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Growing up, I was a huge fan of “Waterworld”. Many of you may have stopped reading already, but for those of you that haven’t, I’m not kidding. I love that film. What’s not to love (aside from Kevin Costner)? When I first saw Waterworld, I hadn’t seen “Mad Max”, or “Road Warrior”. I’m pretty sure I’d seen “Thunderdome”, but that’s beside the point. The point is, that “Waterworld” is “Road Warrior”…but with water, and it’s a much better film. The bleak, dry, hopelessness of the land that George Miller created is compelling and believable.

This latest installment in the Mad Max universe is nothing like “Waterworld” for many reasons. Reason 1 being there’s only a little bit of water. Reason 2 being that it’s really, really good. A minimal, but understandable plot helps get us right to the action. They basically drive really fast and extremely unsafely to a place and then turn around and drive back even faster and more unsafely. The main characters, Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron are joined by a colorful cast of apocalyptically ugly people who happen to be chasing them. Hardy gives a great, minimalistic performance as Max, who is insane and wears a muzzle for most of the movie. Unfortunately when he does talk he sounds to much like his portrayal of Bane in “The Dark Knight Rises” (or as I refer to it “Ugh, I hate this movie”). The real star is Charlize Theron. She’s a rough, tough, truck-driving Mama with a robotic hand. A relatable character if there ever was one. She starts the movie’s long car chase, and by golly she finishes it!

The stunts in this film were beyond impressive, and most, if not all of them were done practically as opposed to using CGI. This in itself is a major achievement as this film is chock-full of crazy, dangerous and outlandish stunts. The stuntmen who performed them are a talented, crazy bunch of folks, giving the best performances of the film and selling this crazy world to us. The stunts make the film what it is. They allow us to get a sense of how crazy things have gotten in this future world and they show us what’s possible when you don’t text and drive.

To me though, the real stars of the film were the vehicles. I can only imagine the fun had by the car guys who got to create these mobile mashups. The main vehicle of the movie, Charlize Theron’s War Rig is some kind of crazy Semi Truck-Rat Rod combo that is gorgeously ugly. There’s some of muscle car with tank treads and many other cool vehicles that would make any 5th-grade boy lose his mind. My only question is: what they’re running on?  They call it “guzzleine”, and I’m assuming it’s gas because everything, and I mean everything, explodes. I just wonder how they’re pulling a giant, hot-rodded tractor trailer with a gas engine — maybe diesel doesn’t exist?  Maybe the technology has grown in the future in ways that personal hygiene has not?  In the scheme of things, it doesn’t matter.

Rent this movie, have fun, be amazed, be inspired and then get in your Toyota Yaris and head for the nearest Fury Road!

Reviewed by: Andrew Staff on September 25, 2015