Mad Max: Fury Road

e_e

Deleted User wrote: »

Are Cinema Sins and Screen Junkies now the same? I know that Honest Trailers and Cinema Sins often have many crossovers.

Not the same, but similar in their approach to criticism/satire.

frozenfrozen

rockatansky wrote: »

This to me is just weird. Since when has 'character development' been necessary in making a good action movie? Because that's what this is. Like the other Mad Max Movies before it (well except for 3). And Max is pissed. Surely that's all the Character Development that required??

You're the only one that quoted me but there are a few other comments loosely replying to me and anyone else who didn't hold the movie to some ridiculously high praise.

First off, I'm not in the 'it was **** and I fell asleep' camp. I sat through the whole movie, awake, and noticed a lot of things that took away from the film. I named some of them in my earlier post but without re-reading that I'll explain why I didn't LOVE this film & think it's refreshing and great and the best action film ever made.

The story was weak. There's no two ways about it. I was never under suspense, I was never shocked, I didn't become emotionally involved at any stage nor was I asked to by the narrative. This film was happening at 100 miles an hour whether I watched or not. I could close my eyes for 15 minutes and catch back up with what was happening instantly. Not that the action sequences were bad, they were fantastic, but after 40 minutes of the same level of action I became very accustomed to it, there were no dynamics and it was very samey. I'm not saying that action sequences need to me moving or thought provoking, they should be exhilarating, but when nearly the whole film is an action sequence, for me there should have been something to move the story along. (the story isn't important in mad max, that's the point but lets not pretend that the story is great)

Putting character development and story completely aside.

The sound design was fantastic, except for some parts. Every time the guitar came in, BOOM suspension of disbelief out the window, you are now aware of your breathing-style levels of awareness of the soundtrack. The ADR was in typical blockbuster style with no ambient sound on large diaphragm condensers with the actor 'working' the mic. yeah, those whispering groans max, those needed to be toned down because they were comical, you sound like you're an inch away from my face groaning, not inside the cab of a big rig, suspension of disbelief gone.

Visually fantastic, bar the stuff flying towards my face, maybe it would have made me say "woah dude 3d is soooooo coooooool", but I was in a 2D screening, so that was another bye bye to suspension of disbelief.
Also the centre framing was pretty off-putting, I'm far too used to scanning the thirds and for long sequences the interest was dead centre. I was very aware of this throughout the film and once again, suspension of disbelief was gone.

I was hyper aware of the fact that I was watching a film because there was nearly nothing to occupy my mind, no questions being left for me to answer, nothing except action and BAD dialogue. Was comparing the film to our world today meant to be some really thought provoking thing? If I was 14 this parallelism may have blown my mind. If that wasn't the case (as I suspect) then was I meant to just turn off my mind and be fed explosions for two hours? Every fade to black, I'm pulled completely out of the film -again- is it over? was that the ending? maybe it was, the story was so off the wall uneventful that is the kind of ending this would have, oh no.. it's back.

Honestly I didn't dislike the film, it was just a very okay film. But I really feel that people who didn't like the film shouldn't be attacked for it. The fact that mad max fury road had a weak story is a completely fair point to make. Maybe some people just don't get it, man, but any action film that needs to be accompanied with an essay on the themes and undertones that make it good, isn't a good action film.

these are the reasons I personally don't think this film is great. You don't have to agree with them, but I'm certainly not just flippantly dismissing the film because I "don't get it".

this post is longer than the script for the film (:pac:)

.ak

Honestly, all of the above makes sense, but if you were a lover of graphic novels and comics you'd realise that all things like usual cinema narrative and dialogue don't stand up here. The movie is wonderfully camp and comicy.

flangemeistro

orubiru wrote: »

The problem is not that people criticise the film its that their criticism is usually so weak or even innacurate.

Honestly, whenever I hear someone say "I fell asleep during it" or "I had trouble staying awake" as part of a criticism of a movie I just start to tune out because it's such a stupid thing to say.

If someone was so tired that they couldn't actually stay awake for 2 hours then how does that reflect on the movie?

