Beastly Reviews: Mad Max: Fury Road
Fast and furious — and female.
At first glance, Mad Max: Fury Road is a straight man's fever dream: car chases, hot chicks, explosions, and a gruff main dude. Yes, much of it is that — a loud, aggressive joyride of guns and grease. But the film is also a surprising feminist anthem, one that pissed off incels and put everone else in the Charlize Theron fan club for life.
I thought those Fast and the Furious movies had claimed the title of the most macho film ranchise, but Fury Road reminded me who took on Toecutter and saved the Feral Kid. While George Miller's latest addition to the Mad Max world keeps with its bleak desert dystopia — set in a lawless future Earth after society has fallen apart from oil shortages and climate crisis — it stands above its peers thanks to one badass woman.
Some proud straight guys have complained about the film, claiming it's feminist propaganda. Yeah, it is.
Max tends to unwillingly get involved in other people's conflicts and this film keeps with that tradition. This time, his mission, besides not dying, is to help Furiosa — a one-armed rogue female general (Theron) — save some beautiful concubines from systematic rape by a psycho overlord named Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne — a performer from past Mad Max films). When Immortan Joe storms their prison chamber, now empty, a message has been left on the wall: "Our babies will not be warlords!"
Furiosa takes over from there. Tom Hardy's nuttier, gruffer Max is a dashing, sexy sidekick. The low-key dom-sub vibe between them gets a little literal — at one point he's leashed and muzzled and she's tugging his chain. The whole movie is a giant car chase broken up by dialogue and moments of lovely cinematography. If loud movies give you a migraine, bring ibuprofin.
Fucking with gender stereotypes and omitting a sex scene entirely (or rape scene, which tend to feature prominently in the Mad Max franchise) makes Fury Road a nicely of-the-moment offering, but social commentary aside, it's just a damn good movie. It's fun.
And then there's Tom Hardy to look at. Every film hero deserves a hottie at their side, and Tom Hardy is a great one. What a babe.
Love, Beastly
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