Mad Max: Fury Road starring Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron

This picture came out via twitter so it was kind of up in the air. But apparently it's been confirmed by the studio along with the fact that the movie has wrapped as of this week.



That's pretty much all I've seen on it, but based on virtually no evidence I'm optimistic.

DO NOT WANT.

Hardy is a legitimately capable actor, it seems to me. The question is whether the difference between a good Max movie and a bad one has anything to do with acting. Another question would be to what degree does the aesthetic of the series rely on practical effects vs cgi, and how that's reflected in this version. Questions, questions.

Indeed. I want another good Mad Max movie, very very much. And I say that as a guy who thinks Thunderdome is pretty good, so it's not like my standards are high. And I also say it as a fan of Miller's non-Max stuff, like The Witches Of Eastwick and the secretly-brilliant Babe 2: A Pig In The City and the under-rated Lorenzo's Oil.

Problem is: Those were all a fuck of a while ago. So I am cautiously optimistic, but really who knows?

It's a me problem. I don't like remakes, re-boots, re-mixes, cover versions, new and improved. Apart from that, my guess is that any new version will be cgi-heavy and not have that spare, dry look.

There's nothing in that (blurry, out of focus) photo that looks out of place for a Mad Max film, so consider me cautiously optimistic.

So long as the movie has great atmosphere and scenery? I'm sold. It's not like the series has a history of incredible plotlines.. the setting and perfect little dialogue moments were everything.

(ETA: Did people really not like Thunderdome?)

Thunderdome was the crass PG-13 rated ugly stepchild of the series - it still had some great vehicles and fun chases, though. So i fthey keep to pratical effects and lots of vehicles, we're good.

The first was a great little movie, but it was really only the second that defined the series, which then already went downhill on the third movie, so it's not like there's a lot of great Mad Max movies out there.

Also, Thunderdome is kinda ass. I mean, sure, there's that great opening half-hour of Bartertown and Tina Turner being crazy and Master Blaster and "TWO MEN ENTER! ONE MAN LEAVE!" and shit. That's super cool. But then there's like an HOUR where Mad Max wanders the desert and talks to orphan kids and zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Things pick up near the end with a pretty bitchin' train/car chase, but - and this is crucial for Fury Road - it was not as bitchin' as the truck/car chase from Road Warrior.

I'd certainly agree that the pacing falls off and the kids are bleh, but I adored Bartertown and didn't mind too much at that point. Bartertown helped define the universe for me, and I'll happily take mediocre desert scenes so long as I get scenes like this:

Yeah, thunderdome went a little too far into cheese territory. I cringe when I think of that stupid little short guy during the train sequence, being played for laughs. It just had too much 80s absurdity in it, compared to the much darker, and more dismal setting of the previous films.

Thunderdome is the only one I've seen and it made me never want to see another one.

What? I had no idea the Mad Max films had that kind of pedigree! I guess I should watch them now.

You can pretty much just see The Road Warrior and you'll be all set.

Guys, it's been almost thirty years. Can't we get beyond Thunderdome?

I'll see myself out thank you.

We don't need another hero.

Road Warrior is 10 times better and what made Mad Max into a small franchise.

But will there be a Brian May score?

That's like writing off the Alien movies after only seeing Alien 4 or Star Wars after only seeing The Phantom Menace.

You mean Alien 3. Writing off the Alien movies because of Resurrection just means you like to sacrifice competent movies on the altar of hyperbole.

Could be good, could be Total Recall.

Well, no, because the remake of Total Recall was not made by anybody involved from the original movie, and Fury Road is not a remake of a previous Mad Max movie.

Depends. Which Brian May?

I liken my opinions on Resurrection to this Chili Spagetti, hopefully it's not too hyperbolic.

Of all the Advertisement vs Reality food pictures I've seen, that one is the best.

(cheese not included)

Damn you Gabe, you had me laughing so hard with this I was CRYING.

No, that's probably an extremely accurate way to describe your opinions on Resurrection.

Alien Resurrection is supposed to be a good movie now?! When did this happen?

Never. That's unpossible. Besides, there were only 2 Alien movies. Everything after Aliens doesn't exist.

