To me, this movie seems like an amazing Mad Max-inspired movie and not so much a Mad Max movie. Mad Max is a pretty standard western story about the Shane-style character Max, but Max was basically a periphery character in this. Which is fine, but I wish they had just removed him entirely. The Immortan Joe/Imperator Furiosa storyline was way better.
Counterpoint: in the original Mad Max, you don't even see Max and he doesn't seem like a very important character for like a half-hour. This seemed to me to fit the standard MM/western format of Max coming into some situation with problems that don't really concern him (apart from his own captivity). He's always been more of a cypher to compare to the mad world.
Mad Max is never the most important character in any of his films. He's basically the vehicle (heh) by which George Miller explores the various aspects of the fucked-apart world he inhabits.
Pretty sure this was my favorite Mad Max movie--distilled down to pure action, with just enough plot to hang the theme and setting upon. Could so easily have turned crap in another director's hands, but my man did the right thing: worked out everyone's background to fine detail and then didn't waste your time telling it to you. Just let you enjoy some action and maybe get a sense that the director is sick of watching old men send young men out to die for them. Here's hoping the upcoming sequels don't become prequels paying off Max's ghosts but continue moving into novel territory.
i like to rate movies by how many times i check my watch
this movie almost got the coveted "didnt check" award, but when furiosa had that on-the-knees yell (that was some vader noooooo level shit) i gave myself up to the timepiece for a moment
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