Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written May 15th, 2015*

Some background with me and the Mad Max films: I had never previously seen a Mad Max film before December last year, I picked up the Blu-ray box-set and cracked on the first one. I was vastly disappointed, it was an ugly, incoherent mess of a film. The car chases and action were excellent for its day, especially taking into account the shoe-string budget, but the story was muddled and disjointed to the point where we had to check Wikipedia to see what had happened.

Thankfully Road Warrior was a vast improvement, with a story that you could actually follow and action scenes that were some of the best for its time, It still had it's problems but it was very watchable. It kinda felt like Evil Dead, the first was messy, but the sequel allowed the director to create the vision he wanted with a bigger budget. Now the last entry, Beyond Thunderdome was another mess, but it had its moments, it starts of all well, but eventually went to this strange family-friendly place that felt like Spielberg meets Lord of the Flies, which created a weird film that was tonally disjointed from the previous two.

Now after 30 years, Mad Max is back with Tom Hardy in Mel Gibson's seat as the titular anti-hero and the results are the birth of one of the best action films made in the past decade or so.
While not a reboot or remake of the first, Fury Road is a hybrid of a sequel and reboot, the past events of the last 3 films are all canon, but it feels like a completely new story and you really don't need to watch the first 3 to understand.

Fury Road places a reluctant Mad Max helping Furiosa (Charlize Theron) get Immortan Joe's (Hugh Keays-Byrne) sex slaves away from him and to the safety of the 'Green Land'. This is essentially the whole story that's told over a 2-hour chase scene.

It works perfectly. The action scenes are some of the most perfect I've ever seen on film. Apart from some weather effects (Which does look incredible) there is an outstanding reliance on practical effects and a very minimum and restrained use of CGI. I was amazed at how they filmed a lot of this, there are cars and trucks being totaled and blown up with the actors clearly in a close proximity. This film is true film-making at its finest.

The action scenes are accompanied by an excellent score which was composed by 'XL Junkie' (Yep). The music works its way into the film through a guy playing a guitar that's part flamethrower on top of one of the vehicles. Fury Road is filled with demented genius like this, the character and set designs are all excellent. The idea of having Mad Max as a human blood-bag for Nicholas Hoult for the first 40 minutes or so of the film was a risky idea that payed off.

Surprisingly, for a film called 'Mad Max' the lead character does not say much and spends a third of the film tied to a car with a muzzle attached to him. Which works fine, as Charlize Theron's character was great to watch, an amputee with a robot hand steals the show more than Tom Hardy, that's an achievement right there.


Perfectly paced, easy to follow and featuring some of the best action ever put on screen, Mad Max: Fury Road is a strange masterpiece in creative film-making that is so unique and different from anything that is released these days, that it has to be seen. 

10/10 Dans

Mad Max: Fury Road is out now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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Atomic Blonde (2017) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written August 9th, 2017*

"Go Atomic"

Atomic Blonde is not what I expected at all. I was expecting a non-stop action film in the vein of John Wick (It's directed by one of the two John Wick helmers), instead, what I got was a violent, slow-paced and kinda messy spy thriller with some action sprinkled in. I did really enjoy Atomic Blonde, a lot in fact, but it had its problems.

The biggest problem is its story. The overall plot is fairly simple. An undercover MI6 agent (Charlize Theron) is sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and recover a missing list of double agents. It seems like simple stuff on paper, and it is, for the most part, but in the final act things got insanely convoluted and I had no idea what was happening. A lot of twists are thrown at you very quickly and I didn't have enough time to entirely process them, leaving me confused by the end. A rewatch is in order, it would help to have subtitles too.

Everything else though was fantastic. I had a blast with Atomic Blonde. It was "good shit". Despite my confusions, the film was paced insanely well and had me involved the whole time. It was a lot darker than the trailers made it out to be and I appreciated that. 

While it isn't as action packed as John Wick, David Leitch does an amazing job with the action on display. It's hard hitting, brutal and very violent. The centerpiece scene that is one long 9 minute take through an apartment building then a car chase was spectacular. Easily one of the best action scenes of the year. I loved the way the characters slowly got worn down through the scene and got out of breath, barely able to make any moves. It was great.

Charlize Theron does a fantastic job with the action. There wasn't a lot to her character, but she was sexy and bad-ass enough to carry the film. She did a lot of her own stunt-work and it really shows throughout. I really do hope to see her continue to do action roles, because she is excellent at it.

James McAvoy was also excellent as the Theron's contact in Berlin. Funny, sleazy and pathetic. It was very similar to his role in Filth (which you should really see) where he also played a corrupt cop. The rest of the supporting cast were fine. John Goodman pops up in a fairly thankless role as he seems to do a lot lately.

I was a bit worried about the visual style based on the trailers, but Atomic Blonde is a gorgeous film. Despite taking place in 1980's Berlin (It looks bleak as hell), it still managed to be bright and beautiful with a vibrant color pallet with strong neon blues and reds. I also loved the neon spray paint for the titles and scene transitions.

Being set in the '80s, there is a huge variety of pop music from the era, from David Bowie and New Order and even slowed down German covers of songs you may know well, it was all gravy to my ears. I even really liked Tyler Bates score, which invoked The Neon Demon score to me for some reason.


Atomic Blonde might not excel with its storytelling, but for the most part its an insanely fun and violent ride with excellent turns from Charlize Theron and James McAvoy. One of the best action films of the year.

8/10 Dans

Atomic Blonde is out now in cinemas in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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