Search

STORY STUDY - MEDIUM: FILM - “Mad Max: Fury Road”

Jeffrey Tung
Sep 3, 2018
3 min read

“My world is fire and blood.” That’s the description that our title character describes the setting of one of the craziest post-apocalyptic actions films in recent times.

Directed by George Miller, and written by Miller, Brendan McCarthy, and Nico Lathouris, Mad Max: Fury Road is the fourth film in the Mad Max franchise. It’s a self-contained story revolving around Max, a survivor in a desert wasteland who is captured by the War Boys under the leadership of Immortan Joe.

Max is able to free himself when he gets involved in a chase between the War Boys and one of Immortan Joe’s “Imperators”, Furiosa, who has kidnapped Joe’s wives, women selected for breeding, attempting to free them from his grasp.

Since Max’s immediate goal is to get away as far away from Immortan Joe as he can, he and Furiosa’s group team up to bring the women to safety by bringing them to “the Green Place.”

The film is simplistic in telling the audience what the motivation is for our key characters, even the sympathetic War Boy, Nux. This is perfectly fine because the film’s main focus and wow factor is the action. In fact, the practically entire film is a chase scene.

My preferred action is martial arts, but there isn’t any fight scenes like that. Instead, the film showcases the world and the War Boy culture, and the amazing car chases and vehicle stunts. Some of them include jumping and even pole vaulting from one car to another.

The film’s standout character is Imperator Furiosa, the warrior with a metal arm. When the film came out, everyone was praising her; not just for how she was portrayed and the amount of stunts she did, but also for what she represented: a warrior driven by justice living in a world where there is none.

As an action film, I was obligated to watch it when it came out. By the end of it, I thought it was okay. It was certainly fun. Then, the praise came in; like, overwhelming praise. It was even nominated for Best Director and Picture at the Academy Awards. What was I missing? The Academy doesn’t care about action films, why is this one so special?

After revisiting the film, I still don’t understand that part, but I certainly understand why this is one of the most badass action films out there. In a time period where there is camera shaking in action scenes to make it more thrilling, this film’s action is very easy to follow. It’s not just the camera is stationary; it’s the fact that each shot is framed specifically so the audience can focus on the thing they want us to focus and place it in the center.

If you hear someone say something in the lines of “I want just a straight out action film; none of that drama in the middle”… Mad Max: Fury Road is not 100% that. There are some quiet scenes so the audience can breathe. But, honestly, there isn’t a lot of that, mostly because the characters are constantly in danger. Either way, recommend this film to them.

It’s a film with so much testosterone, and so quotable, that you’ll want to get your own guitar and rig it so it’s also a flamethrower (PLEASE don’t do that.)