Ask almost any fiction writer and they will tell you "show, don't tell". One of the reasons Fury Road is getting such high reviews from critics is because the story is streamlined so well. When the audience starts to demand more exposition in a movie like this it's kind of like someone who wants to pour salt into their soup or cover a Kobe beef steak in Heinz Tomato Ketchup. Its like you are demanding that the movie lower its standards.

People attack criticism like that because it's rubbish, weak, criticism.

"That movie was a crock of s***! I almost fell asleep." I'm sorry but it says more about the reviewer than the movie and I think its OK for people to call them out on it.

Look I'm glad that the movie is entering the genre of cult classic for you by being prematurely pulled from major cinemas.

It really galvanized your argument and now you'll never have to admit that you're a fan of a mainstream, popular and well received movie.

And really if you can't seem to understand how someone battling to stay awake through a 2 hour movie reflects on it then that kind of reflects badly on your imagination, intelligence and grasp of reality.

Good talk though

Unearthly

So I watched the original 3 and was completely underwhelmed. Found them boring and weird. I was really 50/50 whether I would go see this in cinema but the incredible hype made me very inquisitive.

Oh my god what a film. I was stumbling out of cineworld after that journey. I think this will be a film I'll watch over and over again

Cantona's Collars

Unearthly wrote: »

So I watched the original 3 and was completely underwhelmed. Found them boring and weird. I was really 50/50 whether I would go see this in cinema but the incredible hype made me very inquisitive.

Oh my god what a film. I was stumbling out of cineworld after that journey. I think this will be a film I'll watch over and over again

After being slightly underwhelmed with Avengers,this was the tonic.An epic action movie that's worth revisiting.

Riddle101

Saw it there a few days ago, great film. Loved Immortan Joe. One of my favorite part is when Nux tries to impress Joe but f*cks up and drops his gun, and Joe says "MEDIOCRE!!!". Probably laughed a little harder than I should have have but the scene was pretty funny nonetheless. It was like Joe was calling him a noob for screwing up the way he did.

rockatansky

Unearthly wrote: »

So I watched the original 3 and was completely underwhelmed. Found them boring and weird. I was really 50/50 whether I would go see this in cinema but the incredible hype made me very inquisitive.

Oh my god what a film. I was stumbling out of cineworld after that journey. I think this will be a film I'll watch over and over again

If most people were to watch the first 3 movies for the first time today I'm sure they would feel the same. The first 2 have aged, although they did make the most of what little budget they had.

afro man

Unearthly wrote: »

So I watched the original 3 and was completely underwhelmed. Found them boring and weird. I was really 50/50 whether I would go see this in cinema but the incredible hype made me very inquisitive.

Oh my god what a film. I was stumbling out of cineworld after that journey. I think this will be a film I'll watch over and over again

original 1 & 2 are classics .. least said about the 3rd the better

just back from viewing fury road what a F**king awesome movie two hours of madness and mayhem movie of the year so far

MakeEmLaugh

Calling the original Mad Max films 'boring and weird', but praising Fury Road to the high heavens, is odd to me.

It's almost disrespectful. The original trilogy were directed by George Miller, who mad Fury Road. It isn't like they were made by some sub-standard filmmaker.

Frankly, I'll always prefer The Road Warrior to Fury Road. The lack of any digital augmentation makes it a much more visceral experience.

Ipso

rockatansky wrote: »

If most people were to watch the first 3 movies for the first time today I'm sure they would feel the same. The first 2 have aged, although they did make the most of what little budget they had.

For the death scene of the Toecutter, the truck driver was paid $50. If you look closely you can see he put a piece of painted wood over the grill to avoid damage.
I saw the last 45 minutes of the original again recently, it wasn't as slow as I remembered. I would take those lean car chases over most of todays bloated ones any day.

Adamantium

Felt like there was glue stuck to the bottom of my boot on the drive home from the cinema.
It's going to seem a like a strange comparison but the isolation of the journey and single mindness of it reminded me of Master And Commander: Far Side of The World.

Probably the best action movie I've seen in at least a decade and for once. Great to see a film with big bold colours and wide shots, that made me smile in my seat like a lunatic.

