Test audience screening Wed 4/30

[DGSimo]

I'll post the big impression piece when I get off work in 4 hours or so and by that time Ain't It Cool will have run the scoop by then. I sent it to them first before posting it here just because some folks lurk here and what we usually post or discuss magically ends up as a big scoop on ManlyMovie.net or something who never sources the people here and then gets all the hits and traffic.

The guy who saw it is a big Mad Max fan and wanted me to clarify this...

What Miller's exact quote (as near as I can remember it) was:
"… but you will see "connections" in the film. Like Hugh Keyes-Byrne as the villain."

And having just seen the film, I think he meant more than just including actors and crewmembers from the original trilogy.You will see a LOT of similar themes throughout the film. Some similar action bits, similar props, characters, little nods to the fans, etc.. And similar themes of course. It's no secret that there is a big battle rig in this movie that is like the armored tractor trailer from the original (just pumped way the hell up).

Another thing that isn't a spoiler (since we've seen it in preproduction photos etc.) is that a version of Max's car returns and some elements of his costume are the same (like the iconic jacket with football pad on one side).

There are some cars in this movie that MUST be a direct nod to the early Australian film by Peter Weir "The Cars That Ate Paris". Wow.

[scfc68]

Just on Max's uniform thing, there are nods but look like differences too? Hardy's outfit looks a lot bulkier and less leather clad - the trousers look more combat like to me and I don't see the iconic fingerless gloves either.

Has the leg brace been confirmed either? And does anyone know as regards the sawn off shotgun?

These are small details but sometimes they matter.

Have they remade the montages/flashback scenes from MM2 to fill in a backstory?

[Mud Guts]

Randy also made the comparison that if The Road Warrior is The Terminator in terms of action and quality then Fury Road is Terminator 2.

T2 was better than T1!
Happy days!

[DGSimo]

Just on Max's uniform thing, there are nods but look like differences too? Hardy's outfit looks a lot bulkier and less leather clad - the trousers look more combat like to me and I don't see the iconic fingerless gloves either.

Has the leg brace been confirmed either? And does anyone know as regards the sawn off shotgun?

These are small details but sometimes they matter.

Have they remade the montages/flashback scenes from MM2 to fill in a backstory?

Max has a leg brace but it looks different. There is a sawn-off shotgun in the movie...

There's A LOT more guns in FURY ROAD than there was in the original trilogy.

Not sure if it's "remade" but yes there's a montage over the opening credits with narration explaining some of Max's backstory. Of course before the opening credits even roll there's an epic sequence that Tom talked about in 2009/2010 that he said was nuts and something to the degree of being more action packed than the rest of the trilogy....apparently he was right!

[DGSimo]

Ok here you guys go, the impressions and musings of a big Mad Max fan who wanted to clear up some of the misinformation put out by others who said they saw the screening while offering their own thoughts on the movie!

"To clarify, most of the audience was there because they just happened to get a flyer handed to them a few days ago outside a major movie theater in Burbank. So they were basically local moviegoers. This wasn't a bunch of industry people, or cast and crew, or Mad Max fans. Yes, there were a few studio people in the audience, and definitely some Mad Max fans (who they got the flyers from friends, etc.) and a few industry people (who maybe write about movies online or who work in the business) who happened to get hooked up with flyers from friends. But this was basically a "real" crowd. There weren't a bunch of press there or anything.

The audience applauded at the end of one of the early action sequences. And there was significant applause at the end of the movie. The applause was cut off quickly only because the lights came on right away and the guy who was sort of in charge of the screening started talking and people wanted to hear him.

George Miller was there. He had a friendly conversation with some enthusiastic fans outside the theater afterwards. And at least one person was able to get a photo with him (lucky for George, none of the rest of us could do it because we had all left our phones in our cars, as instructed).

THE MOVIE IS FUCKING AWESOME.

It does not need reshoots. It does not need further editing. It has unfinished fx shots and raw sound. And I'm sure they will refine some things in the edit because they always do. But it is a ground-breaking action blockbuster AS IS. The person who tweeted that it needs serious recutting and reshoots is either a liar, a moron, or just someone who doesn't understand filmmaking and has never seen a pre-release, unfinished film before and had a hard time looking at unfinished shots. But let me say again, they have everything they need for this movie to be incredible. There are one or two things they could tweak at the end just to make things a little smoother, but none of it is all that important.

