This is pretty much the one movie that gets everyone in Film Twitter world to stop screaming and start purring like kittens. It truly is a modern classic; seeing it in theaters back in 2015 was an exhilarating, exhausting experience that most big budget blockbusters can't even sniff, let alone touch.
Dang. I have it on Blu Ray but haven’t seen it in years. I loved it but admit to being one of the “durs” who thought it’s “wokeness” was it’s weakness. I’m over 50 so I’ll always love The Road Warrior more, which I also have on Blu Ray, (yeah, I’m that guy), but after reading this I’ll give it another shot. (Also, I’ve got a huge man crush on Tom Hardy now after going on a Peaky Blinders binge.)
It's been a long time since I took a film study class, but the way Charlize Theron is framed, lit, and shot plays a role in how much weight and power the viewer attributes to her. It's been a few years since I saw the movie (so I'm behind on my film study AND behind on watching the movie) but I think she really gets the Big Hero treatment in the photography. You're paying careful attention to the dialogue and narrative, Freddie, but if you look at it just from a visual standpoint, I think Max is filmed less heroically and less like a Big Movie Star. I suppose I should watch it again.
It's a good movie, and a collectivist movie. It says a lot about capitalist culture that people could only interpret it through an extremely individualistic lens.
Thanks for this. These days I find myself in a constant state of despair over the general state of film criticism, interpretation, and appreciation. Nice to read something clean, clear-headed, and based on what is actually in the film. I'd love to read your take on Raiders as well.
Articles like this are why I'm a paid subscriber. I remember thinking exactly these thoughts when I first saw the movie - the scene where Max gives up the gun is one of the greatest in modern cinematic history. It's an incredible moment where two strangers who are facing insurmountable odds become an unstoppable team through a leap of faith.
The real life mirror which I think often gets missed however, is how this is also a total inversion of the image of masculinity represented by Chris Kyle and glorified in American Sniper (2014) and the mainstream media of the day. In Mad Max Fury Road, two battle scarred veterans of a forever war find a way to turn the tables and find peace. IRL, one shot the other instead.
I enjoyed the movie (and this piece) quite a lot and generally agree. The thing which most undercut that message, to me, was a necessary part of the Mad Max films.
The part where he rides off into the sunset, rather than doing as he's just convinced them to do and stick around to do the work necessary to keep a brand new and extremely vulnerable society working and safe.
Like most movie series, this one degraded as each sequel came out. The original was an interesting dystopian vision filmed seemingly on Super 8 as a college cinematography class project. It peaked with "The Road Warrior", jumped the shark with "Beyond Thunderdome", Tina or no Tina, and then flat-lined. Charlize's talents were wasted. And I should have been. Ho hum.
THANK YOU. I also didn't understand at all why people said it was Furiosa's movie and Max was sidelined or that the real heroes were the women who saved themselves all on their own - things I'd heard before I watched it. In fact, I was almost disappointed to realize none of this was true - Max was definitely a crucial character and he and Nux saved the women's lives !
It's all posturing, really. I don't think the people claiming this have thought about it very heard or even genuinely believe it... some very online men's rights activists were complaining about the movie before it was released (their complaints were based on the trailer, not the actual film), saying that it was unfairly putting Furiosa in the spotlight to Max's expense. Ironically enough, the idea kind of flourished online, and it became fashionable to repeat it verbatim and praise the movie to own the MRAs. I think that if you refuse to recognize that Furiosa is the actual hero of the movie, you can even be accused of being anti-feminist these days... it's a cheap way to show how progressive you are. "Yes, Furiosa completely steals the movie, and I don't mind this at all and I think it's great, because I'm one of the good guys."
It's always weird to me, as a former film studies student, how many adult humans don't know how to watch a mainstream narrative film or TV show and actually understand it. There's like some sort of media literacy gap there that needs to be further explored...
I only just recently saw this movie for the first time. I am also someone who generally avoids most film discussion online (at least since the AV Club murderes its comments section).
As such, I find the revelation that this is the prevailing narrative shocking. It was obvious to me that this film had a very traditional "people coming together to fight for a common goal" structure. And not in any subtle way. That is clearly what is happening in the movie!
There's not even any sort of classic hero's journey for Furiosa. My recollection is that she starts the movie as a hero. If anything, it is Max - who is desperately trying to survive - that undergoes the more archetypal hero's journey.
Further, the conflict within the group on the fancy truck drives the action. It's then resolved by them learning that they need each other and have to trust each other.
