An apocalyptic story set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and most everyone is crazed fighting for the necessities of life. Within this w...
A Review of Mad Max: Fury Road, Along With the Black and Chrome Edition.
They don’t make action films like this anymore. Fury Road is one of the most visceral, adrenaline fuelled theatre experiences I’ve had in a long, long time. George Miller, the veteran director of the original films, brings to life a completely new vision of Mad Max, one so kinetic and intense I find it hard to believe I walked out of the cinema alive. Each action set piece is so easy to follow, yet at the same time so manic and extravagant. I also applaud the extremes Miller went to in order to shoot some of the scenes; it’s astonishing how little CGI was used in this film. Trucks were flipped and exploded, motorbikes were ridden down 70 degree hills, cars were rolled over, trucks were jackknifed, the list goes on.
In amongst all the amazing action were some solid characters too, something many action filmmakers forget to focus on. Each character is clear and defined, but only to the extent that the film needs them to be. Fury Road certainly doesn’t forget it’s an action film, but it doesn’t forget its actors and script either. The cinematography is spectacular also, the beauty of the desert is not at all wasted by Miller and his DoP. Camera movements are certainly noteworthy, with zooms and sweeping pans and shaky cam being used in exactly the right places.
The film did suffer from some clunky dialogue however, and there were a couple of moments in amongst the action where I felt lost for a second or two; this is completely forgivable however, as it is made up for in spades by the rest of the action scenes.
Now, black and chrome, is it worth seeing? Absolutely. Upon reading this it is too late to see it in cinemas, but the Blu ray has been available for some time now, so you haven’t missed out completely. The black and chrome edition is my preferred version of the film, the high saturation looks astonishingly good in the desert environment, and the lack of colour brings so much grit and detail into the image. Some information is lost however, the friends I saw the black and chrome edition with had not seen the film previously, and were confused as to why Max told the gang there was vegetation at the citadel. It turned out that they couldn’t distinguish the green on top of the cliffs, which was so obvious in the colour version. Apart from that I cannot recommend this film, especially in black and chrome, enough.
