Excited and dubious are two words which best describe my reaction upon hearing there was to be a new Mad Max. Excited because the cult film holds a place in the hall of kicks much ass; dubious because new generation remakes/sequels tend to rely on CGI and sex to sell. I was erring on the dubious side and wasn’t holding out much hope.
Enter Tom Hardy taking the lead role as Mad Max, and Charlize Theron beside him as Furiosa. Awesome. Then add MRA (Men’s Right’s Activists) groups whinging that Mad Max Fury Road is “feminist propaganda” and should be boycotted. Suddenly, my interest was piqued again.
From an article on MRA site returnofkings.com, Adam Clarey writes:
Men in America and around the world are going to be duped by explosions, fire tornadoes, and desert raiders into seeing what is guaranteed to be nothing more than feminist propaganda, while at the same time being insulted AND tricked into viewing a piece of American culture ruined and rewritten right in front of their very eyes.
Mad Max is and always has been written and directed by the mastermind of the post-apocalyptic genre George Miller – an Australian. Most of the actors are either Austrailian or British, so I’m not sure why Adam Clarey is so worried about the destruction of American culture. The trailer looks full to the brim with action and there are supermodels in it…surely men’s right’s activists love scantily clad supermodels in action flicks?
Finally I gave up asking questions and saw it for myself. Thirty years on and it ticked all of the Mad Max boxes. Post-apocalyptic mad bastards on deadly vehicles in a desert, with even crazier bastards in burning pursuit, also on deadly vehicles. Desert raiders with added supermodels. Supermodels who, amidst the explosions and punches, make actual sense to the plot. So what’s with all this talk of feminist propaganda? It’s an action fantasy flick, and as a franchise it’s as entertaining as it has always been, regardless of a few men crying about women ruining their precious idea of Hollywood.
Mad Max Fury Road has recently been voted international film of the year by the world’s top film critics, and will be awarded the Grand Prix of the International Federation of Film Critics (Fipresci) at the San Sebastian film festival in Spain on 18 September. If you’re not an active member of MRA or you haven’t yet seen the film(or even if you have), the explosions are way better when they’re crystal clear on Blu-Ray which just became available September 1st. I also suggest surround sound and a vat of popcorn.
