enviousdominous
Behold my diction
The verdict is in; damn near everyone who's seen the movie, loved the movie. The latest installment of the Mad Max franchise holds a 98% rating of approval on Rotten Tomatoes. I'm right there with them in fully approving of this movie.
What I'd first like to recognize is the ways in which the second Mad Max movie inspired the pro-wrestling world.
Mad Max: The Road Warrior was released in 1981. Just a year later a man named Joseph Laurinaitis debuted as a biker known as "The Road Warrior, as we all know he and Michael Hegstrand would go on to dominate the tag team division over every pro-wrestling faction they were ever a part of as The Road Warriors.
The Humongous (who appeared in film a year before Jason Voorhees would sport a similar look) was the lead villain of Mad Max: The Road Warrior, clad in leather BDSM gear while wearing a hockey mask. Three years later an exact copy of The Humongous known as Lord Humongous would debut on CWA, and various names to include Sid Eudy would perform as one of pro-wrestling's first true monsters.
The Lord Humongous character would be copied also, most notably as the tag team Demolition and least notably as Ta-Gar: Lord of the Volcano.
Now that that history lesson is all out of the way, Mad Max: Fury Road.
Max is a tough as nails nomad who finds himself caught in circumstances that dictate his actions through an innate sense of survival. He's not depicted as your typical paragon of good, he saves others because doing so is most convenient for his ability to carry on comfortably.
I've heard a few people (enough to cause controversy apparently) claim that this movie was meant to be a subtle attempt at emasculating men by depicting strong women. I honestly don't recall seeing a single scene where being female is depicted as a natural trump card for a man's capabilities. This movie takes place in a desolate wasteland where population control is dictated by lack of useful resources, men and women would likely be more concerned with enduring the nuclear fallout and surviving on what little they can scavenge. Women are depicted as tough because they would have to be, not because being a tough woman would mean that men are comparably weaker. My two cents.
Charlize Theron plays Furiosa (or "a Furiosa" depending on what nerd you ask), a woman who rebels against a higher power for the purpose of upholding her sense of righteousness. Her attitude and determination are truly the driving (no pun intended) force behind the plot of this movie. While her intentions are shown to have been very foolish in terms of planning and execution, she circumstantially must combine her efforts with Max to make the most of a poorly thought out endeavor. I don't see her character as a symbol of female empowerment, I see her as more of a realistic interpretation of the often misguided concept of hope.
The main villain, who geeks like me may recognize as being played by the same actor who played the main villain from the very first Mad Max movie, is Immortan Joe. Immortan is a water baron who -- through controlling that life giving resource -- is able to employ his wicked policies onto those who depend on his generosity. When his vengeful rage is triggered, he leads a convoy of bizarre sadists on a mission to retrieve what has been stolen from him and obliterate those who dared challenge his dominance.
I thought of it as 300 meets Fast and Furious. You have the fascinating weirdness of random characters that have adapted to their dystopia in beautifully strange ways, and you have the speed and mayhem of a war fought mostly with the use of elaborately decorated death machines on wheels.
From start to finish, this movie grants you an edge of your seat interpretation of an opera where the protagonists are monster trucks with gun turrets. Action, mayhem, grit and a satisfying ending. I loved it.
What I'd first like to recognize is the ways in which the second Mad Max movie inspired the pro-wrestling world.
Mad Max: The Road Warrior was released in 1981. Just a year later a man named Joseph Laurinaitis debuted as a biker known as "The Road Warrior, as we all know he and Michael Hegstrand would go on to dominate the tag team division over every pro-wrestling faction they were ever a part of as The Road Warriors.
The Humongous (who appeared in film a year before Jason Voorhees would sport a similar look) was the lead villain of Mad Max: The Road Warrior, clad in leather BDSM gear while wearing a hockey mask. Three years later an exact copy of The Humongous known as Lord Humongous would debut on CWA, and various names to include Sid Eudy would perform as one of pro-wrestling's first true monsters.
The Lord Humongous character would be copied also, most notably as the tag team Demolition and least notably as Ta-Gar: Lord of the Volcano.
Now that that history lesson is all out of the way, Mad Max: Fury Road.
Max is a tough as nails nomad who finds himself caught in circumstances that dictate his actions through an innate sense of survival. He's not depicted as your typical paragon of good, he saves others because doing so is most convenient for his ability to carry on comfortably.
I've heard a few people (enough to cause controversy apparently) claim that this movie was meant to be a subtle attempt at emasculating men by depicting strong women. I honestly don't recall seeing a single scene where being female is depicted as a natural trump card for a man's capabilities. This movie takes place in a desolate wasteland where population control is dictated by lack of useful resources, men and women would likely be more concerned with enduring the nuclear fallout and surviving on what little they can scavenge. Women are depicted as tough because they would have to be, not because being a tough woman would mean that men are comparably weaker. My two cents.
Charlize Theron plays Furiosa (or "a Furiosa" depending on what nerd you ask), a woman who rebels against a higher power for the purpose of upholding her sense of righteousness. Her attitude and determination are truly the driving (no pun intended) force behind the plot of this movie. While her intentions are shown to have been very foolish in terms of planning and execution, she circumstantially must combine her efforts with Max to make the most of a poorly thought out endeavor. I don't see her character as a symbol of female empowerment, I see her as more of a realistic interpretation of the often misguided concept of hope.
The main villain, who geeks like me may recognize as being played by the same actor who played the main villain from the very first Mad Max movie, is Immortan Joe. Immortan is a water baron who -- through controlling that life giving resource -- is able to employ his wicked policies onto those who depend on his generosity. When his vengeful rage is triggered, he leads a convoy of bizarre sadists on a mission to retrieve what has been stolen from him and obliterate those who dared challenge his dominance.
I thought of it as 300 meets Fast and Furious. You have the fascinating weirdness of random characters that have adapted to their dystopia in beautifully strange ways, and you have the speed and mayhem of a war fought mostly with the use of elaborately decorated death machines on wheels.
From start to finish, this movie grants you an edge of your seat interpretation of an opera where the protagonists are monster trucks with gun turrets. Action, mayhem, grit and a satisfying ending. I loved it.
