I saw Mad Max: Fury Road in the theater and left
feeling...conflicted. Terribly conflicted. Now, I'm a huge Mad Max fan. For
many years, The Road Warrior even topped Star Wars as my all-time favorite
film. At age 17, it introduced me to the post-apocalyptic world, and I never
left. I even have a soft spot in my heart for Waterworld, Logan's Run and Damnation Alley
(yes, I know – no lectures, please). It took me a week to get my head around
Fury Road. Something was wrong with it - something at its core. Was it that Max
spent a good portion of the film in shackled subservience? Was it that when he
finally got free, he wasn’t at the helm of his own destiny? Was it that Furiosa
had more inner strength, motivation, dialogue and screen presence than Max did?
Was it that the only input and direction Max ultimately provided was; ‘Hey, we
should go back the way we came.’? Was it that his eyes seemed to exude fear and
the edge of insanity through most of the picture? Unfortunately, it was all
this, and more. The problem was that at its core, it wasn’t a Mad Max film. The
star was Charlize Theron. Don’t get me wrong – she was a great, strong female
lead and I enjoyed every scene she was in. But face it - this movie was ‘Mad Furiosa
Road’. So going forward, how about giving Charlize her own movie? I’m sure I’d
see it. But please give us back the Max we fell in love with 34 years ago.