The chase after they pass the canyon with the dirtbikes in chase of their rig is simply cinema nirvana with the pounding soundtrack, nearly had me almost hopping in my seat.

I agree with the poster who said it looked like Miller and Co robbed a Hollywood vault and were forgotten about and left to do their thing in the desert. I couldn't believe what I was seeing most of the time, like someone released a 80's movie that's being hidden for the last 30 years in a vault.

I pray that some day a Terminator future war movie is made and is as good as this.

Absolute passion up on the screen, its creative big budget brimming to the top films like this that teenagers and would be future filmakers are starved of. They might look at back at this as a moment a lightbulb turned on the heads as to what their future career is. Now they mightn'd have to keep dipping back pre 2000 for a look.


I thought the movie was an excellent example of advancing a coherent plot and likeable characters without bludgeoning viewers with exposition or out of place dialogue. You can infer the world and the story from what’s happening. It's the one HUGE HUGE thing that is wrong with 99% of films these days, exposition to the camera and talking about the world to characters who'd already know, the characters in reality would be like "why are you saying this to me, I know". Chris Nolan as much as I like you, take a bow.

It reminds me of what made Star Wars a phenonomen, our imagination fills the world with whatever we want to and the use of archetypes that are as detailed as you personally want them to be, Miller implies countless stories about each character with little to no exposition, and because the main characters of Max and Furiosa have been assembled and presented with such care, the performances, especially Theron's, become much more powerful. It is almost as if the atmosphere around the characters has eroded them so much that they have lost any use for speech, and seeing such a beautiful thing lost to a world man has inflicted upon himself really hurts on a level that no dialogue could possibly explain. When Max decides to turn the gang around on the salt flat, you see a man who's just tired of hurting and living and wants to being a levity/hope to some one, so he can forget about his pain and maybe even trust people again if only for a few moments. Pretty moving stuff.


Starting at (and before:pac:) 3:00, I was internally thinking: "Ye magnificent bastards!!" as they passed the canyon, as thrilling to me as when I first saw the asteroid field chase in The Empire Strikes Back for the first time. That's the level this film was at for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgYnKu8RYAU

Sonderkommando

Went to this the other night, thoroughly enjoyed it, was a massive fan of the first two films, really didn't think I would say after watching this that it is probably better than the first two.

Going to see it again tonight, which I usually never do for films these days.

rockatansky

Adamantium wrote: »

I pray that some day a Terminator future war movie is made and is as good as this.

Unless James Cameron was to do a 180 turn and get back on the Directors chair, there's absolutely no hope of this ever happening:(.

rockatansky

Ipso wrote: »

For the death scene of the Toecutter, the truck driver was paid $50. If you look closely you can see he put a piece of painted wood over the grill to avoid damage.
I saw the last 45 minutes of the original again recently, it wasn't as slow as I remembered. I would take those lean car chases over most of todays bloated ones any day.

True. sometimes the old fashion chases just work better. I always liked Vanishing Point for this very reason. Ronin would be a very good one also.

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MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
98% Rotten Tomatoes
89% Metacritic (17 perfect 100% scores)
9/10 IMDB

Adamantium

Fysh wrote: »

I quite liked the way that Max is presented as a now-pathological loner, driven almost mad by solitude and guilt/grief for those who've died and who barely remembers how to talk when he first encounters other people. His grudging transition from being forced to take people with him to helping them - because for the first time in who knows how long, someone has been kind to him and not immediately tried to abuse or kill him - was an interesting hook into the character.

When he stutters his name out for the first time, it's rather moving. There's a warmth to his performance and I don't think anyone has mentioned this but he apes the craziness in Mel's eyes and mannerisms, and I dare I say is better in some cases.

BMMachine

just saw it again, amazing. its the best film of its type in quite some time.
I just hope that more people see it and is a massive success.

Thing is, something like Ant Man with Paul Rudd (what does this guy actually do? ever since i first saw him in friends he just seems to take up space. He is the equivalent of acting Cous Cous) will probably make twice as much and be less than half as good

Jon Stark

I really liked this, I would have loved it though had I not felt queasy going in. Some of the shots had me reeling.