As early as November, off the top of my head. Keep in mind that mine is a specifically constrained endorsement: Alien and Aliens are clearly better and more original movies, but there's no comparison for me to how Alien 3 falls apart as a movie on a fundamental level. The problem with the movie is that it's merely competent at its best, which is kind of a recurring thing with Joss Whedon's writing and Jean Pierre Jeunet's direction that doesn't get better when they are put together. I've always like BDR's framing of the movies (bonus: Dr. Crypt defending Alien 3, and awdougherty proclaiming it superior to Aliens earlier in the thread), although obviously we have some difference of opinion on the particulars.

Keep in mind that for many in my generation, Resurrection was the first one I got to see in a movie theater, and it was pretty good as that kind of experience. I feel like people in that category and even younger have inherited a lot of the disdain for anything other than Alien/s from older people that have it pretty firmly cemented as a downward progression they literally experienced as it happened. It took going back to it in the boxed set to realize just how much of that reflex was borrowed from other people.

Coincidentally, I happen to have on hand someone who agrees with you. Beware of a suddenly infatuated fanbase!

You're making me feel old now...

Well, I just found the box set on offer, so I must watch all the movies again - I saw all in the theater, but Alien and Aliens are the only ones I bothered to rewatch (and rewatch and...)

But I have no problem with declaring it the third best Alien movie. It just didn't impress me enough to want to sit through again.

Watching the blu rays and the bonus materials makes even 3 rewarding, as the supplementary material lets you do a bit of a forensic analysis of its mangled corpse despite Fincher's absence. Again, tough to make a case for relative to just more Alien/s, but the whole thing is really an amazing use of the blu ray platform to make you better informed in substantive ways about every aspect of the series.

(clearly we need an aliens thread)

Speaking as a member of the generation that only saw Resurrection in the theater, I'm gonna disagree that my disappointment was inherited at all. Alien is one of my all-time favorite movies, and Aliens is a solid genre-jumping follow up.

Like any franchise fanboy, I've rewatched Resurrection a couple of times. The swimming scene, the clones, the interaction between Ripley and Annalee are all pretty great (woo extended ending). Also, you know, Ron Perlman adds to everything he touches. But the reveal of the weird alien human baby hybrid.. thing was a crushing disappointment and adds nothing to the movie beyond a bastardized attempt to add parental tension (stolen from Aliens) which fails, imo. I'm sold on the movie as being good up until that point.

There are a lot of things I like about both 3 and 4, but I'm not sure I could pick either as being better. 3 is overall more flawed, but the sharp wtf-ery of the baby takes me right out of the end of 4. I'm going to go out and say they both destroy the AvP movies, though.

Incidentally, the "only the first two movies exist" rule applies equally to the Terminator movies.

We are way off topic, but I'm actually surprised they aren't talking about rebooting the Aliens franchise as well at this point.

Because they tried?
First two bad sequels. Then two horrible franchise crossovers with Predator. And finally a deplorable not quite a prequel with Prometheus.

For those funding movies the take away message is that people don't really want more Alien... When of course the real message is, that we don't want bad movies.

hmmmm. Not sure how to feel. I'm just not sure I"m willing to accept someone else as Max. Sorry Tom Hardy.

Takes up where they left off with Mad Max at the end of Thunderdome? Ok. I'll bite. I'm surely going to miss Bruce Spence though.

Not so fast there. I agree, Prometheus sucked the big one, but those funding movies like this couldn't give a fuck if a film or franchise is actually good all they care about is profits. And Prometheus may just have made enough to warrant a sequel.

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/22209/prometheus-sequel-confirmed

You're right of course. But since Lizard King is the only person on the planet who actually enjoyed the movie, those in charge of funding might realize that the earnings was due to a great trailer and marketing campaign, Ridley Scotts name and all the "It's not an Alien prequel *wink wink*"-stuff... of course by that I'm undermining my own point, because that explanation would mean that people will give even the crap Alien movies a chance.

So this is a movie about post- apocalyptic road furries? Weird.

Dumb title, but I guess Roadkill was already taken.