Summary

In a post-apocalyptic dystopian future, a bloke in an iron face mask (subsequently removed after about 45 minutes), a woman with no hair and a prosthetic arm, and five scantily clad sex-slave females travel across a desert in a large cab-plus-tanker-plus-trailer war rig seeking refuge in the promised Green Land. The band of travellers is pursued by a blood-thirsty gang in an assorted collection of antiquated fighting vehicles: war rigs, hot rods, tanks, monster trucks and motorbikes. Many spectacular crashes, huge explosions, daring deeds of survival and hand-to-hand fights occur but eventually the intrepid group, minus one of the sex slaves (she met her demise, unfortunately), reach the promised green land only to discover it has become a mud swamp. Consequently, the group turn around and travel back across the desert to their journey’s origin, again experiencing high-octane battles with the pursuers and other marauding groups. On the return journey, the bad-guy leader of the pursuers is killed and when the group finally reach their return destination, the woman with no hair and the prosthetic arm looks set to become the new leader. The bloke disappears in the crowd.

Nobody swore, nobody had sex, and no vehicles were harmed in the making of the film.

Comment

That’s it. The film was a mind-numbing eardrum-splitting way to pass two hours with each new high-speed chase stunt surpassing the old. There was no attempt to develop character (dialogue was minimal), the stunts were extraordinary, and the 3D effects amazing, even more so in IMAX projection. (I involuntarily flinched at least three times as objects came hurtling out of the screen.) The five sex slaves were, for me, not that attractive and their role in the film unclear other than eye candy for young males seeking to top up their testosterone levels. There was no sardonic humour from Max (Tom Hardy), unlike from Mel Gibson in the earlier Mad Max films, and Furiosa (Charlize Theron) looked surprisingly flat-chested throughout the whole movie. But, the heavy-metal flame-throwing guitarist and four war drummers on one of the pursuers’ war rigs did more to establish atmosphere than all the very loud explosions and engine noises put together. A great touch.

Verdict: disconnect your brain, turn down your hearing aids (if applicable), empty your bladder, and go see the film in IMAX 3D.

(^_^)