Mad Max: Fury Road

Science fiction generally comes in one of two flavors, both of which require the suspension of disbelief. Either you accept a premise that is in its foundation false (but the story told holds to that premise and treating it as truth maintains integrity throughout), or you start with a premise that is plausible and accept an ongoing parade of hyperbole to push a story forward. Mad Max is the latter. The plausible premise is that sometime in the future, a post-nuclear world exists in which most all reproduction is marred by genetically mutated offspring (see the opening two headed lizard) and water is such a scarce resource that whoever controls it holds power. The parade of hyperbole includes (as a sampling) a petroleum based society where the only visible use of petroleum is transportation to get more petroleum, a harem of women who travel through the desert wearing only the barest shreds of gauze and are the only "non-mutant" creatures in the film, and a plan to drive a motorcycle for 160 days through a desert on an apparent single tank of fuel. But that is all OK. You are seeing this film to enjoy the spectacle of desert and machines and a world where just a bit crazy is the norm. There are some astounding vehicles that are so clearly impractical, and so awesomely impressive that you don't care. There are mechanical battles at high speed with Cirque du Soleil style boardings and kidnappings that blow your mind. So in effect, the hyperbole helps. I have seen some commentary about this being, at its core, about female empowerment. I am not going to say it isn't (being of the wrong gender to saw what is empowering and what is not), but I don't see it. Yes, Charlize Theron kicks ass as Furiosa, but I don't see this as being about gender. There is still too much objectification to go there. It is more about class struggle and fair distribution of resources in a tyranny if it is, at its core, anything more than visual spectacle. In the end, for me visual spectacle is enough.

4 stars (out of 5)