Mad Max: Fury Road review (trailer)

George Miller, who played such a significant part in the original series, returns to helm this visual and aural juggernaut – and it hits the mark for the adrenalin junkie. The story unfolds in the furthest reaches of the planet, a stark desert landscape where humanity has been destroyed and every human being is fighting for the basics of life.

The land is ruled by Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) from his immense mountain stronghold. He is a ghoulish inbred monster who lords it over a society of rag-tag people.

He holds all the cards. He has an army of warriors who implement his every wish. It’s a dehumanised, autocratic society where women are drained of their breast milk, girls are farmed for their wombs and men like Max are used as blood donors called “bloodbags.”

Imperator Furiosa (a deglamourised Charlize Theron), is Joe’s one-armed lieutenant. She is ready for change. When she drives off with Joe’s concubines, the warlord unleashes an eight-cylinder army on their trail and their unrelenting pursuit makes up the bulk of this chase-action adventure.

Furiosa combines forces with Max Rockatansky (played by Tom Hardy, who replaces Mel Gibson from the original), a man of action and few words. The two unlikely heroes are hell-bent on outwitting Joe and his deranged warriors.

Max is seeking some kind of solace after the loss of his wife and child and Furiosa, a tough woman of action, believes her survival may be achieved if she can make it across the bleak desert back to her childhood homeland. In this desert terrain (filmed in Namibia) where only the fittest and the totally insane seem able to survive, some of the most stupendous, sustained action sequences occur.

Fury Road is the fourth instalment – the last one was 30 years ago – of this rambunctious post-apocalyptic saga and Miller doesn’t let the fans down. It’s a gripping and involving two-hour jaunt with a spectacular assortment of weapons, vehicles and costumes on display.

It manages to steer the franchise into a wonderful new direction by shaping a mythical portrait about the urgent need to have a woman rule the world where savage men must be saved from themselves.