Is Mad Max: Fury Road Overrated...Or Nah?

[FlyRy]

I liked it,thinking back on it though,i have a feeling if I watched it again I wouldn't like it

But if a movie is only good for one viewing does that make it a bad movie?Especially a movie that's mostly strong on the visuals and stunts.

Its held up on 4 viewings...

 

[Swiggy]

I don't think anybody here is hating on Mad Max: Fury Road, breh. But to use your logic, John Wick should have been up for a Golden Globe last year. It didn't try to be anything other than an action experience, and it executed it to perfection. This pick and choose culture of what movies we let slide because of "what they were going for" when we didn't spend a second in the production process has to stop.

I see you, breh

It must be something else, then... cuz I LOVE John Wick, but it ain't no Mad Max.

 

[I AM WARHOL]

Breh is seriously trying to write a thesis on human emotion based off an action film

Just a huge reach

 

[TheGodling]

^^^ what an ostentatious unfukkwithable post^^^

"I am a real film fan and you are not"
~mad max stans @TheGodling :ducreux:

Fixed that for you since apparently you can't argue with my facts.:gawdling:

Its held up on 4 viewings...

It has held up on twelve viewings.

 

[I AM WARHOL]

Fixed that for you since apparently you can't argue with my facts.:gawdling:



It has held up on twelve viewings.

12 viewings.......

I rest my case

 

[Trapperman Dave]

It was ok to me i'd watch it again, i never seen mad max before so i was like wtf with the story. I bet michael bay was at the explosions

 

[notPsychosiz]

It isn't overrated... but to understand why takes more than casual critics care to delve into.
So if anything its underappreciated.

There are only a handful of trilogies where each movie is regarded as classic, Mad Max being one of those few.
So to add a fourth decades later that is a great movie is really a feat.

Starwars couldn't do it. Indiana Jones couldn't do it. Aliens couldn't do it.
The fourth film is always a noticable decrease in quality. Not here.

Another thing is that to replace a top tier actor like Mel Gibson and receive no complaints about the performance is almost unheard of.

There is alot going on thematically that I won't get into, but this is a very high level film.
One of the greatest 4th films of alltime, pushing the Mad Max series way ahead of alot of quadrilogies that have a weak.

 

[Ribbs]

I'm surprised it got award nominations if anything but nah it's not overrated.

Seeing brehs say this wasn't movie of the year, if not this, then what? Star Wars came out last week and Fury Road was dubbed Movie of the Year weeks ago.

12 viewings.......

I arrest my case

 

[BaldingSoHard]

Perfect movies don't exist

 

[FaTaL]

that scene with the tornado and lightening

 

[I AM WARHOL]

I'm surprised it got award nominations if anything but nah it's not overrated.

Seeing brehs say this wasn't movie of the year, if not this, then what? Star Wars came out last week and Fury Road was dubbed Movie of the Year weeks ago.

Slip. Thanks for pointing it out

 

[mr x]

These threads man.

So you got an opinion...

 

[NobodyReally]

Fixed that for you since apparently you can't argue with my facts.:gawdling:



It has held up on twelve viewings.

fukk yeah...over 20 viewings here and I'm gonna watch it again sometime New Year's weekend.

 

[obarth]

Now see, that's just fukking bullshyt. The world-building in the movie is Grade A and one of the biggest reasons for that is because the perfectly tuned dialogue.

From the warcry-like Witness Me's, Kamikrazy's and Mediocre's to the more cerebral touches like :

'Is that just the wind, or is it some furious fixation?'

or (talking about bullets):

'Angharad used to call them anti-seed.'
'Plant one and watch something die.'

Everything said, and especially the way that it is said, brings life to this world and in that sense this actually might be the only film this year truly delivering next level dialogue. Dialogue that doesn't take place in the world, but forms the world itself with every word spoken.

Now regarding the plot, it might not be "next level" or whatever the fukk that means (perhaps Saving Private Ryan isn't next level because it's a WWII movie?), it tells one of the most classic stories of all. A woman desperately in search of hope. A man beyond redemption. Both find it in the place they least expect. It's simple and straight forward but it's told with such nuance that is far more effective than most of the Hollywood-drama-trope-filled nonsense that comes out every week. It is far more than just an action movie, the action (like any good action movie) is simply a medium that pushes/motivates the main characters in ways they can't push themselves. Do you think things would've ever gotten right between John McClane and Holly if Gruber & co didn't happen? Do you think Riggs would've ever gotten out of his suicidal self-destructive behavior if he didn't get paired up with Murtaugh? Do you think Rama would've ever gotten out of that damn tenement building if it wasn't to bring back his brother? Great action is more than just explosions, fist fights and shootouts, action itself is a storytelling medium just like dialogue is. It's just a bit more expressive and sure as hell a lot less talky.