Tom Hardy does NOT use the Bane voice in the movie. Whoever said that has probably never seen a Tom Hardy movie besides The Dark Knight Rises and just thinks anytime Tom Hardy does a deep, gritty voice, he sounds like Bane. Does he sound a TINY bit like Bane? Well yeah, but only because he's the same bloody actor. Again, the guy who said that is just a moron and trying to stir **** up. What was Tom Hardy's accent in the movie? I know my accents pretty well, and even I'm not sure. It was subtle whatever it was. Vaguely American, a tiny bit British here and there, maybe a little Aussie. NOT BANE.

It's a fantastic ensemble cast. Tom Hardy is really good as Max. As in the Road Warrior, Max is a man of very few words in this movie, especially for the first 2/3rds of it. He doesn't play the character exactly the same as Mel played it. In some ways, he's a bit of a different character. And as I said before, this film is more of an ensemble piece with several characters all working together toward a goal. In the original trilogy, Mel was sort of like Clint Eastwood in the Man With No Name westerns. He had a clear goal and we followed him as he sought that goal. That aspect is not quite as strong in this film. That may bother some people, but it didn't bother me.

I think Tom Hardy was a good choice because he's a good, charismatic actor who is willing to be the lead in the movie but not say a lot. Another actor might have demanded more lines, more focus on him, etc..

Charlize Theron is great too and has a really cool look with her shaved head and sporting a mechanical arm. Nicholas Hoult was pretty great to, although almost completely unrecognizable.

There were some serious die-hard Mad Max fans in the audience and they all loved it. The consensus was that it was worth the 30 year wait and that they didn't care that it was very different from the early films.

It does NOT take place anywhere in the timeline of the other films. Not really. I feel like the person who said that only said that because Max is driving the Black on Black V8 Interceptor at the beginning (sorry if that's a mild spoiler). But basically everything else about this movie is different. But there are little nods to the other films all over. I wouldn't even say this takes place in the same world as the other films. It's a different post-apocalyptic world. Max is even a different character in some ways. It's actually easier to describe the few things that are the same in this film as the other trilogy than to try and describe all the things that are different (it didn't matter, the fans loved it anyway).

I'm not even sure I'd call this a reboot. I'm not sure what to call it. The new Star Trek movies are a reboot. They are WAY closer to their source material than Fury Road is to the other Mad Max movies. Why should George Miller do a remake of Road Warrior? Road Warrior is already a perfect movie. I'm glad he did something fresh and new.

As far as putting it in the timeline, when George was talking to people after the movie, he specifically said this movie was NOT in the timeline. He said trying to get it to fit between films was just too complicated and would have held the story back from the bigger, crazier world they wanted to show. And he didn't want to just tell one of the same stories over again. That's why Fury Road is just it's own movie with some "connections" as he called them (like having Hugh Keyes-Burne play the bad guy). Little nods to the fan audience. That's all.

Running time was about two hours. I really hope they don't shorten it.

The screening was listed as being for between ages 13-54 (they didn't want people older than that because, well, the movie industry figures old people don't pay to see action movies anyway). But this was not a PG-13 movie. They'll have to cut some stuff. There was some nudity (but they were in context, as you'll see) and blood, and mayhem (bodies being run over etc.). I suspect the studio will NOT want to release this rated R, so it's a shame that some of what we saw will probably be cut from the film.

The person who described this as like Terminator 2 compared to Road Warrior being Terminator 1 doesn't really get it right. There was a small jump in technology, look, and scale between those movies. There is a HUGE jump between the original trilogy and this movie. I used to watch Road Warrior and think it didn't look that dated. But after watching Fury Road, Road Warrior will look VERY dated (just in terms of appearance, camera technique, fx, costumes and makeup, etc.)

The costumes, makeup, art direction… all of the work in this movie is just so detailed and creative. It's going to blow people away. I do expect it to get some Oscar nominations in the technical categories. (But it will probably get snubbed for big awards. This movie is just too much of an intense, contemporary, punch in the nuts for the older Academy voters to understand it).