Frankly, this popular narrative Freddie deconstructs is baffling and seems like something people wanted to be able to say about the movie and ran with regardless of the actual story.
I watched the film and was completely underwhelmed. Even now I can barely remember it. The first two movies had a very jagged, grindhouse edge to them while the third felt much more like mainstream Hollywood entertainment and "Fury Road" unfortunately continued that progression. Plus the action scenes were nowhere as good as "Road Warrior", the pinnacle of the series.
I would argue that the Road Warrior is a far better and more memorable film. It is a far gritter and less shiny product than the last two films in the series. I last saw it years ago and I can still remember scenes like the one where Max brandishes an empty shotgun to bluff his way out of an attack--it communicates that he is living in an environment of scarcity. Plus in a Chekhov like sense it does a great job of setting up the action when he actually does find some shells.
And I'll take the Feral Kid over Furiosa any day. Kick ass women are just a cliché in movies: I rolled my eyes when Shrek's girlfriend revealed her kung fu skills because of course she is. The symbolism of a child who has regressed out of civilization and the indifferent adults around him? Far more interesting.
Loved the movie, but as usual thought the preposterously large crowd in front of the mountain were a bunch of idiots, standing around all day in the hot sun waiting for crumbs from on high. (Ironically, according to an Australian friend of mine, the formerly real life rugged individualism of Australians has been totally erased in the last 18 months, much to her disgust. The movie was a preview)
This brings up a pet peeve of mine: most of these dystopian movies have about a thousand times as many people in their horde gangs as could be supported by the amount of food available. Where do all those damn people in that mountain canyon sleep? How do they grow or herd food in a desert? Why do the evil ones always ride motorcycles which have paltry gas tanks and even on good road have trouble going more than a hundred miles without a gas refill? It’s clear the movie creative element lacks the basic STEM background to represent a real dystopian nightmare . If you want some insight into what a real primitive situation looks and feels like, I suggest you read ‘SHTF Survival Stories’ by Selco Begovic. It’s a lot more horrifying than any dystomovie. It’s not a single dictator, it’s a bunch of them, each controlling a small, brutal roving band with territories of a few blocks.
This is pretty much the one movie that gets everyone in Film Twitter world to stop screaming and start purring like kittens. It truly is a modern classic; seeing it in theaters back in 2015 was an exhilarating, exhausting experience that most big budget blockbusters can't even sniff, let alone touch.
Dang. I have it on Blu Ray but haven’t seen it in years. I loved it but admit to being one of the “durs” who thought it’s “wokeness” was it’s weakness. I’m over 50 so I’ll always love The Road Warrior more, which I also have on Blu Ray, (yeah, I’m that guy), but after reading this I’ll give it another shot. (Also, I’ve got a huge man crush on Tom Hardy now after going on a Peaky Blinders binge.)
It's been a long time since I took a film study class, but the way Charlize Theron is framed, lit, and shot plays a role in how much weight and power the viewer attributes to her. It's been a few years since I saw the movie (so I'm behind on my film study AND behind on watching the movie) but I think she really gets the Big Hero treatment in the photography. You're paying careful attention to the dialogue and narrative, Freddie, but if you look at it just from a visual standpoint, I think Max is filmed less heroically and less like a Big Movie Star. I suppose I should watch it again.
It's a good movie, and a collectivist movie. It says a lot about capitalist culture that people could only interpret it through an extremely individualistic lens.
Thanks for this. These days I find myself in a constant state of despair over the general state of film criticism, interpretation, and appreciation. Nice to read something clean, clear-headed, and based on what is actually in the film. I'd love to read your take on Raiders as well.
Articles like this are why I'm a paid subscriber. I remember thinking exactly these thoughts when I first saw the movie - the scene where Max gives up the gun is one of the greatest in modern cinematic history. It's an incredible moment where two strangers who are facing insurmountable odds become an unstoppable team through a leap of faith.
The real life mirror which I think often gets missed however, is how this is also a total inversion of the image of masculinity represented by Chris Kyle and glorified in American Sniper (2014) and the mainstream media of the day. In Mad Max Fury Road, two battle scarred veterans of a forever war find a way to turn the tables and find peace. IRL, one shot the other instead.
Good analysis, and a good reminder to revisit a great film.
And on that note - you should do Parasite next.
I enjoyed the movie (and this piece) quite a lot and generally agree. The thing which most undercut that message, to me, was a necessary part of the Mad Max films.
