Mad Max: Fury Road. Rated MA15+ (strong violence and post-apocalyptic themes). 120 minutes. Directed by George Miller. Screenplay by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy and Nick Lathouris.
Verdict: A masterpiece.
It’s been thirty years since we last spent time in the company of George Miller’s ‘Mad’ Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson). It was 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Before that was 1981’s Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, and the ground-breaking movie that started it all, 1979’s Mad Max.
So how do you prepare to experience a film that has been thirty years in the making? After the epic disappointment (in similar circumstances) that was Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, there is always a danger that a keenly anticipated film might not have a chance of being as good as we want, or even need, it to be.
Fear not, because Mad Max: Fury Road is, in a word, magnificent. It is, in fact, beyond magnificent. It is a film of such complete, jaw-dropping cinematic mastery in every way that after the first astonishing twenty minutes, you will find yourself wondering where on earth Miller (Happy Feet 1 and 2, Lorenzo's Oil, The Witches of Eastwick) and his superb collaborators have left to go. The answer is, miraculously, everywhere and back again.
The screenplay is all fascinating, lean, cinematic muscle – creating a world where actions speak much louder than words and manage to say a good deal more. Photographed from every impossible angle by veteran cinematographer John Seale, scored majestically by Junkie XL, and edited to breathtaking perfection by Margaret Sixel and Jason Ballantine, Fury Road also boasts visionary work from costume designer Jenny Beavan and production designer Colin Gibson.
The performances from Miller’s outstanding cast are exceptional, but the stand-out is Charlize Theron. In a performance of immense emotional range, it is Theron’s Furiosa who matches the cars, trucks, weaponry, pageantry and gob-smacking stunt work, blowout-for-blowout.
This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.
No comments:
Post a Comment