Mad Max - Fury Road

Fans have had to wait 30 years, but the time has finally come for George Miller to direct a new Mad Max movie. The plans for it have been around for a long time. Most recently, in 2003, it looked all but certain that the fourth installment would become a reality and that Mel Gibson would once again step into the role that started his career off right. But even though the budget was approved and the lead actor was signed on, the project had to be put on hold again and after Gibson announced that he was quitting, it looked like the project was dead after all. But George Miller was not ready to give up his baby just like that. He fought on, rewrote the script, hired a new lead actor in Tom Hardy and in 2012 the cameras could finally roll. After extremely difficult filming and costly reshoots, the result is now finally in theaters under the title Mad Max - Fury Road.

The story is thereby quickly told: The former cop Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) is despite all caution in the clutches of the warlord Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). Henceforth, he serves only as a blood donor for the young warrior Nux (Nicholas Hoult). When the warrior Furiosa (Charlize Theron) steals the tyrant's most valuable asset - five young women who were to be mothers to ensure the continuation of Immortan Joe's empire - he mobilizes his motorized troops to stop Furiosa and the other women. Chained to Nux's car, Max now also finds himself in the middle of a war he really wanted no part of...

Based on the problems Mad Max - Fury Road faced long before it was actually shot, you'd think this production was ill-starred. And after all the time and money Miller and the studio have invested in its development, you would have thought that those in charge would have insisted on playing it safe when it came to staging it, in order to appeal to the widest possible audience. The big surprise, however, is that that's exactly not the case. Apparently, Miller was given complete creative freedom, which he also lived up to in an impressive way. Alone the design of the vehicles is, surely also thanks to the very long planning phase, in the smallest details simply great, eccentric and unadjusted - just like the rest of the production also.

That the film actually offers no particularly sophisticated story and has hardly any dialogue, may sound negative at first. But George Miller knows first-class how to tell more with his pictures than some sprawling dialogue would have managed. No matter if you've seen the earlier films or if this is the first time you meet the lonely road warrior, after a few moments you know exactly in which world Max lives, which rules apply there and what's at stake for Furiosa and the women she wants to free. Even though Miller doesn't actually show very much more than a nearly two-hour car chase through the desert, there's still a lot more told at the end than initially meets the eye. Sure, the story doesn't get any deeper through the power of the images and the brilliant direction. But this almost purely visual storytelling is impressive.

The look of the film is just as wild, crazy, sick and extravagant, as the implementation of the action. Thus, on the one hand, Mad Max - Fury Road clearly eludes the mainstream, but at the same time offers the best fodder for lovers of modern action cinema. This may be very special and take some getting used to, but what you get in return for going for it is definitely worth the effort to keep an open mind. Because for the most part Miller has done without the CGI effects that are so popular among his colleagues and presents a lot of real stunts that often take the audience's breath away. But even when he does use visual effects quite obviously, Miller still knows perfectly how to avoid making his film look too slick and perfect. Because the world of Mad Max is, well, dirty, ugly, sick and depraved. That this is allowed to be celebrated so unbridled in an estimated $150 million blockbuster is one of the most positive surprises of the cinematic year so far.

Mad Max - Fury Road is a loud, twisted, explosive, fascinating and disturbed trip that has tremendous showmanship and entertainment value. If you don't expect a slick look and a polished dramaturgy, you can experience great cinema in the best sense of the word. An apocalyptic action trip with many rough edges, which has more than earned its Absolutely worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp