Fire and Blood and Sand

Second summer movie! I've heard so many good things about Mad Max: Fury Road and finally I've got the chance to see it--in a large screen, in 3D, in Dolby Atmos. Life is just complete. I've never seen the original Mel Gibson films but I want to though. But this film just looks awesome. The film stars Tom Hardy as Max Rockatansky but the real star here is Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa. Firstly, that's an awesome name--Furiosa and she's so badass. I was convinced I'm going to see the film in cinemas since they released the Comic-Con footage a year ago. That was so perfect I don't need to see anymore trailers. So fun yet so risky putting your money on a director whose film credits since 2000 only includes two Happy Feet films.

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world where all that's left of the world is a great desert. A warrior named Furiosa is looking to go back to her homeland by stealing a war tank from a cult group leader Immortan Joe which infuriates him. She met Max and helped by him escaping Immortan and another two clans chasing them. The film then plays out as one long chase scene--one long awesome chase scene.

The film is insane. The story is so simple but the mechanics of the stunts is crazy. Almost all the stunts you see there are done on set in Namibia. The green screen are mostly done for interior shots and additional effects were for landscape. The pacing of the action is just incredible, there isn't one slow second at all. It is a very satisfying experience. Add that with a killer score by Junkie XL/Tom Holkenborg. The score is necessarily loud and awesome. See the track 'Brothers In Arms' which plays during the 'fool' scene in the film. However, Holkenborg still needs to diversify his score because sometimes his percussion reminds you of his work on 300: Rise of An Empire, which is the reason why George Miller hired him though. Director George Miller is amazing. I praised the action scene enough, but the film's props, character design, and color palette are just so equally beautiful. He has an amazing eye for detail. I'm gonna put myself out here and bravely say that George Miller might be the equivalent of David Fincher in action movie-making.

The cast is amazing. I remember reading an article about the casting of Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and that article dismisses Mad Max: Fury Road to be doomed from the start. Nicholas Hoult is crazy good and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has definitely taken some acting classes and acing them, cos her performance is 350% better than her debut in TF3: Dark of the Moon. As much as Tom Hardy is cool and fitting as the titular Max, I actually don't mind if this film is called 'Furious Furiosa' because Charlize Theron killed it in her role. Theron now specializes in playing strong badass women, I first noticed this in Hancock, where she played Will Smith's equal. Then most importantly in the highly disappointing Snow White & The Huntsman where she single-handedly saved the movie from being a total snooze-fest. Also in Prometheus until her stupid death scene. This movie justifies all those badass women character for putting her in the perfect scenario for her to be badass. This could be our summer's champion. Mad Max: Fury Road: rated 4/4.

Bonus!
I'm proud to say that I made this edit on amazing women characters in the last five years.

Up next: The last person on Earth to see Avengers: Age of Ultron is going to see Avengers: Age of Ultron this Saturday.