MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Review

I left the theatre the other day feeling hyper like a 13-year-old boy, all wide-eyed and chatty. I’d just witnessed something I knew I would be talking about for weeks to anyone and everyone who would listen.

Looking back on a handful of conversations I’ve had over the years after seeing much-hyped sci-fi movies, I tend to shrug a lot, discuss the ups and downs of the plot, the strong performances and the weak choices. I love a good dissection even when the movie doesn’t live up to its trailer.

But rarely, if ever, do I walk out of a theatre feeling like a full-fledged convert.

Mad Max: Fury Road turned me into a zealot, a War Boy who grasped onto the rusty metal siding of a speeding muscle car for two hours and can’t wait to go again.

Before I start frothing at the mouth, let me explain/justify my review. 

While Mad Max is not based on a comic book, Vertigo is publishing a Mad Max: Fury Road comic book miniseries that will explore the backstories of some characters, with the first issue focusing on Nux, the endearing War Boy played by Nicholas Hoult, and Immortan Joe, played by the original Mad Max baddie, Hugh Keays-Byrne.

Comparing Byrne’s appearance from the original 1979 movie to that of Immortan Joe — a tyrannical warlord and religious figure — you can see how George Miller’s demented vision of the future has evolved over the decades.

Visually, the original Mad Max seems like light fare compared to Fury Road. Don’t get me wrong. Mad Max (or arguably The Road Warrior, the Mad Max sequel) is the pinnacle of Australian grindhouse, a movie as dedicated to daring stunts and cool cars as it is to daring storytelling — Miller was killing off innocent characters long before Game of Thrones.

But, nowadays, George Miller is perhaps his own worst enemy in that he influenced the post-apocalyptic genre so much, punk rockers with Mohawks riding around the desert on motorcycles feels cliché. We’ve seen it imitated too many times before.

Mad Max: Fury Road pushes the boundaries of the post-apocalyptic genre into something resembling fantasy. It is a world gone mad, fully realized and a feast for the senses. Anyone familiar with Blade Runner or Jodorowsky’s Dune, will find the same level of detail, the same effort in art direction, spilling out of every frame.  Although there are short flourishes of CG (e.g. an epic sandstorm complete with lightning and tornados), Miller’s dedication to in-camera stunt work is truly awe-inspiring, and I foresee Fury Road aging exceptionally well as a result.

Sufficed to say, I wouldn’t be this excited about Fury Road if the performances fell flat.

If you haven’t heard from your girlfriend, sister, or female Facebook friends yet, yes, Fury Road is surprisingly female-centric — Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), isn’t the only badass female character but she is the most noteworthy. Wearing a robotic arm and oil as war paint, Furiosa is the empowering female sci-fi heroine we haven’t seen since Sigourney Weaver did this.

She’s a complex, capable character who happens to be a woman, which is an accomplishment in and of itself. Now consider the fact that she appears in a movie whose main selling point is cars-getting-blowed-up-real-good!

Where Max is the strong and silent hero battling inner demons and outer ones, Furiosa is the heart of Fury road. Her resilience in the face of unimaginable tragedy gives depth and meaning to the action.

Both she and Max are seeking redemption by stealing Immorten Joe’s most prized possessions — healthy, childbearing women.

Furiosa’s reasons for doing so are a bit murky. Max, on the other hand, has visions of a young girl (likely his daughter) being run over. Max’s “madness” connects Fury Road to the original Mad Max movie and humanizes a character that tends to speak more with actions than words.

It’s tricky trying to balance two characters in a lead role — Terminator: Salvation is the best example of this not working out. But Max and Furiosa compliment one another perfectly without the latter stealing the titular character’s thunder… dome.

Sorry. 

I couldn’t help myself.

New on Netflix: STRIPPED

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*Stripped is available on both Canadian and American Netflix*

Hey everybody, I have a historic first for the blog today. I’m going to talk a little bit about a documentary! 

It’s called Stripped, and it focuses on all of the major newspaper comic strips, how they started, the death of newspapers, and how web comics are carrying on the tradition.

