Reservations

[croft007]

fury road...!!!?

[pauli77]

I don't think that many people are willing to accept it, and I don't think you are in a minority. Cinema is in a very sad state right now. Audiences are sick of remakes, overly leveraged franchises, and shallow sensation orientated story lines. But it's the only way the big studios can secure healthy returns. But even this model is starting to flounder. It's all looking very bleak and nobody knows what the answer is.

It will be very interesting to see how The Rover performs. It's had virtually zero response here.

Fury Road has massive global box office appeal in my opinion. Maybe in the ten figure range, maybe not.

I'm not happy about any of it personally. I feel mostly the same as you. I find it a shame. I feel like an outcast on here to suggest that maybe two headed lizards, robotic arms, and exploding lightning tornados, aren't what Mad Max is about.

Well, I really started it to see if others felt the same, so I'm glad a couple of others do.

I actually think there is a market for intelligent blockbusters. If you look at the Dark Knight, The new Apes films, and even Godzilla had something to say.

Yes, I see The Rover really isn't performing too well; it could probably do with a few more explosions and painted faces lol.

It seems to be trading on the name, but wants to be seen as a very different film. Of all the things I've heard, Max getting captured in the first 5 mins and strapped to the front of a car like those poor guys in Road Warrior, seems like one of the worst ways for a title character to start a film lol.

[MWFV8]

I don't think that many people are willing to accept it, and I don't think you are in a minority. Cinema is in a very sad state right now. Audiences are sick of remakes, overly leveraged franchises, and shallow sensation orientated story lines. But it's the only way the big studios can secure healthy returns. But even this model is starting to flounder. It's all looking very bleak and nobody knows what the answer is.

It will be very interesting to see how The Rover performs. It's had virtually zero response here.

Fury Road has massive global box office appeal in my opinion. Maybe in the ten figure range, maybe not.

I'm not happy about any of it personally. I feel mostly the same as you. I find it a shame. I feel like an outcast on here to suggest that maybe two headed lizards, robotic arms, and exploding lightning tornados, aren't what Mad Max is about.

Well, I really started it to see if others felt the same, so I'm glad a couple of others do.

I actually think there is a market for intelligent blockbusters. If you look at the Dark Knight, The new Apes films, and even Godzilla had something to say.

Yes, I see The Rover really isn't performing too well; it could probably do with a few more explosions and painted faces lol.

It seems to be trading on the name, but wants to be seen as a very different film. Of all the things I've heard, Max getting captured in the first 5 mins and strapped to the front of a car like those poor guys in Road Warrior, seems like one of the worst ways for a title character to start a film lol.

The intelligence thing is very much subject to the brands surrounding the material itself and those who are in the driver's seat. The question is, does the Mad Max brand lend itself to something that should be preserved in terms of these qualities you, I, and a few others want to see? And then the next question is, does the Miller brand carry enough weight that he can demand these elements form a key part of his movies?

There's chance development meetings went something like this;

