I’ll admit I wasn’t terribly interested in a new Mad Max movie when it was announced a few years ago. I wasn’t a big fan of the original movies and Director George Miller’s latest films have all been family films like “Babe: Pig in the City.”
But when I saw the trailer, it peaked my interest big time. I like Tom Hardy and the trailer just looked so freaking nuts that I asked, “How can this not be a fun movie?”
And it was. Pure craziness of fun.
But while I liked this movie a lot, I didn’t love it and here are some points to illustrate what I mean.
Why I liked it
The pace. The pace of this movie was insane. I was trying to think of a movie that goes this fast throughout pretty much the whole film and came up with nothing. Right from the get-go the movie puts the pedal to the metal and never lets up.
The action was pretty incredible. I feel like George Miller spent the last 30 years thinking of the craziest action he could create in the desert and then strung all his ideas together.
The acting was great. Tom Hardy was perfect for the role of Mad Max and Charlize Theron is phenomenal. Another person that was creepily fantastic was a guy that I’d never heard of before the movie, Hugh Keays-Byrne, who plays the main villain Immortal Joe. Fun fact here: he was also in the original “Mad Max.” But while I loved the action, it also leads into why I can only say I liked the film.
Why I didn’t Love it
The movie to me was 85% action and only 15% story. It was almost as if they designed the whole movie as an action film then went through and added a story where they could. I personally would have liked to see a little more story development, not a lot more, but enough to make me invest more emotionally in these characters. Which brings us to Nicholas Hoult. I went from loving Hoult’s character to hating him during the film. I can’t say much about it without spoiling the movie, but I feel they sorely missed the mark with his character.
There are a few other details I would love to dive into as well but it might spoil the movie so I won’t. You are welcome.
Overall, this was a fun film. You will enjoy watching it. Is it the best movie you will see this year? Probably not. Will it be a movie you’ll have fun with? Yes. Just go in knowing you are pretty much getting the same craziness you saw in the trailer and some more craziness piled on top.