The part where he rides off into the sunset, rather than doing as he's just convinced them to do and stick around to do the work necessary to keep a brand new and extremely vulnerable society working and safe.
Like most movie series, this one degraded as each sequel came out. The original was an interesting dystopian vision filmed seemingly on Super 8 as a college cinematography class project. It peaked with "The Road Warrior", jumped the shark with "Beyond Thunderdome", Tina or no Tina, and then flat-lined. Charlize's talents were wasted. And I should have been. Ho hum.
THANK YOU. I also didn't understand at all why people said it was Furiosa's movie and Max was sidelined or that the real heroes were the women who saved themselves all on their own - things I'd heard before I watched it. In fact, I was almost disappointed to realize none of this was true - Max was definitely a crucial character and he and Nux saved the women's lives !
It's all posturing, really. I don't think the people claiming this have thought about it very heard or even genuinely believe it... some very online men's rights activists were complaining about the movie before it was released (their complaints were based on the trailer, not the actual film), saying that it was unfairly putting Furiosa in the spotlight to Max's expense. Ironically enough, the idea kind of flourished online, and it became fashionable to repeat it verbatim and praise the movie to own the MRAs. I think that if you refuse to recognize that Furiosa is the actual hero of the movie, you can even be accused of being anti-feminist these days... it's a cheap way to show how progressive you are. "Yes, Furiosa completely steals the movie, and I don't mind this at all and I think it's great, because I'm one of the good guys."
It's always weird to me, as a former film studies student, how many adult humans don't know how to watch a mainstream narrative film or TV show and actually understand it. There's like some sort of media literacy gap there that needs to be further explored...
I only just recently saw this movie for the first time. I am also someone who generally avoids most film discussion online (at least since the AV Club murderes its comments section).
As such, I find the revelation that this is the prevailing narrative shocking. It was obvious to me that this film had a very traditional "people coming together to fight for a common goal" structure. And not in any subtle way. That is clearly what is happening in the movie!
There's not even any sort of classic hero's journey for Furiosa. My recollection is that she starts the movie as a hero. If anything, it is Max - who is desperately trying to survive - that undergoes the more archetypal hero's journey.
Further, the conflict within the group on the fancy truck drives the action. It's then resolved by them learning that they need each other and have to trust each other.
Frankly, this popular narrative Freddie deconstructs is baffling and seems like something people wanted to be able to say about the movie and ran with regardless of the actual story.
Great review Freddie. Thank you!
I watched the film and was completely underwhelmed. Even now I can barely remember it. The first two movies had a very jagged, grindhouse edge to them while the third felt much more like mainstream Hollywood entertainment and "Fury Road" unfortunately continued that progression. Plus the action scenes were nowhere as good as "Road Warrior", the pinnacle of the series.
I would argue that the Road Warrior is a far better and more memorable film. It is a far gritter and less shiny product than the last two films in the series. I last saw it years ago and I can still remember scenes like the one where Max brandishes an empty shotgun to bluff his way out of an attack--it communicates that he is living in an environment of scarcity. Plus in a Chekhov like sense it does a great job of setting up the action when he actually does find some shells.
And I'll take the Feral Kid over Furiosa any day. Kick ass women are just a cliché in movies: I rolled my eyes when Shrek's girlfriend revealed her kung fu skills because of course she is. The symbolism of a child who has regressed out of civilization and the indifferent adults around him? Far more interesting.
Loved the movie, but as usual thought the preposterously large crowd in front of the mountain were a bunch of idiots, standing around all day in the hot sun waiting for crumbs from on high. (Ironically, according to an Australian friend of mine, the formerly real life rugged individualism of Australians has been totally erased in the last 18 months, much to her disgust. The movie was a preview)
This brings up a pet peeve of mine: most of these dystopian movies have about a thousand times as many people in their horde gangs as could be supported by the amount of food available. Where do all those damn people in that mountain canyon sleep? How do they grow or herd food in a desert? Why do the evil ones always ride motorcycles which have paltry gas tanks and even on good road have trouble going more than a hundred miles without a gas refill? It’s clear the movie creative element lacks the basic STEM background to represent a real dystopian nightmare . If you want some insight into what a real primitive situation looks and feels like, I suggest you read ‘SHTF Survival Stories’ by Selco Begovic. It’s a lot more horrifying than any dystomovie. It’s not a single dictator, it’s a bunch of them, each controlling a small, brutal roving band with territories of a few blocks.