Mad Max 4: Fury Road (2015)

Elevator Pitch: In the desert a pitiless ruler doles out water to the ragged post-apocalyptic  survivors, and commands a host of followers, the War Boys. Five of his  “wives” are smuggled out in an enormous tanker type truck, driven by Furiosa, a female warrior. Immortan Joe, the dictator, goes in pursuit with a phalanx of wild vehicles, one of which is driven by Nux, with a captured Max providing a live blood transfusion service. Eventually the truck, with Nux and Max on board comes to a halt, having shaken off the pursuit, and they must decide whether to travel for half a year across the desert, or take on Immortan Joe and his cohorts.

Content: There is no nudity or sex, although the wives wear skimpy garments, and the War Boys faces are sprayed with what could be some sort of drug. Max is held in a bleak interior and used as a live blood transfusion. Furiosa drives the truck and the chase takes place with a lot of wild vehicles. The truck is attacked, with fire bombs and firearms. There is continuous tension throughout, and almost continuous action, in a film full of grotesque characters.

A View: the film won six Oscars and racked up a 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This was my second viewing, the first in a cinema and on this occasion on my very large flat screen TV. I got a lot more out of it, second time around, as the people who are all individuals in the first act, gradually get together to survive, and we see that Furiosa is always the leader and, typically, is a much better shot than Max. So, I though it was terrific on second viewing and am making it an “ALMOST MUST SEE”. It would be worth the ticket price if you could still see it in a cinema, preferably on IMAX.

Additional Info: In the end with a collective budget of about $200 million it is actually said to have lost money, and so the several sequels proposed by the director have not come to pass (by 2019).