Mad Max Fury Road * * * 1/2

In the first hour of this film a tanker is furiously chased along a desert road by crazy looking vehicles, driven by even crazier looking people full of murderous intent.  For the second hour they turn the tanker around and race all the way back to where they came from, chased by crazy looking vehicles driven by even crazier looking people full of murderous intent. That’s pretty well what happens in Mad Max Fury Road.

Mad Max has never been about complicated plots or deep character development and each Mad Max film has made that clearer, stripping away anything that distracts from the mayhem whilst maintaining just enough dialogue and plot to give some reason for the action.  If there wasn't a legacy of Mad Max films you might not know who to cheer for in Fury Road, except for one very obvious identifier - good looks. Yep, it’s handsome Max (Tom Hardy) and an equally handsome hanger-on - even with his ugly face make-up (Nicholas Hoult) , and a truck full of totally hot babes in skimpy clothing (led by Charlize Theron), on the run from a bunch of frighteningly ugly pursuers.  The hot babes are escaping from forced marriage to the ugliest of the ugly pursuers. It’s absolutely cartoonish, puerile and silly. But it’s so sensational to watch that you forget, or simply don’t care. (Though I have little doubt there will be more than a few wankers who’ll get all philosophical about it.)  Mad Max films are traditionally set in this world, but not in our time.  People look like medieval peasants or shirtless zombies that eat chrome paint or space mutants (or they are dreadfully good looking).  It’s some time in the future when society has broken down and tribes rule. Owning a vehicle will help to keep you alive and petrol is the most desirable thing on the planet. (Hey what? That could happen…)

For me, Mad Max Fury Road represents great cinema about as much as a Kiss concert represents great rock music, or demolition derby great culture. If Homer and Bart Simpson were looking for a film for a father/son bonding session this would be the one. Right up there with Truckasaurus. Really, just go for the ride.  Director George Miller throws so much at you I think that’s all he wants you to do anyway.  It’s one of the best vehicle pursuit films you’ll ever see.  The smash-ups are fabulous. The baddies are barely human - plus they’re all crazy, evil (and ugly!), so who cares if they die? The vehicles are so awesome they are virtually characters in their own right. (For any car enthusiast you will be thrilled at the recognition of some classic vehicles with parts of their original body shape and distinct grill piggy-backing on a monstrous chassis.  You might also be horrified at their brutal modification and destruction. Holden’s and Falcon’s get their look in too - as they should - true to Mad Max’s Australian origin.)

It’s good to have Mad Max back. From the first Mad Max they’ve always been great fun and admirable in the way they liberated Australian Film from some of the painfully self-conscious dramas that were prevalent in the 1970’s. In this latest edition, a character called “Imperator Furiosa”, played by Charlize Theron, will literally spit in the eye of anyone who gets the wrong idea about her. Somehow, I think that is fair warning on how to enjoy this fun, rambunctious, riot of a film too.  Forget the bullshit post-apocalyptic “message” (which probably doesn't exist anyway).  Just go for the ride.