As designated driver and chaperone to my younger siblings as they watched the UFC fight in Manila Paul and I saw Mad Max on a date so to speak, no exclusive screening or movie premiere just a regular movie date on a Saturday night. The balcony area of the movie house was pretty filled which is interesting since most of the most masses would probably have gone to see Pitch Perfect 2.
I honestly didn't know what to expect from the fourth movie in the Mad Max franchise since I'm not familiar with the first three movies. Even Paul wasn't born yet (in 1979) when the film that launched Mel Gibson's career, the original in the franchise came out. I honestly had no idea what to expect, just that there was going to cars, sand and explosion.
So just imagine my surprise when this stunning vision of a post apocalyptic world came exploding through the screen. Unlike young adult dystopian novels turned movies, we have no heroine making an undying sacrifice or breaking the confines of society, we have a cruel world made up of nightmares where the only the only thing that you can do is to survive.
There were parts in the movie where they seemed to use an increased frame rate in the camera, giving an unnatural effect in the actors movement, now imagine a chase scene where the pursuing party is a pack of pale white bald headed men it was like watching zombies on adrenaline. There were many sudden flashed disturbing images (in relation to Max's past) that will give you a mini heart attack. I heard someone in the audience say "I thought this wasn't a scary movie?". Indeed, some images were both frightening and disturbing, so much so that a colleague of mine at work said his girlfriend was traumatized from the film.
Be that as it may, Fury Road's vision is indeed frightening enough to be of a dystopian future we do not wish to be a part of. I believe that the film's essence is that beyond the crazy cars, fight, chase scenes and all the explosion is a narrative so simple that it is one that we have mostly read in books, or seems in movies and television. Which works for Mad Max because it is relatable and believable. A tyrant keeping control of all resources so he has each and every one at his mercy and begging for his favor is something that we don't only see in movies but happens in real life that it is almost scary.
Max and his companions come together merely by accident and yet they all want the same thing-to survive and in order to do that they must face and fight a sadistic and cruel tyrant.
Aside from Tom Hardy's Max or Charlize Theron's Furiosa there is also a colorful cast of characters who will keep you glued to the screen, okay I have to admit the Victorias Secret Models were a bit distracting but it's all part of the style and vision of the story. Our favorite would be the bad as* guitar hero with a fire breathing axe :)
Pitch Perfect 2 might have deafeted Mad Max in the blockbuster earnings but the ravings and praises of critics is also an indication that this is an action movie like no other and will be talked about for years to come.
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