Anyway, because most of you reading this probably don't also read the AICN talkbacks, I'm going to post some comments made by a few folks who claim to have been there for the screening. Be warned. There are spoilers galore.
Messiahman
Well, I was at the screening on Wednesday as well, and I have a very different take. To be fair, I walked in with reasonably lowered expectations, but I still found it falling far below them. The movie is essentially one long chase scene with barely a hint of plot or characterization. The action scenes (which comprise basically everything) are relatively well done, but the cardinal sin committed by Miller is that he actually makes Max a tangential character in the story. MINOR SPOILERS: Max is captured by Immortan Joe's people about three minutes into the film (the V8 interceptor is immediately trashed and stolen) and then held as a helpless captive mounted on the hood of a truck for the next half hour. END SPOILERS When he does enter the story, he does nothing to effectively alter it at all. He may as well not be there.
Hardy has about five or six lines of dialogue in the whole film, and he does them in a VERY deep voice with occasional hints of an Aussie accent (it's not Bane, but it's close). Other than that he grunts a lot. I'm sad to report that he's pretty badly miscast here. Hardy plays the role like an unkillable bulldog without a hint of intelligence, whereas Gibson's take on the character always presented Max as actually thinking his way through action sequences rather than simply being a brute force battering ram. There are some moments of weirdness, albeit all too few (and most are just dropped in without explanation and quickly dismissed) but the film is mostly comprised of an endless car and truck chase that begins at Immortan Joe's Citadel stronghold and then goes out into the desert before turning right back around and going back to the starting point. It's one long videogame sequence that played for over two hours but felt like six. Endless action gets dull when there's not a hint of character to be seen.
The closest we get to anything about Max is when he has a few flashes of his thirteen year old daughter (yes, I know he had a son in the original film, don't know where a daughter came from) appearing and saying "you promised to save us!" That's it.
The movie is, to put it mildly, a complete and total mess No plot, no character, unending chase scenes, a sense of Max being a tourist passing through the movie... oh, and it's fucking PG-13. No blood or nudity whatsoever. It cuts away anytime something might be too brutal for younger viewers.
Lower your expectations, folks. It's not the worst thing ever, but it's also not very good. I mean, THUNDERDOME actually towers above it. And lest you think I'm a hater, I went with a group of both MAD MAX lovers as well as newbies, and all of them HATED it. My prediction: fanboys will be annoyed, and MM virgins will be uninterested. This is not the franchise restart WB is hoping for. At all.
Messiahman
Actually, it's about as deep as the Bane voice, with only an occasional hint of Australian. It's not quite Bane, but it's not far off. He also makes a weird (not good) choice and GRUNTS a lot. Has about five or six lines of dialogue in the film. As I mentioned in my above post, Hardy sadly seems miscast. He plays it all hulking brute force, without a hint of the thoughtful charisma Gibson had in the original films.
FilmSmith
I saw it last night. Enjoyed it a lot and what's great is that it's not afraid of being strange. It's definitely got a weird sensibility and isn't afraid of wearing its bizarre touches out in the open, in a great way. It's got awesome action absolutely drenched with imagination. Cool costumes, designs and music (hope they keep it!). Solid performances. The pacing is sometimes too fast or slow, par for the course at this point, and I wish the movie had more quiet, contemplative moments that contrast the action and deepen the world. But even so, it was touching, esp in how it showed characters losing and gaining hope in an utterly depressing world. The fact George Miller was able to bring his weird, personal vision to such an epic picture within the studio framework is a giant accomplishment. Wish we'd gotten a chance to see Miller's Justice League or Hobbit. He's a true visionary, bringing a unique pov and poetic understanding to the action.
Messiahman
And I realize that there wasn't a ton of blood or gore in the originals, but there was an intensity level to certain scenes (the rape/killing that Gyro Pilot witnesses in ROAD WARRIOR) that seemed quite adult. There are one or two noticeable scenes in FURY ROAD where the camera clearly shies away from what should be intense and shocking. Took me right out. As I said in my super-long post about the film, it's not the worst thing ever, but lowered expectations are key, as it's still a few clicks below even THUNDERDOME.
Messiahman
It's definitely a reimagining that takes place in its own universe, as Max specifically has flashbacks to a tweener daughter saying "you promised to save us." As we know. Max had a baby son in the first film - no daughter at all.. Also, he has the V8 Interceptor at the beginning of FURY ROAD, but then it's trashed and stolen, and he never retrieves it.
Messiahman
Yeah, the ending is set up to either follow Max on further separate adventures OR to revisit Charlize Theron's Imperator Furiosa character (in fact, she's the real protagonist of this one). Also, the post-apocalyptic world is a lot further along in this universe -- there are full blown mutant societies this time around. I'll give it to Miller that he manages to drop in some striking visuals and a few interesting ideas, and he can still shoot action. I just wish there had been more actual plot and characterization. The entire film is basically the final chase scene from THE ROAD WARRIOR stretched out to two hours. And Max himself doesn't affect it much.
Perhaps we should lower our expectations (?)Messiahman
The weird thing about Max in this one is that he's not really even the main character. He's almost tangential to it and doesn't even enter properly into the proceedings until the thirty minute mark. I'm sad to report that Hardy, who I normally like a lot, isn't very special here. Max has about five lines, always uttered in a low growl, and Hardy plays him as a bulldog type, rather than the thoughtful charisma that Gibson brought to the role. It's not terrible, but it's not the obvious star turn of Gibson.
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