Brilliantly bonkers

Mad Max: Fury Road has been in gestation for a long time. Thirty years since Mel Gibson last got behind the wheel of his iconic V8 Interceptor, this fourth iteration in the franchise has been in development hell since the late Nineties.

Usually this ends up with the whole thing being a bit of a travesty (think Indiana Jones), but I am delighted to reveal that Fury Road is bold, bonkers and most importantly, brilliant.

It’s quite tough to nail the film’s genre to a certain specification, but essentially, it’s a two-hour car chase through a post-apocalyptic desert wasteland. Civilisation has collapsed, with petrol and water the sole currency. And trades are not made with handshakes and pats on the back.

Max, who’s original actor Gibson has now been swapped for a newer model in Tom Hardy, has been captured by the War Boys gang, led by the tyrannical cult leader Immortan Joe. Designated as a rare universal blood donor, he is being used as a ‘blood bag’ for one of Joe’s prized Boys, Nux (Hoult).

Meanwhile, Imperator Furiosa (Theron) has been tasked with collecting gasoline on her heavily-armoured tanker truck, but decides to use the occasion to whisk Joe’s Five Wives – essentially breeders in the form of unwilling sex slaves/baby vessels – away from captivity and towards a would-be utopian promised land.

When Joe sends his entire army, and Max, after Furiosa, the two end up working together to escape their pursuers and find safety.

It’s hard to describe how out-and-out mental this movie is. It’s essentially a non-stop barrage of eye-popping action and gloriously impressive stunt work, with just enough moments of dialogue and character development to keep it on the rails.

A written review cannot overstate the quality of the mayhem we see onscreen, both in terms of the vehicular carnage and how much each crash and near miss matters in terms of the story being told. There is real artistry and poetry to the onscreen chaos.

Best of all, 90 per cent of the film’s effects are practical, which is such a breath of fresh air in a world of digital wizardry and shortcuts. It’s incredible that none of the 150 stunt performers hired for the movie, including Olympic gymnasts and Cirque de Soleil performers, were seriously hurt, or worse, during production.

Similarly, all of the vehicles, or ‘War Rigs’ used in the film were built to full-size and were actually driven during the scenes, with director George Miller laying down the mantra that they could only be designed and built using resources you’d find in a wasteland.

Therefore, the rusted steel behemoths with their imposing grilles and spikes are entirely believable, and it makes a huge difference to how invested we are in the action as a viewer. It’s deliciously over-the-top, but damn, it’s delightful.

The cinematography is equally stunning, with the dystopian desert painted in shades of red and beige that gives the film a legitimate aesthetic, while the editors deserve special praise for the coherence of their cutting, which enhances the action enormously. They also dispel the notion that for action to appear fast and furious, it must include ‘Shaky-cam’, an annoying trend in modern films that make such scenes an indecipherable and nauseating blur. That is eschewed here, and it’s the best action I have seen in a long time.

Most bizarrely, which you would probably not garner from the film’s marketing and the high level of action, this is a film with an extremely powerful feminist theme. Theron is the true star here and without a doubt the primary protagonist, stealing the show throughout her journey, with her triumphs and tragedies bringing the film’s focus into view.

Hardy brings the necessary steel and muscle to be a worthy successor to Gibson, and it’s to his credit that he is willing to essentially play a supporting character this time despite his name being in the title.

Just in case you have any misgivings, although the original films have attained cult status and have a rabid following, this rebirth is skewed towards those without any nostalgic memories of the original films. The plot and events therein are self-sustaining and require no knowledge of the previous adventures.

I cannot recommend this film enough, it’s a barmy yet wonderful piece of art and the best action film I have seen in donkey’s years. It’s relentless, but every crash and every stunt serves a dramatic purpose and ties together with the narrative. With outstanding performances, editing and cinematography, I’ve already booked in for a second viewing.

And, where else are you going to see a blind mutant wearing a red onesie, suspended on a bungee rope from a truck made out of amps and speakers who wields a flame-throwing guitar as he plays along to the film’s soundtrack?