Mad Max - Fury Road

[inkymonkey]

Weird seeing folks coming out to knock the film... During the storyboarding process, I can unequivocally say that George Miller knew pretty much what he wanted BEFORE we drew the boards. Before we started every morning, he used to sit for about 20 minutes with his eyes closed, running through the movie in his head. And the film is very close to the storyboards - if anything, it's tighter and more efficiently done.

I suspect where the stories originate from is Miller's tendency to explore the ideas he's had, to experiment and try new things during the filmmaking process. Sometimes it pays off but most of the time his first instincts are pretty good, and the original idea stands. But at least he has the chance to make sure it's solid (and another reason why his films take so long to do..!)

[ming]

My favorite review of FR talked about how Warners receiving dailies must have been akin to receiving body parts from a kidnap victim. "Hi! We've $150 million of your money and this is what we're doing with it!"

Heh, yeah - I remember that review (from Time Out); captured the essence of the film perfectly:

"The fourth instalment of George Miller's punky post-apocalyptic 'Mad Max' saga feels like a tornado tearing through a tea party. In an age of weightless movie spectacles, here's a movie that feels like it was made by kidnapping $150 million of studio money, fleeing with it to the Namibian desert, and sending footage back to Hollywood like the amputated body parts of a ransomed hostage."

http://www.timeout.com/london/film/mad-max-fury-road

[Jim_Campbell]

Heh, yeah - I remember that review (from Time Out); captured the essence of the film perfectly

Yep. More or less perfect.

Fury Road still sits very comfortably in my 'Film of the Year' spot, with the #2 position being a surprise toss-up between Ant-Man and John Wick.

Cheers

Jim

[Tiplodocus]

I agree with that.

The nightclub scene in John Wick was just gobsmacking on the big screen.

[shaolin_monkey]

Mad Max was a brilliant surprise. I haven't seen John Wick - slipped under my radar completely!  AntMan was a stroke of comedy genius.

[Jim_Campbell]

I mentioned this on Facebook recently: I'm still chewing over the rich old stew of metaphor and subtext that Fury Road served up in the guise of a thunderous action movie and it dawned on me: it's the Wizard of Oz.

I know that almost any 'journey' movie can be discussed in terms of Oz (which, in itself, is a sly humanist subversion of Pilgrim's Progress) but Fury Road starts with a storm (there are even tornadoes); the travellers are heading for the "green place" (an Emerald City?) and on the way discover aspects of themselves they believed absent or lost: Furiosa's hope, Nux's self-worth and Max's humanity. Finally, they discover that the green place can't give them what they want, and that there really is no place like home.

Cheers!

Jim

[Richmond Clements]

I mentioned this on Facebook recently: I'm still chewing over the rich old stew of metaphor and subtext that Fury Road served up in the guise of a thunderous action movie and it dawned on me: it's the Wizard of Oz.

I know that almost any 'journey' movie can be discussed in terms of Oz (which, in itself, is a sly humanist subversion of Pilgrim's Progress) but Fury Road starts with a storm (there are even tornadoes); the travellers are heading for the "green place" (an Emerald City?) and on the way discover aspects of themselves they believed absent or lost: Furiosa's hope, Nux's self-worth and Max's humanity. Finally, they discover that the green place can't give them what they want, and that there really is no place like home.

Cheers!

Jim

That's bloody brilliant!

[JOE SOAP]

I know that almost any 'journey' movie can be discussed in terms of Oz (which, in itself, is a sly humanist subversion of Pilgrim's Progress) but Fury Road starts with a storm (there are even tornadoes); the travellers are heading for the "green place" (an Emerald City?) and on the way discover aspects of themselves they believed absent or lost: Furiosa's hope, Nux's self-worth and Max's humanity. Finally, they discover that the green place can't give them what they want, and that there really is no place like home.

Well just like previous installments of Max's wanderings it does take place in another mythical 'Oz'.

[shaolin_monkey]

Which one was Toto?

[Goaty]

Which one was Toto?

War Rig

[blackmocco]

Here: Fury Road - stripped of color and dialog, and for my money, even better this way. I'll say nothing else. Enjoy!

https://blackandchrome.wordpress.com

[ThryllSeekyr]

Have rented it again on the Box-Office channel and will watch it again soon.

[ThryllSeekyr]

I mentioned this on Facebook recently: I'm still chewing over the rich old stew of metaphor and subtext that Fury Road served up in the guise of a thunderous action movie and it dawned on me: it's the Wizard of Oz.

I know that almost any 'journey' movie can be discussed in terms of Oz (which, in itself, is a sly humanist subversion of Pilgrim's Progress) but Fury Road starts with a storm (there are even tornadoes); the travellers are heading for the "green place" (an Emerald City?) and on the way discover aspects of themselves they believed absent or lost: Furiosa's hope, Nux's self-worth and Max's humanity. Finally, they discover that the green place can't give them what they want, and that there really is no place like home.

Cheers!

Jim

I thought the Green Place is kind of like a person who you think is gullible, but now not.

[ThryllSeekyr]

I mentioned this on Facebook recently: I'm still chewing over the rich old stew of metaphor and subtext that Fury Road served up in the guise of a thunderous action movie and it dawned on me: it's the Wizard of Oz.

I know that almost any 'journey' movie can be discussed in terms of Oz (which, in itself, is a sly humanist subversion of Pilgrim's Progress) but Fury Road starts with a storm (there are even tornadoes); the travellers are heading for the "green place" (an Emerald City?) and on the way discover aspects of themselves they believed absent or lost: Furiosa's hope, Nux's self-worth and Max's humanity. Finally, they discover that the green place can't give them what they want, and that there really is no place like home.

Cheers!

Jim

I have made a personal mental analogy of between the official Mad Max video game and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, but I'll keep those parallels to myself for now.

[blackmocco]

So, this mysterious Black and Chrome version indeed exists, but was predictably enough, hauled down by Warner Bros. I don't think I need to tell yiz which nefarious sites to go if you were intrigued enough to try track it down.

Anyway, as an example:

http://nerdist.com/finally-witness-a-bl ... fury-road/

And the original source of the Black and Chrome version:
https://blackandchrome.wordpress.com/

I've watched it twice now and I'd say I enjoyed this far more than I thought possible. It's thrilling how well the movie works without any dialog whatsoever and at times, I felt like I was watching some weird lost silent classic. Loved it. Won't be for everyone but a very unique and beautiful version of the film.

The opening without any narration is far more powerful than what's in the original. That opening shot of Max standing beside the Interceptor in complete silence beyond some ethereal sinister whispering voices of the victims is beyond haunting.

What struck me was how much clearer some of the visuals are when you've nothing else to focus on. The final chase in particular benefits from having no distractions. For some reason, it's much clearer how Furiosa hooks Joe's mouthpiece at the end. Great stuff.

My biggest takeaway from all this was that the little girl Max keeps 'seeing' is some kind of demon. I dunno. Maybe I've just overloaded on this thing...