The Definitive Action Hallmark-- Mad Max: Fury Road

There have been very few instances where a studio managed to rejuvenate a franchise after years of inactivity. One good example would be the Batman franchise, when Warner Bros. and Christopher Nolan managed to bring the caped crusader, Batman, back to the mass audience with the highly successful Batman Begins in 2005, almost 8 years after Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin. Even fewer instances where the original director returned to helm the newest movie with all his passion and in the process, craft a movie that not only catapults said franchise back to greatness, but also act as a totem for the future endeavors of the genre it excels in. George Miller's 2015 action blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road is one such movie that lifted the Mad Max series from hibernation after almost 30 years, mind you, that's 3 decades. A blockbuster that's crafted with Miller's love, passion and over-the-top imagination for the post-apocalyptic world and its many ventures.

Mad Max: Fury Road follows Max, a drifter and survivor, in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, as he unwillingly joins Imperator Furiosa, a rebel warrior, in a quest to overthrow a tyrant who controls the land's water supply.

Right off the bat, Miller throws you into the action. This is fast-paced, with very few slow moments, over-the-top jaw-dropping stunts, beautiful imagery, enthralling score, a slew of unlikely and extra-ordinary characters and whatnot. This movie is batshit crazy. The stunts are immaculate. Words can't describe how amazing the action scenes are to look at. The pans, the wide shots, the practical yet ethereal stunts, the gorgeous color science, the gritty imagery, the simple-yet-engrossing plot, everything mesh together in this cocktail of cacophony and mayhem and madness and extravaganza. The audience is let to breathe only sparsely. The editing is also fast, with quick cuts only to heighten the tension but never to cheat away from delivering the awe-striking combat. And when the movie does pull long takes, boy, they are a treat for the eyes.

The cast is incredible. We are talking about Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne and more. Everyone worked their backs off to bring these crazy characters to the mad world that is Mad Max: Fury Road. Especially Theron as the Imperator Furiosa, she had quite the arc in this movie. You could even argue that this is in a way, Furiosa's movie and Charlize aptly owns it. Hugh also plays the extravagant and boasting villain, Immortan Joe. Everyone is amazing in this movie. In normal cases, these characters would be too extra to be liked, but they are, in their strange ways, very likable. They are, well, not relatable. (Let's be honest, who would relate to a madman chained to the front of a car?) But they have their quirks, they have their traits to make them interesting.

Junkie XL crafted a suiting soundtrack for the movie. Its full of rich bass, tension, there's a good oomph to it. It works brilliantly with the film. I have no complaints in this regard.

All in all, George Miller's re-enfranchisement of Mad Max is a solid, awe-striking, jaw-dropping spectacle that lays the roadmap for how summer blockbusters should be done. If anything, I badly want to learn how to make gargantuan blockbusters from him and maybe one day, make a movie as bombastic and grandous as this one. It's no surprise, none at all, that Mad Max: Fury Road is heralded as one of the best action blockbusters of all time.