There are a lot of great things I could say about this Kickstarter project, but like the Sunday comics, I’m going to keep this post short and sweet.

I think whether you’re into comics or not, you probably picked up the newspaper as a kid and went straight to the comics section. I read a ton of Calvin and Hobbes back in the day, and Stripped actually managed to get the very private creator, Bill Waterson, to talk about his creative process. 

Penny Arcade

On top of that, they speak with the creators of Penny Arcade, Questionable Content, The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, Hark! A Vagrant, Garfield, Beetle Bailey, Cathy, Family Circus, and many more.

I can’t say I’m a fan of every comic they delve into, but the artists behind them are really inspiring, and they reminded me why I fell in love with comics in the first place. If you want to have a good laugh and learn more about the comics industry, I highly recommend you check out Stripped.

Hark! A Vagrant

Is DC just a tease or can they go all the way?

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There’s been a lot of talk lately about the current state of DC’s planned movie universe. I say planned because the only insight into this universe thus far has been MAN OF STEEL (2013) and the teaser that was forcibly released two weeks ago.

On a side note, I have to say my heart hurt for Zack Snyder, having to release a teaser in the shadow of the Millennium Falcon. Star Wars is probably the only movie that can overshadow such an epic superhero mash-up like BATMAN V. SUPERMAN.

These articles from Forbes.com and The Hollywood Reporter are good reads if you want to delve a bit deeper than what I’m going to do here.

But here’s my take.

DC is either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid, and we won’t know which until March, 2016.

It’s easy to imagine this whole thing going south, with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman, all trying to pass through a narrow door and getting stuck. If BATMAN V. SUPERMAN doesn’t balance these characters and give audiences a movie they can rally behind (which MAN OF STEEL failed to do) then the DC Cinematic Universe will be swallowed by a black hole that only animated features can pull away from.

And that should concern every comic book movie fan.

I’m a Marvel man. My DC-loving girlfriend, Amanda, can attest to that. But Marvel shouldn’t be the only game in town when it comes to comic book movies. And I would be lying if I said DC doesn’t have some of the most complex and captivating characters in comics. They deserve to be treated with respect, and I fear that Warner Bros. will fail to give each character their due.

DC has taken a decidedly more rushed approach to a cinematic universe than Marvel, and I can’t tell you why — although greed and impatience are likely culprits.

Marvel took several calculated risks to get to where they are now, and it’s paid off. And for all we know, DC’s plan might pay off, too. But what if it doesn’t?

If DC has to go back to the drawing board and adopt Marvel's approach, we might not see a satisfying live-action Justice League movie until 2030.

I think there’s a lesson to be learned here from Spider-Man. Sony let greed cloud their judgment, and Spider-Man paid the price. One of the most beloved comic book characters is now the victim of the worst audience fatigue ever felt in comic book movie history. Now, Sony is doing what so few studios ever do: sharing a character with another studio to get a property off the ground.

If you can’t do it right the first time, you probably won’t get another shot. And audiences suffer the most. (Okay, fanboys suffer the most. We’re always suffering.)

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Let’s look beyond BATMAN V. SUPERMAN and consider Marvel Vs. DC, the oldest rivalry in comic book history. Having that conflict makes the comics better because it makes loving the comics more of a commitment. It reifies our love for the characters because we know we have choices.

But when it comes to choosing comic book movies, we’re forced to choose between good Marvel movies and bad Marvel movies. And for every great indie adaptation like SNOWPIERCER and KICK-ASS, we get a dozen misfires and cheap sequels, like THE SPIRIT and 300: Rise of an Empire — I had to Google it to remember the name. I genuinely can’t remember that movie!

If BATMAN V. SUPERMAN doesn’t quite cut it, there is still hope. Certain characters might make enough of an impression to carry on into another movie. And SUICIDE SQUAD could still flesh out an interesting new world for Ben Affleck’s Batman to explore — although they seem to be stuffing a lot of characters into that movie, too.

Take it from someone who has Marvel branded on his heart — no matter how badly or how often DC screws up a live-action movie, their characters will survive.

Let’s just hope we’re not old and grey when they figure out how to do them justice.