McCarthy: -and at this point we see Max at his lowest, he's lost everything he has, but it's reminding him of everything he has lost, like ever, in his whole life up to this point.
Miller: We're stripping him right back, it's his whole belly of the whale moment. It's giving us something to build his anger from, it's opening up all this dark repressed torment he's been suffering, and it's forming him into a hero.
Executive #1: And he's strapped to a car.
Miller: Sure, he's chained to a Marauder's car.
McCarthy: Like he's been crucified. You know, symbolic. It's bordering on religion.
Executive #2: Religion like the rapture?
McCarthy: Well not that specifically but-
Executive #1: -Like the end is coming?
Miller: No, but it is a story about humani-
Executive #1: I like the rapture part.
Miller: But we didn't-
Executive #2: Biblical destruction on a global scale.
Executive #1: This guy knows the deal.
McCarthy: Well there is sandstorm Nux loses Furiousa in and-
Executive #1: You know what sandstorms work well with, lightning.
Executive #2: You know what else sandstorms work well with, being turning it motherf**king tornados.
Executive #1: Motherf**king lightning sandstorm tornados.
Miller: Guys, I know Sharknado was a hit but-
Executive #1: Could like, the lightning be triggering explosions in the rapturenados, yeah I just coined the phrase rapturnado.
McCarthy: Well you see we've built the world so gas is a dying commodity-
Executive #2: Yeah but there's gas right, everyones got to be carrying some explosion gas with them.
Executive #1: We should have like, just everyone pile into the rapturenado, they should be in the story more. There should be loads of them. And they should all be on fire.
Executive #2: Have like, Furiousa chasing them all in or something.
Miller: But what about Max?
Executive #1: Who?
McCarthy: Max.
Executive #2: Well he's going to be there, right? I mean, he's chained to a freaking car.
Executive #1: We could probably trim a lot of the Max stuff back here.
Executive #2: Yeah, trim it. Trim it right back. It's slowing the whole picture down.
Miller: It's supposed to be slow.
McCarthy: It's bleak.
Executive #2: Well I tell ya this, I wouldn't want to be going slow if a rapturnado was on my ass.
Executive #1: Especially if it was on fire.
Executive #2: And Furiousa behind it.
Executive #1: Not sure which is hotter!

[pauli77]

The intelligence thing is very much subject to the brands surrounding the material itself and those who are in the driver's seat. The question is, does the Mad Max brand lend itself to something that should be preserved in terms of these qualities you, I, and a few others want to see? And then the next question is, does the Miller brand carry enough weight that he can demand these elements form a key part of his movies?

There's chance development meetings went something like this;

McCarthy: -and at this point we see Max at his lowest, he's lost everything he has, but it's reminding him of everything he has lost, like ever, in his whole life up to this point.
Miller: We're stripping him right back, it's his whole belly of the whale moment. It's giving us something to build his anger from, it's opening up all this dark repressed torment he's been suffering, and it's forming him into a hero.
Executive #1: And he's strapped to a car.
Miller: Sure, he's chained to a Marauder's car.
McCarthy: Like he's been crucified. You know, symbolic. It's bordering on religion.
Executive #2: Religion like the rapture?
McCarthy: Well not that specifically but-
Executive #1: -Like the end is coming?
Miller: No, but it is a story about humani-
Executive #1: I like the rapture part.
Miller: But we didn't-
Executive #2: Biblical destruction on a global scale.
Executive #1: This guy knows the deal.
McCarthy: Well there is sandstorm Nux loses Furiousa in and-
Executive #1: You know what sandstorms work well with, lightning.
Executive #2: You know what else sandstorms work well with, being turning it motherf**king tornados.
Executive #1: Motherf**king lightning sandstorm tornados.
Miller: Guys, I know Sharknado was a hit but-
Executive #1: Could like, the lightning be triggering explosions in the rapturenados, yeah I just coined the phrase rapturnado.
McCarthy: Well you see we've built the world so gas is a dying commodity-
Executive #2: Yeah but there's gas right, everyones got to be carrying some explosion gas with them.
Executive #1: We should have like, just everyone pile into the rapturenado, they should be in the story more. There should be loads of them. And they should all be on fire.
Executive #2: Have like, Furiousa chasing them all in or something.
Miller: But what about Max?
Executive #1: Who?
McCarthy: Max.
Executive #2: Well he's going to be there, right? I mean, he's chained to a freaking car.
Executive #1: We could probably trim a lot of the Max stuff back here.
Executive #2: Yeah, trim it. Trim it right back. It's slowing the whole picture down.
Miller: It's supposed to be slow.
McCarthy: It's bleak.
Executive #2: Well I tell ya this, I wouldn't want to be going slow if a rapturnado was on my ass.
Executive #1: Especially if it was on fire.
Executive #2: And Furiousa behind it.
Executive #1: Not sure which is hotter!

