"We are not things!"

If your film sensibilities feed on relentless action, grandiose chase sequences, jaw-dropping pyrotechnics and rapid-fire thrills, you can't do much better than "Mad Max: Fury Road." The fourth installment in director George Miller's Mad Max series, this episode benefits from a tight script, tremendous stunt work and visual effects, and breathtaking photography that showcases a painted desert to rival John Ford's beloved Monument Valley. Here are the many reasons why this flick is worth talking about:

FURY ROAD IS CONSIDERED A STRONG FEMINIST FILM THAT FLIES IN THE FACE OF OUR EXPECTATIONS FOR AN ACTION ADVENTURE MOVIE. CAN YOU CITE ANY EVIDENCE THAT SUPPORTS THIS?

• The titular character may be a male, played by Tom Hardy; but the lead character is arguably Imperator Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron, who gets co-lead billing with Hardy and is equally promoted in the marketing of the film, unlike any previous character in the earlier Mad Max movies. 
• Max actually plays the role of more of a supporting character than a protagonist who drives the action (New York Times reviewer A.O. Scott calls him “more sidekick than hero”); Furiosa literally drives the action, being that she’s behind the wheel, the mastermind of the escape, and calling most of the shots. 
• The 5 escaped females are not depicted as one-dimensional characters; while they may be attractive, they each have distinctive personalities and can evoke strong emotional reactions in the viewer. Technically, they may be the MacGuffin of this story, but we get to know and care about them as more than precious cargo. 
• Consider the resourcefulness and skill of the Vuvalini women of the desert, who seem capable of defending themselves against men. These are very strong female warrior characters. 
• Slash Film writer Angie Han proposes an interesting theory: “In a typically testosterone-heavy summer movie season, Mad Max: Fury Road stands out for its unapologetic feminist streak. Most obviously, this is manifested in the compelling female characters, and the…radical notion that women are not property. But the film has just as much to say about men — specifically what masculinity is, and what place it has in our society. At the center of the film are two types of masculinity: the toxic, destructive kind represented by Immortan Joe, and the healthy, productive kind represented by Max. The conflict between them drives the movie, and points a way forward for our world…Mad Max: Fury Road offers a road map for the modern man.” 
• Han and others point to the gender relationships in this film as defying what we typically see in an action/adventure movie: commonly, men come to the rescue of damsels in distress, and often are rewarded with sex. Think of virtually any James Bond film as a template for that expectation. Here, “Max and Nux don’t take charge, and they don’t expect sex or power in return for their services,” Han adds. “It’s a depressingly common trope for white male characters to come charging into a situation they know nothing about, and immediately become the One who can fix everything. (See: The Matrix, The Lego Movie, The Maze Runner, etc.) So it’s refreshing that in Mad Max: Fury Road, Max and Nux realize this isn’t their mission, that they’re there to help instead of lead.” 
• Ponder that the women in this picture are capable of kicking ass as much as they are capable of being maternal and nurturing. Recall the Vuvalini warrior who wants to plant seeds while also dishing out bullets. 
• Immortan Joe represents a controlling kind of patriarchy that expects female subjugation and ultimate power and control over both women and men; his character and regime can also be seen as a not-so-thinly veiled critique of radical theocracy and fundamentalist political movements (think of the Taliban) and their oppressive and hypocritical rules—a system where women are property, subjects are expected to martyr themselves for a religious cause, and the bloodline of the tyrants is guaranteed to continue. 

WHAT ELSE STANDS OUT AS MEMORABLE, DISTINCTIVE OR UNEXPECTED ABOUT THIS MOVIE?

• The plot is incredibly simple in its linearity—it follows kind of the same trajectory as the chase itself: straight ahead until it makes a U-turn before the end. 
• The film is free of extraneous subplots, side threads and flashbacks. 
• It accomplishes so much with pure cinema: letting incredible visuals and sound effects tell the story without unnecessary voiceover, exposition or dialogue. 
• Supposedly, much of the effects here are practical, real-world effects involving real stunt men and women and minimal CGI, which is kind of amazing considering how stunning the visuals are. 
• The camera seems to constantly be in motion; when it stops moving, the characters remain kinetic. 
• It plays out as a futuristic, post-apocalyptic, dystopian western, in the grand tradition of great action/road westerns like Stagecoach. 

FILMS SIMILAR TO MAD MAX FURY ROAD:

• Stagecoach 
• Duel 
• The General by Buster Keaton 
• The Book of Eli 
• The Postman 
• Escape From New York 

OTHER MOVIES DIRECTED BY GEORGE MILLER

• Mad Max, The Road Warrior, and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome 
• Babe: Pig in the City 
• Happy Feet and Happy Feet Two 
• The Witches of Eastwick 
• Lorenzo’s Oil