Editing for one, specifically editing continuity. For a movie as chaotic and hectic it is the editing is pitch perfect with every single shot following the previous shot right in place. I've spoken on it before but there's a scene where they throw a guy of the rig but he hangs on as a polecat wagon approaches and lifts one of the girls out of the rig, and that scene uses like ten different shots and in every shot every vehichle and every person is exactly where they would be following the previous shot. That's not just insanely difficult to pull off, it's almost impossible. And this movie does it consistently right for two hours! That's a technical feat that not many action movies can even dream of trying to pull off, let alone achieve it. Most people might be blind to this shyt (hell, seeing people try to defend Transformers movies, I know they're fukking blind to this shyt) but that's just masterclass film making. There's a reason Orson Welles said the movie that taught him everything about editing was the chase in John Ford's Stagecoach, because there's nothing more difficult to edit than an action scene. To capture the intensity and the chaos at all the peak moments but still structure the whole ordeal in a way that we can follow exactly what happens.

And I've already spoken on the narrative above but again, the movie relies almost entirely on show, not tell. Which is kind of a breathe of fresh air in what's primarily a visual medium, nowadays occupied heavily by expository dialogues. There's not a wasted sentence or a word here, yet the story, the characters' motivations, the world they live in, we know everything we need to know about it. How many movies can pull that off. Even current big-time movie The Revenant, hailed for Leo's long silent performance, can't help but fall into some dialogues to explain things that perhaps didn't need that much explaining (Tom Hardy's villain character in that one really loves to explain his motivations). If a character has to explain it, you didn't show it right. Nothing in Mad Max needs to be further explained than it has, and that is grade A storytelling.

I could go on but I actually have other things to do than write my thirtieth titangraph on this movie so I'll just respond to this quickly:



John Wick deserved recognition a lot more than certain highly praised movies of last year. It's funny you talk about what movies we let slide, because to me your logic is holding movies back. I bet that stupid-ass logic is why The Dark Knight never got that awards recognition the fanboys so desperately craved for, because it was looked upon as just a superhero movie, just a summer blockbuster, and that one actually tried pretty goddamn hard to be more than that. The idea that Mad Max: Fury Road doesn't deserve recognition for being one of the best movies of the year because you think an "award movie" has to live up to certain standards (you can claim that's not what you meant, but you're clearly implying that "just an action movie" isn't up to standard for an "award movie") is exactly what's wrong with many of these awards shows.

All the while you'll still have people complaining about pure Oscar Bait prestige movies like The Danish Girl because it's sure to nab a bunch of nominations as it checks every little box of what the feeble minds of today's movie audience and Academy voters thinks makes a prestige picture. But guess what, John Wick was separated from the low-budget Gary Daniels/Danny Trejo/Mickey Rourke/JCVD headlined action revenge movies of last year because of good film making. It stood out from the pack of all the other action movies that year because of good film making. Because good film making can not be denied, no matter how hard you ignorant plebs try with your uninformed lack of comprehension on what makes a movie tick.

And yes, that was my 'quick' response.

I respect the detailed response, and dapped/repped you for it. The world building you referenced would have been actually powerful if the movie wasn't essentially a reboot of the franchise. The plebs you called out all praised the movie for its technical achievements, if not as detailed as you put it. If I never knew what the fukk Mad Max was, I wouldn't have been moved by the world building dialogue you brought up. I'd instead be in my seat at the theater wondering what the hell they were talking about. As a stand alone movie, the plot/dialogue was not engaging enough to make the film more than just a great visual, action experience. If I never read The Lord of the Rings, I could understand the world they were building by paying attention. They built up that world perfectly. I agree that most movies rely way too much on exposition to communicate with audiences. But this movie could have used a bit more exposition to build up its world.

 

[spliz]

I see you, breh

It must be something else, then... cuz I LOVE John Wick, but it ain't no Mad Max.

I enjoyed John Wick WAAAAYYY more than Mad Max.