One of the biggest surprises of the entire cinematic year, Mad Max: Fury Road, has arrived on DVD, Blu-Ray and digital download. The Tom Hardy-starring thriller from writer-director George Miller arrived in early summer (one of our top 11 movies of summer 2015) and rocked our world.
Not only was it an action fest that featured scenes that will leave your jaws aghast, but it had a powerful message throughout about standing up for what is right and that even one (or a few) people can change the world’s landscape.
Hardy steps into the post-apocalyptic boots of Mel Gibson and seamlessly has us enchanted with the character anew. But the real star here is honestly Charlize Theron. Her Furiosa is a force of feminist nature. The way she takes control of her situation when all the cards seem to be stacked against her — and helps the fate of a half dozen other women in peril that are locked into a slave-like life of producing babies for the evil dictator Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) — is nothing short of the most super of superheroes we’ve seen this year.
With the women in tow and the reluctant hero (Max) along for the ride, Furiosa sets off on what appears to be a routine gas and ammo run, and literally takes a left turn, and the race for freedom is on.
Miller hasn’t lost a step in his staging of action car racing scenes. In fact, those in Mad Max: Fury Road are among the best of the entire series and certainly among the finest audiences will witness in 2015. It is jaw-dropping, adrenaline-spewing and nothing short of sublime. What is so impressive too is how there is not only the edge-of-your-seat action throughout, but an enormous level of heart. Audiences are invested in these characters and truly care about their effort to be free of the bondage life that has enslaved them.
Because of all the fantastic facets of the movie we’ve already mentioned, anticipation for some spectacular behind-the-scenes/how-did-they-do-that featurettes could not be higher. Warner Bros. Home Video delivers enormously with a bevy of bonus features that will have you watching them repeatedly to witness the marvel and magic of Miller’s movie mastery.
Since the action-packed film works so well because it is also a fantastic character study, we have to start our bonus feature highlight with The Road Warriors: Max and Furiosa. Watching these two actors, who are performing at the height of their craft, work together is a master class in action movie thespian theatrics. Theron, an Oscar winner, and Hardy, a sure-fire future Oscar winner, are a match made in heaven. The insight both give in this bonus feature into how they found their characters and more importantly how they melded that characterization with each other to raise the bar on the film itself, is a study in selfless, ego-less acting.
Our second favorite bonus feature is Maximum Fury: Filming Fury Road, which puts a spotlight on the painstaking effort it took to physically shoot this piece of action movie art by Miller and his filmmaking team. He had to head to Africa because of massive rains in his native Australia’s desert and for some that would have thrown their creative juice off. But, for Miller, dare we say, it almost sparked a fire in him that has resulted in his best film and our best summer movie of the year.
The vehicles themselves in Mad Max: Fury Road are almost characters unto themselves. Do not miss Mad Max: Fury on Four Wheels to get an insight into how Miller and his team created the autos that serve as a physical and emotional extension of each character who drives them. Viewers will never look at cars on film the same way again.
One last bonus feature we need to salute is The Five Wives: So Shiny, So Chrome. Given that a majority of the “stakes” that are raised in Mad Max: Fury Road have to do with the women that Furiosa and Max are trying to free, delving into their world and their peril is nothing short of emotionally powerful and fascinating.
Then again, the entire Mad Max: Fury Road Blu-Ray is about as explosively captivating as a movie can get.
Movie Itself: A+
Bonus Features: A+