where furiosa pulls the shotgun trigger on his head is perfect example of this. Dude gives such a wile e coyote expression. It's like live action looney tunes at times. I can totally see why Miller thought this movie would work with no dialogue, like those old buster Keaton movies.
 
Monocle

Monocle

Member
GhaleonEB said:
It really does. This is one of my favorite moments in the film for how much it packs into a couple of seconds.



Furiosa has just entrusted her life to Max, out of raw necessity, and he came through. She climbs back into the cab and he returns her rifle to her - a reciprocal show of trust. They lock eyes for a moment, Furiosa processes that they're now a team and gets read to fuck shit up together.

I think a lot of people miss just how much character work is going on in Fury Road, just because there's not a lot of dialogue. It's rich with these kind of interactions.
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Absolutely. The movie is a masterclass in visual storytelling. I get impatient with people who claim it's "dumb," or too thin on plot, or doesn't have fully realized characters. It's all there in their unspoken interactions and the richness of meaningful detail in their surroundings.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Htown said:
I had the same thought. Watched Mad Max. It was bad. Skip it.

The only interesting thing about it is that it takes place in some weird low-key dystopia they really only hint at.
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Mad Max is pre-apocalypse. One of those rare movies that take place on the fine line where there's a semblance of society still barely hanging on before the complete collapse
 
M

More_Badass

Member
plop said:
I can't put The Matrix quite that high. It's good and it's stylish, but has no real depth, in my opinion.

Plus, it's one of the rare movies where the sub-par sequel(s) actually ruin my view of the original because it undoes a lot of what the original movie built up.

Take the conversation with the old man when we learn that Neo is just the latest in a long line of messiahs who have gone up against the Matrix.

Or the fact that the only reason he succeeds where the others failed is because he magically develops superpowers in the real world, thereby destroying the underlying theme of all three movies that regular, plain-old humanity is strong, capable, resilient, and intelligent enough to conquer anything, even a computer prison that has enslaved us all.

Turns out, nope. Humans suck and have sucked every single time they've stood up to the Matrix and can only win when Neo finds life's cheat code (
it's the Konami code
).

Just ugh.
Click to expand...
What sequels?

But really, The Matrix's ending was perfect. It works perfectly as a single complete movie and story. You know exactly what's going to happen next after that last shot.
 
Spuck-uk

Spuck-uk

Banned
SummitAve said:
I liked everything about it except for Tom Hardy's performance. I'm not convinced he can deliver lines and act.
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Have you watched literally any other film he's been in. He's an incredible actor, all the moreso for doing so much in this film non-verbally.
 
Spuck-uk

Spuck-uk

Banned
Prism Sentence said:
Top 10, maybe. Definitely not top 3.
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100% agreed.

A lot of people think the classics are sacrosanct, but the action scenes in Fury Road absolutely annihilate the likes of Raiders. FWIW TDK is overlong as all hell and if not for The Joker, really wouldn't have been that special.

Fury Road, Aliens and T2 for the top 3 for me, and I'm old enough to have seen most of the top 10 on release in the cinema.

edit: Actually, Hard Boiled needs to be in the top tier of discussion as well. The hospital shootout is absolutely staggering, still.
 
D

Discotheque

Banned
I dunno where mad max would fall on my top 10 action movies. But it would probably be very high up there. At least top 5.

T2, Die Hard, Hard Boiled, Drunken Master 2, Raiders, Matrix and Road Warrior all have a spot too
 
C

Conciliator

Banned
i'm just gonna boringly echo all the people saying it's great; it's magical, it transports you to another universe, it's full of ideas and images and humanity and humor and adrenaline, it's so cool, blah blah blah you know
 
K

keuja

Member
Great visuals which is let down by its simplistic scenario and lack of backstory for the characters. I had no attachment to them at all. Still enjoyed the world building and the atmosphere.
 
D

D6AMIA6N

Member
Conciliator said:
i'm just gonna boringly echo all the people saying it's great; it's magical, it transports you to another universe, it's full of ideas and images and humanity and humor and adrenaline, it's so cool, blah blah blah you know
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Despite such a concise post, this guy nails it. Exactly why the movie is great. I honestly have never had a movie keep me so engrossed even when I wasn't watching it.
 
J

JoeNut

Member
honestly i'm surprised people liked it so much, basically they go somewhere and then decide to come back, with 90 minutes or whatever of car chases.

6/10
 
Spuck-uk

Spuck-uk

Banned
keuja said:
Great visuals which is let down by its simplistic scenario and lack of backstory for the characters. I had no attachment to them at all. Still enjoyed the world building and the atmosphere.
Click to expand...

You really need to rewatch the film and pay more attention next time.
 
P

Prism Sentence

Banned
Spuck-uk said:
100% agreed.

A lot of people think the classics are sacrosanct, but the action scenes in Fury Road absolutely annihilate the likes of Raiders. FWIW TDK is overlong as all hell and if not for The Joker, really wouldn't have been that special.

Fury Road, Aliens and T2 for the top 3 for me, and I'm old enough to have seen most of the top 10 on release in the cinema.

edit: Actually, Hard Boiled needs to be in the top tier of discussion as well. The hospital shootout is absolutely staggering, still.
Click to expand...

The idea that someone could not have T2, at least, in their top 3 and be our age (I assume you're around 30) is kinda amusing to me. Don't even wanna engage that, really.
 
D

DocSeuss

Member
Bobby Roberts said:
Not only are they definitely Top 3, they're #'s 1 and 2.

And Fury Road and Die Hard are like neck & neck.
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Nah.

Die Hard isn't an action movie. It's a thriller. It gets classed as an action movie, but its action is sparing and, heck, even laughable at times.