Haha well, I love the reference to Sharknado. You're quite right though: how much motivation is there to make a film that isn't just blood, guts and explosions and how much does the material let itself?

I don't think there's much motivation, but I do think the film lends itself to saying something. However, I really look at a novel (and film) like The Road and think the film version really tried to get across the bleakness of the novel and the themes of the book. And to be fair, there wasn't a great audience wanting to see so much bleakness and such questions raised about humanity and civilisation. I'm sure executives look at that and think, "yeaaaah let's make it fun." It's a catch twenty two though because the first film resonates so much because it is so unusual and brave, but it isn't fun to watch lol.

I really think you could be right on the religious imagery...

[MachRider]

To be honest, the only way us old farts, uhm I mean fans, will get closure on "old Max" is if Mel Gibson does an unofficial low budget sequel to it. Kind of like Gran Torino could be seen as unofficial last Dirty Harry movie.

And Gibson is in perfect postion (and condition) to do it. He's just maybe a bit too young to do something like that, yet.
I always imagined last adventure of Max Rockatansky to be set in a rebuilt world, like a western set in 1900s, where last few marauders torment the civilized outpost, Max being one of them.
Ultimatively he sees the futility of scavenging lifestyle (or just realizes he's too old to survive) and joins the good guys, reforms the motorized police and fades away. Thus bringing the story to full circle.

Kind of post-post apocalyptic movie, it's been decades now and law & order are back. Marauders struggle to adapt. Pure existential drama.

Fury Road in all its awesomes does seem like its feeding off the "old world" where Max is badass driver eating dog food, kicking ass and taking names, one movie sequel blurring into another with no sense of progression.

Which is perfectly fine you know. I could watch Road Warrior a million times. So I could it's big budget remakes.

[leadcounsel]

I'd firstly like to say that I'm obviously a big fan of the originals and respect Miller - though the only films of his I like are the Max films, and I'm sure many of you will the be the same.

Everyone seems to be getting really excited by the action elements of the film, but I haven't heard much mention of the other elements that make films interesting: story (beyond there's a chase and Max gets caught up in it and then helps this woman going from point A to point B); character - Max has apparently 18 lines of dialogue and with only a montage setup and a fairly inauspicious start to the film doesn't seem the most brilliant hero you've seen; and now from hearing the comments from people who have seen the footage, it seems that the focus is entirely on the visual and creating a sense of on screen vehicular madness.

There's nothing really wrong with that, but it seems many fans, who I really think will be disappointed, are desperate to like this film and not questioning whether, if this wasn't a Max film, they'd actually want to see this film. Certainly when I think back to those original films, I think of the V8 and the chases and so on but they wouldn't have resonated so much if they weren't genuinely good stories with interesting characters and counter points and themes.

The first film really speaks for itself: I think we could all agree that it was a dark and interesting movie. I really can't remember seeing anything like it beyond American horror like Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The second film though had wonderful character and emotional attachment,think we all forget how important Pappagallo is to the story and has real depth and creates a real emotional counter point to Max's initially cold and uncivilised ways. Max was the middle ground, the outsider, that helped the civilised escape the uncivilised. He's almost a Clint Eastwood figure in the way he rides into town, the man with no name and no home but with great skill. I think if you don't have the emotional grounding - the first film had Max's family and the second had Pappagallo's people - it will play like a live action cartoon.

I don't write this to get flamed - or whatever the forum term is lol - I just wanted to present a different side to a film that I'm trying to judge on its merits, but can only judge, like us all, what I've seen and heard. So far, I've seen a lot of the imagery, that everyone is now raving about, before:

And of course, many things have borrowed/stolen heavily from Max (some of the above) but what made the originals mean so much to us is how unique they were, surely? And I'm not suggesting Miller is stealing or anything like that, I'm just suggesting so far it seems like the makers and us as fans are getting excited about the wrong things. I remember seeing the Terminator Savlation trailer and thinking it was going to be so great and it just wasn't, but it looked great. And that's my point really. I'm looking forward to seeing a action film with cars, but I just wanted to voice my reservations about its quality and depth based on what I've seen and heard so far, that's all.

