95
Where Fury Road stands apart from so much of today’s action cinema is that the human element remains front and center.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
100
Marrying the biting frenzy of Terry Gilliam’s film universe with the explosive grandeur of James Cameron, Miller cooks up some exhilaratingly sustained action. But the key to this symphony of twisted metal is how the film never forgets that violence is a sort of madness.
100
There is nothing easy or predictable about what George Miller delivers with Mad Max: Fury Road, a stone-cold action master class, beautiful and brainy and startling in the ways it throws off the current definition of the blockbuster.
83
"Mad Max" doesn't just depict conflicts with evildoers in a tattered existence. It delivers a rare alternative to aggressively stupid action movies. At a time of great need, Max rides again.
100
There is gargantuan excess here, to be sure — and no shortage of madness — but there is also an astonishing level of discipline.
80
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
That adjective in the title is accurate. Extravagantly deranged, ear-splittingly cacophonous, and entirely over the top, George Miller has revived his Mad Max punk-western franchise as a bizarre convoy chase action-thriller in the post-apocalyptic desert.
100
The Telegraph by Robbie Collin
The world of Mad Max has always been welded together from bits of whatever was lying around, and the films’ brilliance has always been in their welding – the ingenious ways in which their scrap-metal parts were combined to create something unthinkable, hilarious or obscene, and often all three.
83
Come for the blistering, full-tilt action, stay for the thought-provoking consideration of the post-apocalypse.
70
Screen International by Tim Grierson
For a while, Fury Road’s complete disinterest in screenwriting fundamentals feels liberating, as the director keeps upping the ante on this desperate chase through the desert. But what feels liberating at first can become monotonous, and Fury Road starts to drag once the frenetic sameness of Miller’s strategy takes hold.
90
The Hollywood Reporter by Todd McCarthy
The first two Max features ran barely 90 minutes and it takes guts and real confidence to dare push a straight chase film with very little dialogue to two hours. But Miller has pulled it off by coming up with innumerable new elements to keep the action compelling.
What Mad Max: Fury Road lacks in story, it makes up for ten times over with its extraordinary action sequences, which are even more impressive when you learn they were all made with practical effects. Max's name may be in the title, but Charlize Theron is the one who steals the show as Furiosa, an action heroine for the ages. This post-apocalyptic, visually stunning thriller never lets up off the gas, making this film a spectacle everyone should witness.
I almost can't believe this film was made -- in the best way. Nowadays, it's so rare to see a blockbuster that is so off-the-rails in its creative approach. It just shows how incredible the human imagination can be.
I truly wish I could experience this for the first time again – what an enthralling demonstration of epic storytelling and worldbuilding.