Directed by: George Miller
Cast:
Tom Hardy
Charlize Theron
Nicholas Hoult
When the Oscar nominees were announced I couldn’t believe Mad Max had actually made the list of Best Picture Nominees. Now, after watching the film … I still can’t believe Mad Max made the list of Best Picture Nominees.
Don’t get me wrong, this certainly isn’t one of the worst films I’ve seen. Far from it. It just isn’t at all what I expect from a Best Picture. I honestly had trouble even getting into the film. I remember enjoying the first Mad Max movie way back when, but since then I stopped caring, and I guess that impacted my excitement over this one as well.
As far as story goes, this really didn’t have a lot. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t a plot – there definitely was. It’s just that the story and the world didn’t feel three-dimensional to me. I also found myself thinking that if I hadn’t seen any of the original Mad Max movies (especially the first one) I would have been very confused about all of Max’s flashbacks and hallucinations – even though they’re trying to appeal to a new generation of fans, none of his backstory is really explained in this film. Also, Max isn’t even the star. Honestly, I felt like most of the time he wasn’t even needed. Imperator Furiosa was definitely the main character and star of this film, and she was the only thing about this movie that I felt lived up to the hype.
Despite Furiosa’s awesomeness, I felt like Nux (Nicholas Hoult’s character) was the only really developed character in the film. He’s the only one who really grew and changed over the course of the film. The rest of the characters seemed to be the same people from beginning to end. Aside from Furiosa, Nux was probably the most interesting to me.
Overall, I just don’t feel like the movie lived up to all the hype it received this summer and I just don’t see why it deserves this nomination. Perhaps Miller deserves his nomination, but the film itself, not so much. I’m sure there are many more films much more deserving of the nomination than this one.
Rating: 6.5/10
Memorable Moment: There was definitely some great cinematography going on, but I feel like most of the really great shots and memorable moments were all the ones we had already seen in the trailers.
Ranking:
1. The Revenant
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
Not Another Dumb Blonde 