Ten years ago, 70-year-old Australian director George Miller put modern filmmakers on blast with Mad Max: Fury Road.
Miller has helmed every film in the franchise since The Road Warrior in 1979, but few believed that a modern sequel would catch fire.
Instead, Fury Road shocked everyone by making nearly $380 million worldwide, and it’s widely regarded as one of the best action movies ever made.
Fury Road is coming back to Netflix this month, and it’s my pick for the one Netflix movie that I can’t wait to watch — again.
Charlize Theron Gave an Iconic Performance
Tom Hardy shouldn’t be dismissed for his contributions to Fury Road. Taking over the role of “Mad Max” Rockatansky from Mel Gibson was never going to be easy, and Hardy does a very good job in the film. But he’s also overshadowed by the incredible work that Charlize Theron does as Imperator Furiosa.
This was the movie that legitimized Theron as an action star, and it’s almost impossible to take our eyes off Furiosa when she’s on-screen. She’s simply more compelling than Max in his own movie. The reported behind-the-scenes tension between Theron and Hardy actually works in the film’s favor as well, because it really feels like Furiosa and Max hate each other even when they’re ostensibly on the same side.
The Action Scenes Are Thrilling
Miller is an old-school filmmaker, and as such, he favors practical effects over CGI. That approach went a long way towards giving Fury Road‘s epic action scenes an added sense of danger and realism. There’s still a lot of cinematic trickery used to bring these sequences to life, but they pop off the screen even when Fury Road isn’t on the biggest canvas available.
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The Supporting Cast Is Very Impressive
The late Hugh Keays-Byrne portrayed the film’s villain, Immortan Joe, with an over-the-top flair and intensity. Joe’s mask covered most of his lower face, so Keays-Byrne conveyed a lot of his menace through his eyes and body language. Immortan Joe may not be as memorable as Furiosa herself, but he’s a terrific bad guy in this story.
Nicholas Hoult delivers a strong performance as Nux, despite being heavily made up, and his character undergoes one of the most complete arcs in the movie as he transitions from Joe’s side to join Furiosa and Max’s cause. Riley Keough, Zoë Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Abbey Lee and Courtney Eaton are also well-cast as Joe’s wives. These are the women that Furiosa and Max are risking their lives to protect from Joe, and it’s not surprising that Keough Kravitz and Lee have gone on to greater stardom. Eaton may be on her way up as well, thanks to her stint on Showtime’s Yellowjackets.
