It’s one of the best action movies of the 2010s. George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road revived the Mad Max franchise with flying colors. A film to (re)watch before it leaves the Netflix catalog.
What is it about ?
Warning: scenes, comments or images may offend the sensibilities of viewers
Haunted by a heavy past, Mad Max believes that the best way to survive is to be alone. However, he finds himself taken in by a band that travels the Desolation aboard a military vehicle piloted by the Imperator Furiosa. They flee the Citadel where the terrible Immortan Joe is raging, having had an irreplaceable object stolen from him. Enraged, this warlord sends his men to hunt down the rebels ruthlessly…
Mad Max: Fury Road a film written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nick Lathouris, directed by George Miller with Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Zoë Kravitz, Nicholas Hoult… Available until September 8
More than an action movie
Mad Max: Fury Road is a technical and visual marvel and is considered one of the best action films ever made. For the most part, the show stands on its own. However, it takes several viewings and an attentive ear to understand the workings of the Fury Road universe. In doing so, the devoted viewer will discover that the film is deeper than first thought.
Mad Max: Fury Road hit the screens in 2015. Directed by george millerwho also co-wrote the film, along with Tom Hardy in the role of Max, Charlize Theron in that of Furiosa and Nicholas Hoult in Nux’s, the film was moderately successful at the box office, grossing $375 million worldwide on a budget of $185 million.
It was still widely praised by critics and fans alike, receiving ten Academy Award nominations at the 88th Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture, and winning six for Outstanding Technical Achievement. Building on the success of Fury Road, George Miller has planned to launch a new trilogy in the Mad Max universe and has also announced a prequel on the character of Furiosa.
Warner Bros. France
Charlize Theron as Furiosa
Visionary
In front of Fury Road, we are aware that the world has become a huge wasteland due to war and the depletion of resources, but there is no story or context to explain what happened exactly or the impact of these crises. George Miller therefore presents this story using the setting.
Mad Max and his companions survive an environmental apocalypse. The wars or overconsumption that took place in the past caused a major cataclysm on the Earth. We realize this in front of this expanse of the desert and these weather conditions, as evidenced by the immense dust storm which almost toppled the War Rig, Furiosa’s machine.
More seriously, Furiosa is devastated to learn that her haven, “the green place”, has turned into a swamp since she last saw it. This means that during his lifetime the environment has changed dramatically and is still changing.
Resource hoarding is a matter of survival in post-apocalyptic worlds, but the way necessities like water and milk are guarded has turned them into forms of wealth. Immortan Joe, the god-king of the Citadel, markets them as commodities called “Aqua-Cola” and “Breast Milk” to nearby city-states.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Tom Hardy and George Miller on set
Immortan Joe is part of an economic network that markets water and milk. The transport truck used by Furiosa during his escape with the brides was intended to exchange milk for gasoline when he left the Citadel. The presence of such a system shows that a long period has passed between the dramatic events of the old world and the present. Max and Furiosa could be the second generation of apocalypse survivors or maybe they were young children when everything changed.
Mad Max: Fury Road is an action thriller, no doubt, but it is also a rich story that presents us with the consequences of consumerism and current capitalism. If the world continues to consume at such a frenetic rate, George Miller offers us a scenario for our future: the collapse of civilization into tribal city-states ruled by maniacs who believe themselves immortal; the society that sinks into extreme poverty and slavery.