I loved the Road Warrior (aka Mad Max 2). It is still one of my favorite movies of all time, and I think George Miller is a genius. I love this movie so much, I have a tough time calling it by its proper name, Mad Max 2; it was introduced to me (and America) as the Road Warrior and it seems blasphemous for me to refer to it in any other way. That is the level of perfection I reserve for this film.
Like a lot of Americans, I saw the sequel before I saw the original Mad Max. As the first movie in the series, it was rough, it was crude, it was made for a pittance, and Mel Gibson's voice was dubbed for the US. But it was good. Oh so good! Both of these movies created dystopian worlds so real and so believable, to me, they are the standard for which all post apocalyptic movies should aspire.
Which is exactly why I hate Mad Max: Fury Road so much.
Visually, Fury Road is far superior to the first two chapters (I still have issues and mixed feelings about Thunderdome, which is why I am trying to avoid discussing here). But with all the budget, resources and talent, Fury Road failed to deliver like the first two.
When the movie was announced, I was worried. I didn't want another Thunderdome. Then I heard Tom Hardy was going to be Max, and I started to get excited. In many ways, I think he was a better embodiment of Max Rockatansky than Mel Gibson. Then I saw the first trailer, and yes, I was excited, despite the voices in my head telling me "Remember how you felt about Prometheus", another franchise I loved and another movie I was excited to see, which left me totally disappointed. Ditto Skyfall. How can there be so many big budget films, in successful franchises, that can't live up to their potential?
But this was George Miller. The man who put Australia cinema on the world map. George Miller, the man who worked as an ER Doctor, scrapping together enough money to make Mad Max, a movie that would generate the best return in film history, a distinction it held for 20 years. This was the George Miller, who even when he had the resources and money, still made great films. The same George Miller who would go in a completely different direction and make "Babe", a movie with cutting edge special effects but still had a great story. Despite all the funding, George Miller knew the importance of plot and motivation; special effects do not a great movie make. George Miller will not screw up a Mad Max reboot.
Or so I hoped. I was wrong.
I have spent far too much time thinking about this, but there are three major flaws I see with Fury Road:
1. Timeline: Like the other movies, there are very few specifics given on dates, but there is a clear distinction between the world before the crisis and the Post Apocalyptic world. The first Mad Max takes place as society is crumbling. The last vestiges of the old rules are deteriorating, turning everything into a Lord of the Flies type of world, but on a continental sized scale. The Road Warrior (Max 2), takes place roughly five years later. The old society is clearly gone, and a new generation born after the apocalypse is coming into being. Their upbringing and view of the world will be vastly different then the one in which Max and his contemporaries were raised. These post-apocs will live in a world where might means right. They will never live in a world there is rule of law, where disputes are not solved by violence or strength. Max is about 30 now, 25 years older then the post-apoc kids.
Skipping Thunderdome, Fury Road runs into serious timeline issues. It is never explained if this is a sequel to Thuderdome or the (dreaded) re-imagination of Road Warrior, so going on character age, Max looks to be 30, 35 on the outside, so roughly about the same time of Road Warrior. In this world, there is the tyrannical cult leader, Immortal Joe, who has in his service the War Boys, fanatical followers who live and die for him. Their ages range from young boys up to about 20-25 or so; the ones featured prominently in Fury Road appear to be about 18. Or, in other words, about 10-15 years younger than Max, meaning they were born before the Apocalypse; however, their devotion to the leader suggests they were post-apoc kids. Some of the other characters appeared about the same age, yet, they seem to remember the former world, and the rules of law that used to exist, unlike their contemporary War Boys. All of this leaves a very muddled picture of when exactly things occurred and why some have shed the old society so easily, while others have not. This leads to the next issue....2. Philosophy: In Mad Max there was the conflict between the rules of the old society which were at odds with the chaos of the new order. In the Road Warrior, the unifying philosophy was clear: everyone needs fuel; no matter what side you are on, the quest for the "precious juice" motivated everyone. Words and promises were only believed by the very old generation (60+ years old); might was making right. Thunderdome, for all its faults, did codify this philosophy. You have an issue with someone? Fight it out. Only the strong survived.
I have no idea what the philosophy is for Fury Road. Honestly. At best, there is a cult like reverence for Immortal Joe, but it is never explained. With the absence of laws or any sort of religion put forward, there is no reason why the anyone should follow him, nor why their has not been a revolt. Immortal Joe is old and needs help to move around; in a might makes right world, he should have been killed off long ago. He's not, but there is no explanation as to why they follow him.
3. Industrialization: There is one basic rule that must be followed in all Post Apocalyptic movie and it is this: Technology peaks the day society disintegrates (D-Day); after the disaster, no technical advancements are possible. People use whatever machines survive, but new advancements or machinery is not possible (at least not yet). After D-Day, society changes into a pre-industrial, agrarian world, using whatever machinery they can to survive. There is no fuel for factories, no way to run the machines, no way to make advancements that exceed the Pre-Apocalyptic world. What machinery there is can not be wasted. It's a simple rule, but it must be followed.
How do you violate this rule, Fury Road? Let me count the ways. Some are obvious, like the
Then this movie goes off to the completely ridiculous. The advancements in weaponry, the seemingly new vehicles that roll out, and - most egregiously - the fire shooting guitar and drum car. With the limited resources and fuel, we are to believe they created a new metal guitar that shoots flames, built on a new vehicle with a wall of speakers and drummers to keep the troops engaged?
I would like to write about other more basic plot holes - like why did the War Boy change sides? Why was Furiosa put in charge of driving over the War Boys and what made her think this was a good plan? Why, if they found blood bags so valuable, did they strap them onto the front of the vehicle, the most dangerous place on the entire vehicle? There are more questions I would like to ask, but honestly, I'm too tired. I should not have to think this much to enjoy a movie. The movie should come to us in a fully formed world we can accept, like the first two chapters and other George Miller movies have done so effortlessly. That is what I hoped this would be; sadly, it was not.
If all you want are cool visuals, then you should go. It will be a shorter, less pretentious and less blue version of "Avatar". That is about the nicest thing I can say about it. I'm going to rent the original; for a fraction of the cost, it is a better movie.
