{"id":12928,"date":"2016-01-07T13:26:52","date_gmt":"2016-01-07T18:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=12928"},"modified":"2016-01-07T15:06:32","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T20:06:32","slug":"br-mad-max-fury-road-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=12928","title":{"rendered":"BR: Mad Max – Fury Road (2015)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"MadMax_FuryRoad\"<\/a>Film<\/strong>: Very Good<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: n\/a<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong> Warner Home Entertainment<\/a><\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0All<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0 September1, 2015<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Science-Fiction \/ Action<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0Mad Max returns for another post-apocalyptic adventure, first escaping from the clutches of evil warlord Immortan Joe, then aiding the savvy Furiosa in battling a mass of blood-thirsty warriors.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>5 Making-of featurettes: \u201cMaximum Fury: Filming Fury Road\u201d (29 mins.) + \u201cFury on Four Wheels\u201d (23 mins.) + \u201cThe Road Warriors: Max and Furiosa\u201d (11 mins.) + \u201cThe Tools of the Wasteland\u201d (14 mins.) + \u201cThe Five Wives: So Shiny, So Chrome\u201d (11 mins.) + \u201cCrash & Smash\u201d (4 mins.) \/ 3 Deleted Scenes (4 mins.)<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

After a 4 year absence, George Miller returned to the directing chair with a long-delayed sequel to the franchise that started his career, and in spite of many production problems and a complex shoot, delivered a rock-solid action film with a wealth of practical stunts and effects, but after a kinetic first hour, it becomes clear this fourth film in the saga of Max Rockatansky, ex-cop \/ post-apocalypse wanderer who cares for no one and nothing, a finely detailed story is the last thing that was on anyone\u2019s mind once the cameras started to roll.<\/p>\n

What we know is Max (stoic \/ wooden Tom Hardy) has been snatched by a ruthless warlord and is used as a blood sack to nourish war boys, the sickly yet agile troops used by Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) to conquer and keep citizens in line. We also know Max is lashed to the front of a vehicle to keep the driver nourished as a small army is sent out to retrieve a tanker of valuable water intended as barter for gasoline.<\/p>\n

The tanker, driven by the once-respected Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), also carries a secret cargo of Immortan Joe\u2019s concubines, whom Furiosa intends to transport to freedom when she reaches her homeland, far away from the clutches of any warlords. Positions of power are in constant flux, as Max also moves from blood sack to warrior, controlling his former driver Slit, and hoarding ant weapons from Furiosa\u2019s group so their journey to freedom doesn\u2019t come with any lethal surprises.<\/p>\n

Miller seems to assume we all know something about Mad Max, or at the very least comprehend that in a post-apocalyptic world, it\u2019s every man and woman for him and herself, but that stance also means there\u2019s zero character development, and the film is exclusively one big chase sequence. When everyone realizes they\u2019re about to be swarmed by the troops from several warlords, they head back to their starting point<\/em> under the logic that Immortan Joe\u2019s little metropolis is now fully unguarded, and an easy city to claim as their own. They only need to make the return trip safely<\/em>.<\/p>\n

That literal turnaround signals the point where the film loses its logic, and it\u2019s a retread of still stellar but now familiar action montages that push the film to its concluding second hour. While a wholly new film, Fury Road<\/strong> is really just a reworking of the franchise\u2019s second film, The Road Warrior <\/strong>(1981), minus the western-like siege in which a group fend off gangs wanting their stash of fuel. The scale is grander, the sound design is stupendously aggressive, and the colours far more vibrant \u2013 but Part 4 offers nothing new to Rockatansky\u2019s mythology.<\/p>\n

Even stranger is the decision to have leads Max and Furiosa speak in soft monotone, making much of the dialogue rather subliminal. What few words are expressed evoke a quasi-poetic Medieval language which often fails to add any depth to any character. The most engaging character isn\u2019t Furiosa nor Max, but Slit (Josh Helman), a thuggish warrior who undergoes a moral transformation, and eventually offers his life to save the group.<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s choreographed mayhem is amazing \u2013 the action scenes run on steroids \u2013 and enough practical stunts manage to shine amid the digital blanketing of flames and peripheral details (which likely helped goose the film in its re-rendered 3D incarnation), but the entire film is cut in the same breakneck action speed, making even short dialogue scenes between Max and the concubines barely affecting, if not perceptible. There are deliberate zones within the narrative where Max & Co. have stopped and\u00a0 the edits-per-second are ratcheted down, but there\u2019s little content to these scenes which are pretty much buffer points between action sequences.<\/p>\n

The industrial-orchestral score by Junkie XL \/ Tom Holkenborg works great for the film, but it\u2019s often reduced to looped segments, if not a bass pulse, as so much of the action scenes take over the soundscape. Perhaps Miller\u2019s most inventive use of sound is a giant truck outfitted with speakers and a band which, like Roman drummers in mid-conquest, keep the troops moving in one unified pace (or moving on a crackhead, heavy metal high).<\/p>\n

Visually and sonically, Max Max Fury Road<\/strong> is a wonder and no doubt exhilarated audiences on the big screen, and on Blu-ray the uncompressed 5.1 audio is deliciously intense, but if Miller\u2019s attempting to kick-start a new franchise, he\u2019s got to add a bit more meat to the characters, and a plotline that doesn\u2019t turn 180 degrees and replay material with audio-visual gusto as camouflage for the script\u2019s glaring weaknesses.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2015 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB \u00a0<\/a>— \u00a0Soundtrack Album<\/a> —\u00a0Composer Filmography<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a 4 year absence, George Miller returned to the directing chair with a long-delayed sequel to the franchise that started his career, and in spite of many production problems and a complex shoot, delivered a rock-solid action film with a wealth of practical stunts and effects, but after a kinetic first hour…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[4174,4173,4172,4175,4176],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-3mw","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12928"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12928"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12930,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12928\/revisions\/12930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}