Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015. Post-apocalyptic desert car chase.

Directed by George Miller. Written by Miller, Brendan McCarthy, & Nick Lathouris. Starring Tom Hardy, & Charlize Theron, with Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Nathan Jones, Zoë Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Abbey Lee, & Courtney Eaton.

Concept: A
Story: Barely there, but I've got to give it some credit for efficiency. C
Characters: C
Dialog: B
Pacing: A
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: A
Acting: The acting's perfectly good, but what's with the casting of Max? Don't get me wrong, Tom Hardy's a great actor, but this role does not call for a great actor. It calls for an old, weathered Australian. C
Music: B
Enjoyment: Most action movies these days, you just have to wait for the action scenes to be over so you can get on with the movie. Meanwhile, this movie is almost nothing but action, for two hours straight, and it is exciting from start to finish - impeccably shot and edited, and conceived with an uninhibited sense of fun. Any random sequence from this movie is easily a contender for the best action scene in the last five years. A+

GPA: 3.3/4