As a thriller, it's only matched by the likes of North by Northwest. It is one of the greatest thrillers ever made. To call it an action film is a disservice.
 
F

Fancy Clown

Member
DocSeuss said:
Nah.

Die Hard isn't an action movie. It's a thriller. It gets classed as an action movie, but its action is sparing and, heck, even laughable at times.

As a thriller, it's only matched by the likes of North by Northwest. It is one of the greatest thrillers ever made. To call it an action film is a disservice.
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I think this gets into some unnecessary genre semantics tbh. It's like when people say Raiders is an adventure film, not an action film. But these are just subsets of action. Die Hard has plenty of cat and mouse suspense, but John McClane also steadily takes out all his opposition and gets his explosive climax hero moment. Stuff like Speed, Aliens, and Predator are also action thrillers.

I think of pure thrillers as something where the protagonist has even more stakes against them and there aren't periodic cathartic action beats to relieve the tension. Stuff like Rear Window, The Conversation, and Blow Out.
 
D

Dirtyshubb

Member
Fury Road is one of my all time top films, such an amazing piece of entertainment.

Seeing discussion about rankings, im not always one for doing that (Too much to separate so finely) but for the Mad Max films its easy:

FR>>>>>>>>BTD>>MM2>MM

Each film has gotten better, with the first (while being important in creating the genre) being shit (terrible acting, editing, plot etc). 2 was better but still not great, Beyond Thunderdome was actually fun and introduced something new to the franchise – communities and how religion and history get warped and eventually turn into something else.

None of them compare to Fury Road though, that will be seen as a classic and used as a template for how to make a good action movie for years to come.
 
F

Fancy Clown

Member
I love how the most badass beats in the movie actually keeps all the action offscreen. The night scene where Max goes off and takes out the blind dude's car full of guys and comes back covered in blood. Ripped straight from Seven Samurai, and as in that film it's made all the more effective by leaving it to our imaginations.

JoeNut said:
honestly i'm surprised people liked it so much, basically they go somewhere and then decide to come back, with 90 minutes or whatever of car chases.

6/10
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That's such a reductive way of looking at things. Lord of the Rings is just going somewhere and then coming back with hundreds of minutes or whatever of killing orcs.

Like you're disregarding all of the actual story, and storytelling, contained in those 90 minutes and complaining about car chases in an action movie.
 
H

Heartfyre

Member
It's the Citizen Kane of film.

...Waitaminute...

A classic we'll be talking about for decades to come, no doubt. Definitely in the running for the best film of the 21st Century so far, at least.
 
T

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Fancy Clown said:
That's such a reductive way of looking at things. Lord of the Rings is just going somewhere and then coming back with hundreds of minutes or whatever of killing orcs.

Like you're disregarding all of the actual story, and storytelling, contained in those 90 minutes and complaining about car chases in an action movie.
Click to expand...

Raiders is just a guy trying to get a box. 5/10, would not watch again. /s
 
Monocle

Monocle

Member
JoeNut said:
honestly i'm surprised people liked it so much, basically they go somewhere and then decide to come back, with 90 minutes or whatever of car chases.

6/10
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Literally any movie on Earth can sound dumb when you reduce it to a simplistic outline. Pick another and try it.

Harry Potter is about a kid who neglects his studies to hang out with his geeky friends.

The Godfather is about a criminal who behaves like a criminal.

Ben-Hur is about a chariot racer who takes a trip to watch Jesus die.
 
S

Solo

Member
To be honest it's probably the best action movie all-time, its just that it hasn't existed long enough yet for people to come to terms with it knocking their favorite off that pedestal. Give it a decade and it'll be mostly undisputed (unless something else better comes out, of course).
 
J

JoeNut

Member
Fancy Clown said:
I love how the most badass beats in the movie actually keeps all the action offscreen. The night scene where Max goes off and takes out the blind dude's car full of guys and comes back covered in blood. Ripped straight from Seven Samurai, and as in that film it's made all the more effective by leaving it to our imaginations.



That's such a reductive way of looking at things. Lord of the Rings is just going somewhere and then coming back with hundreds of minutes or whatever of killing orcs.

Like you're disregarding all of the actual story, and storytelling, contained in those 90 minutes and complaining about car chases in an action movie.
Click to expand...

Monocle said:
Literally any movie on Earth can sound dumb when you reduce it to a simplistic outline. Pick another and try it.
Click to expand...

you're right and i agree with your point, rocky films are he trains and fights, the end.

However - i just didn't have any sense of connection or care for the characters, it seemed totally mindless to me.
I didnt hate it, it was just very average.
 
S

Savitar

Member
The trailers with the music and narration had me hyped as hell for this film, then I went to see it in the theater.

The movie WAS THE HYPE.

I absolutely loved it to pieces, made sure to buy the steel box blu ray when it came out. Totally one of my favorites.

The movie should be studied by film makers and students for how to get so much across without dialogue. So damn brilliant.
 
F

Fancy Clown

Member
JoeNut said:
However - i just didn't have any sense of connection or care for the characters, it seemed totally mindless to me.
I didnt hate it, it was just very average.
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As others have eloquently put it in this thread, the movie does a great job of fleshing out the characters, their motivations, and relationships, it just does it mostly through the action and visuals rather than through dialogue exchanges like most people are used to. It can be easy to miss some of these beats the first time around as you are swept up in the carnage I suppose.

If you revisit it, pay close attention to stuff like how Max's body language changed over the film and the moments when he and Furiosa start to trust each other. It's really economical and, moreover, effective storytelling imo. The whole journey is heavily rooted in the emotional stakes of the characters, which is why the action is as good as it is simply beyond being technically precise and ambitious.
 
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