Mad Max: Fury Road - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Mad Max: Fury Road



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:

​

Movie
I have to say that this has been the hardest review I've had to write in my career. Mad Max has been a staple of my life since I was in my teens, watching Mel Gibson play the famous road warrior across three films. Years later George Miller has resurrected the franchise with Fury Road, a weird hybrid of remake, reboot, and sequel all in one. I was stoked beyond belief when I heard a new Mad Max film was coming to the big screen, and even more excited with Tom Hardy as the lead character. When the film hit theaters the response by critics and filmgoers alike was INSANE! The film STILL holds a 98% on rottentomatoes and I haven't found more than a handful of professional reviews that has anything bad to say about the movie. However, I went opening night and left with jaw hanging to the floor, and unfortunately it was not out of awe and amazement. Leaving the theater I would have rated the film 1.5/5 straight off the bat. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. I saw nothing of the Mad Max I grew up with and the complete lack of verbal storytelling was horribly off putting. Everyone said I was nuts, didn't know what I was talking about, or just looked at me in stunned surprise when I said I wasn't a fan. No matter how much I disliked it, I decided that I wanted to see what other people saw, so I went back a second time, gestated over the material and still didn't feel any better. It took me going back and watching the original 3 to realize, even the original movies weren't that good. Their redeeming factor was having Mel Gibson be the lead, as his charisma can cover a lot of sings. Fast forwards 3 months and I now have the Blu-ray disc in my hand, as well as a plethora of things gleaned from discussions on the forums about the nuances of the film in my mind. Watching it not once, but twice on my home theater, along with several months of gestating between my disappointing theatrical experiences, allowed me to see it in a new light.

Welcome to a world of insanity. Where the world has gone post-apocalyptic, and the survivors live under the rule of warlords and savages while driving nitrous fueled muscle cars and serve as vicious "war boys" to their masters. One such Warlord, named Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Burn), rules with an iron fist in his little corner of the world and his tyranny has led to much pain and suffering. Our titular hero, Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) is captured by Joe's men and used as a universal blood donor, nicknamed meatbag, to the radiation poisoned war boys. After the escape of his second hand woman, Furiosa (Charlize Theron), with his favorite breeding wives, Immortan Joe sets off on a deadly road chase to get his women back and exact revenge on Furiosa.

I can't really say much more than that, since, there really isn't much more to say about the film. The rest of the movie is 95% just one big action scene with Max, Furiosa, a war boy named Nux (Nicholas Hoult, who steals every scene he’s in), and the fleeing wives all doing their best to stay alive. Furiosa grew up outside of Immortan Joe's grasp, and remembers her childhood home, full of green and hope, and is taking her wards there. However, 20 years later, there may not be a home to go to.

I've gone from abject despising Mad Max: Fury Road to rather enjoying it, but I make no bones about pointing out that it's the most over rated movie of the year. While it may not seem obvious on the surface, there is definitely plot in the movie. The only thing is that it’s all told through the action and the looks between the characters. Watching Furiosa and Max interact at the beginning of the film, and then watch their characters form a bond under the heat of battle. By the end of the movie you can see their growth and their trust in each other forming, but if you're just paying attention to the words you'd never see that. Nicholas Hoult is simply fantastic though, even though he's only a co-lead, he's completely likeable and somehow even relatable as the crazed war boy Nux. He's desperate to prove himself to a god/warlord and secure a place for himself in the afterlife. Like most young boys, he just wants affirmation from his father figure, even if that father figure is a crazed lunatic like Immortan Joe. Interesting little tidbit here, Immortan Joe is played by Hugh Keays-Burn, who is the SAME actor who played Toe Cutter; in the original Mad Max; film. They aren't the same character in the film, but it is certainly neat that George Miller cast one of his old actors in this 20 year remake/reboot/sequel (whatever it is).

What makes this movie special is the incredible use of practical effects in the movie. The entire 90 minutes of road race (with the rest of the movie being more laid back), we see George Miller revel in a sort of insane action that is not seen in modern movies. Pretty much EVERY car explosion, every stunt, every flip of a vehicle was all done with real cars, real wirework, and real booms. There was barely a drop of CGI used for the whole movie in terms of action. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of CGI, as the compositing works to get the landscape to looks so stylistic utilized a lot of CGI, but the action stunts and fight scenes was 100% practical, and it shows!