Such fascinating characters, whom I was just happy to follow on their journey without having to worry about the simplicity of it all.

Watching this labour of love really made me lament for Miller's dropped JL film, incidentally Mad Max being home to two of the would be heroes; Megan Gale as Wonder Woman and Keaynes as Martian Manhunt.

Unfortunate for Miller that the TDK juggernaut was in full swing.

kiad

Jon Stark wrote: »

Unfortunate for Miller that the TDK juggernaut was in full swing.

whats that now?

Jon Stark

kiad wrote: »

whats that now?

Miller's Justice League film was in advanced development around the time of The Dark Knight. It was cast and weeks away from filming but WB pulled the plug. Some suggest it was because wb didn't want anything to dilute what Nolan was doing, which is fair enough, I would of had the same concern.

But how they let production on Miller's JL film get so far in the first place is a wonder to me.

Ipso

Just saw it last night, really loved it. Surely there's a secret mass grave of stunt men somewhere in the Namibian desert!

nice_guy80

Quality movie

will go see again

Adamantium

It would have been great to see a big bold colourful larger then life FUN Justice League movie but not silly, that was directed old school.


Grit is not a dampener on fun, but it can certainly be used as a lazy replacement for it. It's a long time since I wanted characters to succeed in a summer film (Fury Road) not because they were the designated good guys.

johnny_ultimate

Here's a thorough, enlightening breakdown of the VFX of the film: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/a-graphic-tale-the-visual-effects-of-mad-max-fury-road/

A good illustration of how despite not being the CG blandfest of your average blockbuster, this is still an extremely 'digital' film - for good and occasional evil . Also enhances one's admiration of the efforts went through to retain a practical, credible feel to the action, even when they were destined to layer and composite dozens of other elements on top!

vidor

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Also enhances one's admiration of the efforts went through to retain a practical, credible feel to the action, even when they were destined to layer and composite dozens of other elements on top!

And yet, despite all this effort, visually it looked incredibly dated in a number of scenes. Possibly harsh considering the budget and the amount of work involved trying to get that aesthetic but I was genuinely surprised at how shoddy some of the lighting looked.

bucketybuck

vidor wrote: »

And yet, despite all this effort, visually it looked incredibly dated in a number of scenes.

Have you any examples of these scenes? Because I thought the entire film was visually lush.

johnny_ultimate

vidor wrote: »

And yet, despite all this effort, visually it looked incredibly dated in a number of scenes. Possibly harsh considering the budget and the amount of work involved trying to get that aesthetic but I was genuinely surprised at how shoddy some of the lighting looked.

I think it stands out more as well when you see them on a small screen too - the clips in that article really highlight the sort of 'fake' sheen the film has. I still do think they went a little overboard on the stylisation of the colours and environments, even if I can admire the effort put into it.

BuilderPlumber

This is an awesome film. Probably the best action film of its type in recent times and one return to a series that works for a change (as was the case with the Dark Knight Batman films).

Going to see films can involve risk but when one goes to see a good film, it is rewarding. I loved all the first 3 Mad Max films and this one is as good, maybe even better. Watching the first 3 lead me to an interest in post apocalypse films and going to see Waterworld, which was a poor remake of elements from Max Max 2 and Beyond Thunderdome but set on water. Made the same mistake by going to see The Postman which was an interesting idea but just did not click. These were 'The Poor Man's Mad Max' and I hoped and prayed that Fury Road would stay true to Mad Max itself and not the Mad Max copycat films like the 2 I mentioned. My prayers were more than answered. If you like the second or/and third films from the original series, you will love Fury Road.

pixelburp

vidor wrote: »

And yet, despite all this effort, visually it looked incredibly dated in a number of scenes. Possibly harsh considering the budget and the amount of work involved trying to get that aesthetic but I was genuinely surprised at how shoddy some of the lighting looked.

Such as? Only scenes I can think of were the 'night' ones, but it seemed like that was a very obvious stylistic choice, forgiveable considering how dark those scenes would have otherwise been.