We filled out comment cards at the end. I saw a few around me. Of the five I saw (and none of these folks were fans, just regular moviegoers, probably in their 20s) there were 3 marked excellent (highest score) and 2 marked good (second highest score). (At least one of the people who wrote "good" was a young woman, for whatever that's worth). There was a 40 year old woman sitting next to me who doesn't even normally go to action movie and didn't think she'd like it, but she liked it a lot (even if I did see her covering her eyes a few times).

A LOT of people from the screening were hanging out in the lobby afterwards, all amped up and wanting to talk about the movie rather than walk to their cars. That's always a good sign.

My prediction: If Warner Bros can just resist the temptation to mess with this thing too much, this could be one of those movies that helps define a decade of filmmaking."

If you have any other questions that aren't plot specific I could probably get them answered for you!

[scfc68]

Couple of questions...

Was there much evidence of cgi?

The bad guys - are they as ott/mutated etc as in the concept art that we've seen? Any nods to the classic Mohawk/Wez look that I think we all know and love?

Is it made clear that it's set in Australia and that it's post nuclear war?

Oh hell, that's 3 questions so I might as well sneak in a 4th; rough cut as it may be, is it good enough to provide teaser trailer before summer??

[rustycarr]

How much screen time does the Interceptor get?

[DGSimo]

Couple of questions...

Was there much evidence of cgi?

The bad guys - are they as ott/mutated etc as in the concept art that we've seen? Any nods to the classic Mohawk/Wez look that I think we all know and love?

Is it made clear that it's set in Australia and that it's post nuclear war?

Oh hell, that's 3 questions so I might as well sneak in a 4th; rough cut as it may be, is it good enough to provide teaser trailer before summer??

I only know the answer to the 4th one for now as I asked a similar question. lol The answer was unless they were already working on a teaser prior to the screening it'd be a little quick and too soon for one. There are not a lot of shots in the movie that are 100% finished enough for a full trailer. Even the shots that seemed "finished" still have minor things about them that are not finished.

I did ask about this though just because Godzilla is released in 2 weeks and is one of Warner Bros. biggest summer releases this year and happens to also open almost exactly a year before Fury Road. It was mentioned, and I agree, that a teaser would work and could be released then since they could do it without a whole lot of footage and well, teasers are designed to do just that...tease and announce the film to the general public!

I also personally believe FURY ROAD will have a panel and presentation at Comic Con in July.

[DGSimo]

Some answers! Just a heads up but they won't all be answered and some that do won't be answered right away. Also no spoilers or plot specifics will be answered too, and personally I don't want to know either!

How much screen time does the Interceptor get?

Let's not answer this one too specific although we do see Max driving it and it is involved during the opening. All that would rather be said for now.

Was there much evidence of cgi?

Yes and no. There are tons of practical vehicles and fx. The CGI is mostly used to enhance backgrounds and locations, and for little fx enhancements.

The bad guys - are they as ott/mutated etc as in the concept art that we've seen? Any nods to the classic Mohawk/Wez look that I think we all know and love?

I can't say exactly because I don't know what concept art you've seen. But there are some slight mutations. Costumes and personalities are definitely over the top (in a good way). As far as makeup for mutations, I think it's all pretty much on the realistic side. Nobody running around looking like an alien or inhuman monster.

Is it made clear that it's set in Australia and that it's post nuclear war?

It's post-apocalypse. The intro alludes to what things went wrong, but it isn't 100% clear. That could certainly change before the movie comes out though.

Australia is never mentioned as far as I remember. More than one character has a noticeable Aussie accent though (though not all of them). I think it's safe to say that the Australian setting (if it's even there at all) is far less important to this film than to the original trilogy). Which makes sense since, they didn't film it in Australia. So it would be a little tricky to have that be clearly the setting.

Oh hell, that's 3 questions so I might as well sneak in a 4th; rough cut as it may be, is it good enough to provide teaser trailer before summer??

If you mean a true teaser, where they hardly show anything of the film, then yes, they could certainly cut something together if they wanted to. But keep in mind, teaser trailers a year out are kind of rare and are usually VERY brief when they do happen, sometimes showing almost no footage from the film at all.

[Artemis Flow]

2 hour car chase ........... Take my money