A post-apocalytic car chase with a post-modern feminist theme is how I might describe this film in one sentence.
Yet another movie series to which I have little context to other than cursory knowledge of the movies made famous by Mel Gibson in the Seventies and Eighties – or so, I am told. But Max, in this movie, is without a doubt overshadowed by Furiosa, played by the impossibly talented and very lovely Charlize Theron. Max is there, but what we are forced to focus on is the spectacular demolition derby of action that totally overwhelms every other aspect of the film: characters, narrative, emotion and even charm – all flattened in the desert dust.
I couldn’t get my head and heart around this one, and were it not for the somewhat strong feminist theme to it, would have lost interest within the first twenty minutes. But Theron’s stare cuts through steel and dust and everything in between and is quite compelling despite the fact that her character is not as well-developed as one might have hoped. Max’s character is also poorly developed although we learn very early on that he is haunted by his past and is motivated by it.
There’s plenty of action – in case I failed to mention it – and in case you failed to catch on, I couldn’t help but weary of it, and will admit that I wish the whole movie was at least an hour less in duration. That probably reveals more about myself than the movie, but then such is life – we sometimes go to the movies to learn more about ourselves!
