Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) ****/5: Great action film but a few more historical explanations were required. This movie also belongs to Furiosa and she should have been mentioned in the title.

I have to admit that I never watched the Mad Max films of the 70s and 80s. I heard about them but never took them seriously although I was aware that it was these films that propelled Mel Gibson into the spotlight. I, therefore, decided to check out Mad Max: Fury Road with little expectation apart from the trailers and the praise by the critics. It is a good film, good enough for me to want to go and see the older films in the series. I was impressed with this film particularly the desolate and barren post apocalyptic environment that can easily give way to despair or a sense of misdirection. There are also other important issues tied into the system of patriarchy that set the tone for the great chase.

This film is about a tormented drifter and loner called Max (Tom Hardy) that gets caught up in a post apocalyptic struggle for liberation on the part of Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) from the patriarchal villain Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne).

Positives

The film might be an extended chase sequence on  Fury Road but the film finds a way to bring out several important themes that makes it resonate.  You come to slowly realize that the chase becomes important in shattering the overwhelming patriarchal structure dominated by Immortan Joe. The patriarchal strangle hold becomes more significant when you realize how important it is in the natural world for a man to maintain his power by controlling the females that reproduce his blood line. In this film  the natural world is brutal and when the natural world is brutal that is when the qualities of manhood come to the fore. The nature of testosterone driven man comes to the fore when environments are harsh. Men by nature like to lay claim to their stake in the soil and for that to be achieved a lot of violence will have to take place as clashes  are inevitable. When it comes to laying your claim to something you have to become a political animal. Fancy ideals won’t do here.  Laying your claim to something or someone means that you have to demonstrate your superior qualities over those that are also in with a shot. You have to be very competitive in such an instance and it is clear that Immortan Joe has laid a significant claim to a large percentage of the gas and water that are available in the harsh environment. He maintains a tight grip because he has convinced his followers of his greatness that takes on a religious edge. He promises to take them to the promised land of Valhalla.  As with most patriarchal strongholds  the chief or dominant male tends to try and control the prized females. These prized females will perpetuate his line. In brutal environments, like the one in this film, it is important to maintain your blood line if you’re the chief or dominant male because without your bloodline you will lose your core support and it will invite others to try and lay claim to your territory.

What I liked about this film was the challenge led by Furiosa to escape the patriarchal stranglehold of Immortan Joe as she tries to head back to her homeland with his breeders. Immortan Joe’s strangle hold is so strong that many of his impoverished supporters have become slavishly dependent on him. He has concentrated all of the resources in his name and that of his family and in this film there is a chance to break it. Obviously Immortan Joe has his military support which is important in a brutal environment and Max and Furiosa will have to go through that in order to find redemption or hope in such a brutal landscape.  I liked that this chase eventually comes down to shattering the patriarchal stranglehold. The film shows that this patriarchal stranglehold is very oppressive for the females. The females exist in bondage and their sexuality is brutally controlled. I liked that the chase was one of freedom. I liked some of the supporting cast that are females who have managed to survive without the overwhelming influence of men.

Max on the other hand is simply caught up in this struggle. It is interesting because he is caught up into a system whereas previously he was a drifter with little bearings aside from his tormented past.  He is caught up in Immortan Joe’s patriarchal structure where other males that are potential threats are drafted into his service. The character of Nux (Nicholas Hoult) is also important in addressing the place of males within the patriarchal structure dominated by Immortan Joe. Max seems more like an outsider looking in and he stands out because he comes to sympathize or empathize with the struggle of the females to escape the clutches of Immortan Joe. Max is all for himself at first but he becomes integrated into the struggle and learns to bond with others.

I loved the look of the post apocalyptic landscape. Although human civilization is in tatters there is technology which represents advancement tied into the savage patriarchal ideals of the environment. The future does not look so progressive and it seems that mankind is on its last limb and the liberation movement led by Furiosa is important in bringing back some form of hope to human civilization. I liked that I didn’t know what year it was in this case. This film did a better job than Interstellar in demonstrating why the earth is in a desolate state.

One of the best sequences in this film is the sandstorm and it is one of the best reasons to watch this film in 3D on the big screen.

Negatives

The primary negative in this great tale of freedom is the character of Max. I am not going to dwell on it but I was not that impressed with his character. I was more impressed with Furiosa and I believe the film would have been stronger if it was titled Mad Max and Furiosa: Fury Road. This is just as much her movie as it is his. The only thing that stands out with Max are his visions that are not really explained and only serve to provide method to his madness. He has one revealing moment and that is with Furiosa and I am wondering if more moments like that are to come. It is only his story because we see at the beginning that he is wandering aimlessly and is then caught up in the struggle only to remove himself again. It’s still good how they reconciled his isolated self with a social movement for liberation but there is so little we know about him apart from his credibility as a warrior.

If all Max has to offer is his credibility as a warrior then that would be due to the effect of the film’s structure that is really an extended chase sequence. All action, all the time and so there is not much to come to terms with when it comes to Max’s character. This just as much Furiosa’s film and she could have been mentioned in the title.

They could have spent more time on Immortan Joe and his character and his place in the history of that brutal environment. How did he come to power?  A little history goes along way.  I got the philosophical aspects of the film but I was just looking for a bit more history of the environment and the place of characters like Max and Immortan Joe. It would have been easy to do because it could be said that Max is this famous nomad with no allegiance to any of the tribes or gangs in the brutal landscape and many were seeking to recruit him by any means because he was supposed to be a formidable warrior etc. it would not even take 3 minutes to explain it in this way. So for the next film I am just looking for some more history. It does not have to be too much but just enough.