Mad Max-Fury Road: The Fast and the Feminist?

Max Rockatansky rides hard on the roads of the future wasteland in the film Mad Max-Fury Road.  Director George Miller first introduced us to this world and the title character, originally played by Mel Gibson  in 1979.  At first, he was a hard driving police officer struggling to maintain law and order in a civilization and world crumbling about him.  But when he lost his family to a criminal bike gang lead by Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne), the little thread he was hanging onto inside snaps.  Max takes vengeance upon Toecutter's gang and is seen at the end of the original Mad Max driving furiously, seemingly to nowhere, as directionless as his life has become.  The subsequent films, The Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome saw him wandering still, alone, stumbling into interesting situations that force him to engage with people that he otherwise would probably avoid.

This brings us to Fury Road.  Max, now played by Tom Hardy, still wanders the wasteland, still alone.  He seems to be an empty shell of a man, purely driven by a spirit that does not allow him to accept death.  He survives to survive and seemingly little more.  He is a silent wanderer who keeps to himself, unless crossed.  Then he explodes into a maelstrom of struggle, determined to extricate himself from whatever has beset his void girded vigil and return to his emptiness, it would seem.  For little else seems to motivate him.  The wasteland is an empty, wan, lonely and seemingly dying place.  But like Max's soul, it has a fierceness at the center and a determination to go on.  And where that continuance takes hold, there is potential for growth anew and hope, though the world and Max may not be aware of this.

So when he is beset by the Warboys of Immorten Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrn again), he at first reacts in his usual manner, fierce determination to survive and escape.   But when in the course of events he comes in contact with Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), a female combat driver in service to Immorten Joe, his guard over time slowly begins to lower and he begins to actively acknowledge the world outside himself once again.  Furiosa has her own agenda.  She has stolen a War Rig (think souped up 18 wheeler) and is making off with Joe's Brides (women who serve only as baby makers to produce War Boys).  She can't have children herself, yet her ability has made her one of the few female warriors in Joe's community.  At some point, though, she decided that was not enough and that she needed to try to return to her people, a tribe of women in the fabled "Green Land".

Along with a feral yet somewhat good natured War Boy named Nux, Max makes common cause with this motley crew and finds the possibility of human connection that he has not known in a very long time.

The visuals of Fury Road are lush, the design work, especially on the vehicles are inspired and insane and the action is quite fast and furious.  The characters are colorful, over the top and understated as the story requires.  Tom Hardy, especially, does Mel Gibson proud in his turn as Max Rockatansky.  Immorten Joe is a menacing, colorful dictator in the true wasteland warlord tradition.  And then there's Charlize Theron's Furiosa.  She is a competent, level headed, formidable female warrior geared for surviving the wasteland.  But she has ideals and faith that the world has not killed and she is willing to fight for them.  Also, refreshingly, there is no romantic subplot between the male and female leads, that is, her and Max.

Some have called this a triumph for feminism.  I disagree. I think it is more due to the vision of George Miller and his unwillingness to buy into cheap Hollywood cliches.  If some find that in line with the political ideologies, more power to them, I guess.  But for me as a storyteller myself, I'm glad to see that Miller's first loyalties are to his own instincts as a creator, rather than to audience surveys, corporate bean counters and the like.  Like Max, he drives on in the direction he wants to go.

Very good time at the cinema.  You should drive there quickly.  But observe traffic and vehicular safety, please.

Avengers-Age of Ultron: A huge cinematic step almost resulting in psychic groin pull

Once upon a time, a boy built a toy robot.  This robot was to be a friend and guardian to all humankind, protecting us from those big threats he knew awaited us.  The boy was good with building machines and he had complete confidence his creation would serve us well.  The problem is, his creation was a bit too smart and had its own ideas on how to "serve".  Big explosions and snarky quips followed.

Thus, we have the cliffiest of Cliff Notes versions of the plot of Avengers-Age of Ultron, the follow-up film to Joss Whedon's sophomore motion picture effort, The Avengers.  For those who haven't been following closely, Marvel Comics has been doing a sensational job bringing its comic book universe to the silver screen (and now small screen, with Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter, Daredevil and more to come). Whedon came on board with a few script doctorings (he is well known for that) and then, with his creative, offbeat talents demonstrated years before, his love and knowledge of imaginative tales such as comics well established and with a name that carries weight and cultural currency with legions of fans, he was given keys to the Marvel kingdom.  With those, he unlocked the Avengers.  And when that one went on to do record breaking box office business, he naturally was offered the follow-up.  He accepted.

And now, we have Avengers-Age of Ultron burning up the movie charts.  Starting out overseas, it began making bank immediately.  Hitting the US shores, it has pulled in serious bucks for both its opening night and debut weekend and has fans taking in the spectacle in droves.  Despite all of that, does Avengers-Age of Ultron prove itself a worthy film all its own?

Yes.  But that yes does come with some buts.  It is truly a worthwhile spectacle.  The huge budget clearly wasn't wasted.  In a story that takes it clear across the globe, it shows the Avengers team as a global force, taking the fight to evil wherever they are.  They aren't just a New York or even a team that just concerns itself with stateside threats.  So the action is huge, epic and amazing, with shots clearly choreographed to evoke comic panels.  But...it is an assault on the senses and it is so...much at times, it becomes almost physically exhausting.

Fortunately, things are broken up with plentiful well written character moments.  Not only are they recognizably in character, acknowledging the characters' comic roots as well as their past cinematic adventures, they establish these characters aren't just costumes.  They are hearts and souls, wounded ones in many cases.  However, the snark does come across a little heavy at times.  The first Avengers movie had only a couple of moments where Whedon seemed to be reaching a bit far for the joke.  The sequel, though most of the jokes hit home, had a few that made you feel that Whedon was trying a bit too hard for the funny.  A straight line, or perhaps just grim silence might have been better for a couple of moments.

Lots of new characters were introduced in this film, as well as new ones previously introduced were brought on board for the follies.  Again, in the hands of a lesser storyteller, this movie would have taken on a Batman and Robin level of bloat.  Joss Whedon knows these characters, loves them, knows what makes them tick.  So they all had moments and they all rang true.  But you did get the sensation of an overstuffed sausage at moments, filled to bursting.  Whedon has said he left over an hour of film on the editing floor.  With more film, this movie might have felt a little less stuffed.  However, it would have clocked in at over three hours at that point.  Here's hoping we see what didn't make the cut on the Blu Ray.

Finally, the movie does have some great poignant comments about modern world situations.  Raw power is not necessarily enough to set things right alone.  Technology and tools don't necessarily bring you the results the designer intended, as Tony Stark is loathe to admit.  Ultimately, this is a human world needing human solutions.  Even the machines acknowledge our power, seeing us as either the great threat to be exterminated (Ultron) or unique creations not to be dismissed (The Vision, played immensely by Paul Bettany).

Avengers-Age of Ultron is huge.  It is a grand chapter in the world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a satisfactory film through which Joss Whedon can exit his part in this play.  It is not problem free, but if the Marvel Universe is one you want to follow, this is a step you can take with satisfaction.