This review will be looking at Mad Max: Fury Road Black and Chrome by director George Miller, as a standalone film, not referring it to the rest of the series. I will be going over how the characters, the evidence of symbolism, along with the themes; disorders, gender, honour and power has produced this film.
Of course, the title of the film gives away the fact that the film is in black and white, which I personally feel that it allows the audience to imagine the colours, for example; how dusty the desert will be, how run down the cars are and how the characters might look like as they are effected by the weather? The use of no colour creates a darker tone as well, as black and white is usually symbolised with the emotion; sadness, where the world is destroyed and there is ‘no green land’ literally in both narrative and mise-en-scene. The film is set in a desert where the world has been through a disastrous event, leading to people “killing the world” and there is no hope for the future. The colour added on to the desert would not make this film as attractive, as the film looks nostalgic with the explosions and the scenery. An interesting fact to this film is that it is preferred by both audience and director rather than the original colour version. In my opinion, I feel as though there is a bit of a steampunk/mechanical vibe with the monochrome style, which compliments the film with its dusty desert.
The start of the film switches between the non-diegetic sounds of first person narrative and the radio noises of how the world is being killed. Then proceeds with a risk from George Miller by throwing the audience straight into action of a chase scene, confusing the audience as to what is going on. As the film proceeds, it goes into the detail of ‘here and now’ where the audience should decide who the favour out of the characters presented to them. Although, the cinematography and editing is incredible to me, so the audience can keep up with the action and understand what is going on, and the explosions are not too over the top like director Michael Bay with Transformers.
Tom Hardy’s character (Max) is interesting as he is the first character we see with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as there is a child that appears to Max and accusing him of failing to help “us” as her face fades to and from a skull. This is where Max’s quote “running from the living and the dead” is presented to be true, as he is psychologically damaged, giving the audience a glimpse at his past. However, I would have liked to see more his past or something explaining his PTSD. There is no explanation as to why he holds his guilt, although this is unhealthy, this adds to why his name is Mad Max. Throughout the film, we can see how he wants to be free from the scavengers, and then decides that he wants to go to the “green land”.
Charlize Theron’s character (who is not named) looks to “save” the wives of Immortan Joe, by bringing them to the “green land” that could symbolise the dream of a sanctuary for people in the real world, like the American dream. Even though there is a past of Charlize Theron’s character, I feel that we need more background information as well as a name. Her character proceeds with complications and struggles throughout the ride in the desert, with her memories keeping her going towards her goal. We could also assume Charlize Theron supports the queer theory, that there shouldn’t be lines as to what is a woman or a man, so breaking those rules, we see her look strong but battered while having to adapt to her surroundings. This links to how the elderly women towards the end of the film present strength and are not helpless, these women are tough to whoever they come across in the wilderness and show no mercy.
Now Nicholas Hoult’s character (Nux) is rather intriguing, as he presents the pagans wanting to go to Valhalla, then kamikaze attacks switching to the futility of violence, which follows with greed, failure and disappointment. Nux wants to prove himself in battle and gain honour in the eyes of the Immortan Joe and the dead in Valhalla. He does this through the want of attention and fighting to get what he desires, but when he attempts to do kamikaze attacks, he fails and finds himself questioning whether he was being saved for something more important. Later in the film, the last battle has no more kamikaze acts by Nux, but the scavengers still hold that identity. These pagans have been demonised and seen to be barbaric to the audience because of the greed for power. Even in the last battle, Nux and the elderly women do not strive for an honourable death, since they want to live and see this dream come true. As deaths occur, people start dropping off one-by-one, which is futility of fighting, the audience can see how there is no glory in violence, only death and disappointment, in the literal wasteland. I like how George Miller filmed this, although, the enjoyment of the metal music and electric guitars moves away from this, making the deaths of the characters to be in vain. This may also be petty of me, but I do not like the presentation of the pagans, as they are demonised and a lack of voice from them, making them barbaric to both characters and audience.
Hugh Keays-Byrne’s character (Immortan Joe) is key to this film as well, he is desperate to keep his power, women and unborn child. He holds power through holding water, where everyone would look to him for salvation for this source of life. As soon as he realised his wives were gone, he became determined to retrieve what was his at all costs, sacrificing lives so he would secure his power. He makes false promises, saying “I will myself carry you to Valhalla” to Nux, as soon as he failed him, Immortan Joe immediately disregarded him. I do like this villain with his need for power, where we can see how there is corruption through power and greed.
Overall, Mad Max: Fury Road Black and Chrome has an interesting setting with a style making it more attractive. The characters have meaning behind them and can investigate them more, but I feel that there is a need for some more background information of certain characters.
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