Something can look good, but it doesn't mean it will have the emotioanl impact of a film that had images like this - not that I now think that's what they're going for:

Totally agree. So many great movies, my other favorites (Alien/Aliens, Terminator, Predator, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, etc.) were totally RUINED by resorting to lots of CGI and nonsense and no investment in character or story. Insert some stupid one liners, and some product placement and MM4 will be a big stinky turd. Having seen the trailer, I am less than impressed. Looks like it would entertain the Xbox generation, but not the dark and violent MM fanbase for which I am a member.

[leadcounsel]

I 100% agree that audiences would gobble up an intelligent thriller. Hollywood sucks because they continue to produce stupid action films, and ruin great franchises (Alien, Terminator, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Predator, etc.).

Make an intelligent action movie, and BINGO. It's quite possible.

Mad Max is #3 on the list of the most profitable movies of all times. It cost a meager $200,000 and the profit was $100 million dollars. There was great story, excellent characters, great stunts, great car chases, and 2 explosions (Nightriders crash and Johnny's death).

MM2 was $4.5 million. According to Wikipedia, it made over $30 million, or 6 times profit at the box office between the US and Australia. More excellent characters, excellent story, and excellent chases. One small explosion, and 1 large compound explosion. But these had no impact on the movie's likabilty and were not even necessary in the overall story.

MM3 cost $12 million and brought in $36 million (tripling the investment). No CGI there either as far as I know. The movie was fair in my view. Some points I didn't care for but overall decent. Real stunts, real cars, real characters and story.

So, it's clear that a great installation does not NEED $100,000,000 budget. Bigger is not always better. MM3 was the most expensive and yet least quality and lowest return in the series. It's unlikely that with a $100 million investment that a return of $300,000,000 will happen. So as a percent return on investment, it's not going to come close to the return of MM1 or MM2 or even MM3 as a percentage.

I would have thought that going back to the roots of MM1 and MM2 would have been a much better angle. Real story first and foremost, building on the already quite successful trilogy. Why divorce oneself from former success? Then, hire great actors (not necessarily the most expensive as they have done), great writers and great stunt men and mechanics. Bingo.

[MachRider]

While FR is most definitely not Mad Max 4, continuity wise, and I would love to see a low budget Max movie, just for the quality they got out of limited resources, I wholeheartedly disagree on the CGI aspect.

For all thtat's worth, what we've seen and heard so far, for 2015. production standards, Fury Road is practically a CGI-free movie. Especially for a blockbuster. And FR is a blockbuster.

Yes, there are cliches - vehicles driving through explosions, how inventive... but even in this short theaser there's some beautiful stuntwork and especially camerawork that just hasn't been done before in cinema history. And its all PRACTICAL.

People all over the interwebs are already praising FR and supposedly Star Wars ep.7 for bringing back practical effects in style. If it goes well, and there's no reason to suspect otherwise, we just might find ourselves in another golden era where practical and cgi effects are in sinchronicity with each other. And all that because George miller and Fury Road.

With FR, Miller is entering history as a messiah of car based stuntwork in cinematography. There was Bullit. Then there were mad Max 1 & 2 and now here's Fury Road. Everything in between is filler.

[themanw/oaname]

I'm not happy about any of it personally. I feel mostly the same as you. I find it a shame. I feel like an outcast on here to suggest that maybe two headed lizards, robotic arms, and exploding lightning tornados, aren't what Mad Max is about.

im starting to not be happy about it. what the hell is this crap about having a teenage daughter?

has miller watched his own films?

[seriz]

Fury Road is practically a CGI-free movie.

Doing real stunts with real cars doesn't mean "practically a CGI free movie"... Did you see the trailer ? Sandstorms, flying cars, landscapes...