Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

I wound up giving in to the hype surrounding the revival of the "Mad Max" series due to how over-the-top and 'non-stop' people were telling me it was. They weren't wrong. This thing is absolutely packed to the gills with all-encompassing action and visual 'richness'. And... that's really all it sets out to provide it's viewers. Not a bad thing, for sure.

Short form plot rundown: Mad Max, a badass chick and her girl posse are cruising around in a 'war truck' through a post-apocalyptic desert full of pasty goons, lead by a water-hoarding leader...

In all, "Mad Max: Fury Road" works more as a massive visual spectacle then anything else. The character seems to take a backseat to each consecutive 20-minute vehicular incursion (the bulk of the film, needless to say...) and the compulsory focus on arrant feminism. The Max character comes across as unnecessary while being so overshadowed by needless granny biker gangs and Charlize Theron's blandly forced exposition of redemption - the longest instance in which the film 'slows down', I'd say. To give you an idea - at one point, Max runs off into the fog to take care of some 'business'. He comes back after some peculiar noise, covered in blood (not his own...) and we realize that serious ass was kicked... completely OFF SCREEN! Not to say there's any shortage of 'balls-out' action in the film - I just feel they underutilized and over-pussified the supposed primary character in favor of a female dominated 'mold' in which Hollywood feels compelled to adhere to lately. Personally, I'm not attracted to masculine warrior-women. Call me 'old fashioned'...

Aside from that bullshit, "Fury Road" IS some entertaining, old-school escapism. Not entirely my kind of movie, typically, but it's pure visual eye-candy of the mindless, ultra-high-octane sort. Good shit to check out on the big screen, overall.