All being said, I ended up enjoying Fury Road more than I originally did, but still can't see it as the masterpiece that the internet has been raving out. It’s certainly insane, and the action work is something that has been lost over the decades, with constant use of CGI eroding a well setup practical effect ridden movie, but I can’t get over the fact that the whole experience seems overwhelming and more than a bit tedious in the second act. I had fun enough watching it on my home theater, and the Blu-ray is nothing short of magnificent, but I can't seem to find the same levels of enjoyment that appears to have taken over the rest of the world while watching.




Rated R for intense sequences of violence throughout, and for disturbing images




4K Video: Video:

I haven’t watched the 4K UHD disc before as I got to review the Blu-ray only back in 2016, but I remember it not getting high marks for video back then. It was one of the first few 4K UHD discs and the transfer wasn’t GREAT (but still was good enough). Like many 5 years ago, the film was taken from a 2K master and upconverted to Blu-ray. The results are a decent, if not slightly soft, looking image. There’s not a whole tone of detail added that I could see A/Bing my Blu-ray discs of the film, and I noticed most of the HDR application was mediocre most of the time. There are definitely more oranges and splashes of colors on the girls outfits, but this is not a leaps and bounds transfer by any means. The matte paintings and practical effects for the film are magnificent to watch, but in 4K UHD they are a bit easier to spot as well. All in all, this was a fledgling 4K UHD attempt with “solid” HDR application, and not much else to differentiate itself from the Blu-ray. It IS better than the Blu-ray (which was spectacular), but not very much at all though.








Audio:

I'm still in shock, and I don't mean that I'm shocked at how good the sound is, or how loud it was. I'm talking full on military PTSD shock after this sonic assault on my ears. I remember it being aggressive in theaters, but this is beyond amazing, as the Dolby Atmos track just tears apart your system with the ferocity of Immortan Joe himself. The dialogue is fairly limited, but still clean and clearly replicated in the center channel, while the rest of the track just sits on top of you and pummels the listener to death with a dynamic range that shows no mercy and takes no prisoners. The surrounds are basically in perpetual state of action, with war trucks and bullets and the random war boy exploding all around, with the throb of those heavy engines rattling every stud in the house with visceral LFE. Not only is the bass LOUD, but it goes deep with several scenes going near the single digit range. I literally felt like I was in the center of a tornado, as every speaker was constantly in use and the directionality of the individual sounds kept shifting. You can hear the shifting of gears up in the front of the room, only to hear a bullet plink off the back of the truck from the left year, or the pop of a tire over your right shoulder. Everything is just a nonstop cacophony of incredibly nuanced noises that really give the movie that surge of excitement.







Extras:

• Fury on Four Wheels
• The Road Warriors: Max and Furiosa
• The Tools of the Wasteland
• The Five Wives: So Shiny, So Chrome
• Deleted Scenes
• Crash & Smash

Final Score:
​

I can't say that I'm as enamored with Mad Max: Fury Road as the rest of the cinematic community, but after watching it several times, I've picked up on the nuances that really make the story quite fun. It's short of character development, and about as high as you can get on action, with some incredibly well done practical effects by George Miller and crew. I may not be giving this a screaming two thumbs up, but I DO highly recommend checking it out. With a 98% score on Rottentomatoes and every other critic on earth raving over this one, I am an anomaly, and even if you don't share my opinion, I would say that with those numbers, it's;s worth seeing for yourself. The disc itself is the exact same disc that was released back in 2016, and that was a bit weak in the 4K UHD department, even if it carries the same picture perfect audio of the Blu-ray.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Zoe Kravitz
Directed by: George Miller
Written by: George Miller, Brendan McCarthy
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 AVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), French, Spanish, Portuguese DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, German SDH, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: R
Runtime: 120 minutes
Blu-Ray Release November 1st, 2016

Recommendation: Solid Watch