Mad Max: Fury Road

With a futuristic Australia resembling a wasteland, a group of humans known as the War Boys capture Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) and keep him prisoner. Used for his blood by Nux, (Nicholas Hoult) under the tyrannical rule of Immortan Joe, (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and haunted by visions of his deceased daughter, Max senses no hope.

At the same time, Furiosa (Charlize Theron) drives a large tanker truck, known as the War Rig, to retrieve gasoline for Joe. When Furiosa veers off course, Joe realizes that Furiosa has kidnapped Joe's 5 Wives and plans on escaping. Not allowing this to happen, Joe sends his army of War Boys after Furiosa; including Nux who brings along Max to ensure Max's blood stays with Nux at all times.

Once established with the set-up, Mad Max: Fury Road becomes one long car chase film. Furiosa and Max eventually team up in an effort to outrun Joe and the War Boys in an attempt to escape Joe's rule through the desert wasteland. Moving from one large chase sequence to another, Mad Max: Fury Road does a very good job at keeping the momentum of the film ratcheted up along with finding just enough time to give the main characters some depth.

There really isn't a whole lot to talk about in regards to story. What the film lacks in story, more than makes up for it with large-scale stunts and characters that you can enjoy just enough. Each action sequence differs itself slightly from the last before the film enters the final chase which ends the film in high style. With a pulsating and thorough score, Junkie XL goes a long way to help these action sequences flow with a really good score.

Tom Hardy's Max is a basically silent protagonist and when he does speak, he adequately grumbles through the few lines of dialogue required. The real star of the film, besides the stunts, is Charlize Theron's one-armed Furiosa. Her strong-willed character is the driving force behind the film, yet Charlize Theron does not play the character so tough that you are turned off by her. Instead, Furiosa, has her emotions pushed to the side in an attempt to complete her mission of escaping with the 5 Wives.

Speaking of the stunts, Director George Miller, instills this film with as much practical effects as possible and only using CGI sparingly, compared to most blockbuster films. This lets the audience stare at the spectacle of the vehicular stunts performed in the film. Everything from the War Boys, in essence, pole-vaulting to other cars and a full-fledged band performing music while chasing the heroes is grandly on display. My only qualm with the action scenes, is that George Miller would rapidly cut each action scene so, in my opinion, I was not as taken aback by some of the stunts than someone who filmed these scenes with a bit more of a sure hand.

That, in the overall scheme of things, is a minor concern. Mad Max: Fury Road is a very entertaining film and if future action films follow in its path, then the action genre will have a bright future in cinemas.

7.4/10

The Dark Knight Rises

So here it is (Karina). With my first ever film review, I figure you might as well start with a bang. And what film this summer is bigger than The Dark Knight Rises? Oh, right. The Avengers. Well, besides The Avengers, I am here to review, albeit late, The Dark Knight Rises.

The Dark Knight rises is written by Jonathan and Christopher Nolan, with a story credit given to David S. Goyer. As with the other two films in the trilogy, Christopher Nolan directs this final chapter as well.

As we all know from the end of The Dark Knight: Batman went on the run to protect the image of Harvey Dent, The Joker was (presumably) taken in to custody and the citizens of Gotham City decided that today wasn't a good day to die.

Eight years have passed since the end of The Dark Knight. Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) and the citizens of Gotham annually mark Harvey Dent Day. Commissioner Gordon does not agree with what Harvey Dent Day stands for, but, due to crime being practically eradicated from Gotham City, continually preserves the lie.

Batman and Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) have both stepped away from the spotlight. Granted no one seems to notice that both disappeared around the same time, but hey, this is a comic book film. Bruce has become a shadow of his former self. Living a life of exile inside his sprawling mansion still reeling from the loss of his love; Rachel Dawes. Bruce's trusted servant, Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) keeps at Bruce, trying to make Bruce push his life forward and have meaning.

All the while, a terrorist known simply as Bane (Tom Hardy) descends upon Gotham City, bringing his many minions and threats of destruction. As a multi-tiered plan, understanding what he has truly in store for Batman and the citizens of Gotham takes a good chunk of the film. Bane's plan, like the script to this film, takes the long way to get to a short resolution.

While this is going on, you also get Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) showing up as a cat burglar who straddles the line of good guy/bad guy and police officer John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) acting as the eye for the audience as he snoops around Gotham City finding out information about Bane's plan and Batman himself.

Now, it may sound like I am being harsh on the film, and that may be somewhat accurate. The first two films in the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy are some of the best comic book adaptations ever. With this film, though, 'Rises' seems to struggle with trying to live up to the prior films. The success of The Dark Knight no doubt put so much pressure on this film that it is a miracle that 'Rises' is as good as it is.

The biggest fault with this film, though, lies in the screenplay. As stated, Jonathan and Christopher Nolan wrote the screenplay, with a story credit by David S. Goyer. The story feels like a first draft of a script with none of the fat removed off yet. There are characters and plots that take up valuable time within the script that could have been removed and the script would have continued on without missing a beat. In my opinion, the most glaring example of someone/thing that could have been excised was Selina Kyle. If you have seen the film, imagine the film without her. There is not much she adds to the story that other characters couldn't have done in her place. Now this isn't a knock on Anne Hathaway, as I thought her performance was fine, but that her character was underwritten and could have easily been edited out to condense the already excessive runtime.

A few more issues that I must address come in the end. First, the final moments between Bane and Batman are so utterly disappointing. I will not go into why they are so disappointing, just to say that the resolution between these two characters is an awful resolution. Secondly, a character in the film undergoes a plot twist. Prior to this twist, they are not really needed at all in the film. It is never good having a character in a film for just the sake of a plot twist. And my last little complaint lies within the ending. This film has the feeling of dread hanging over it the entire time. With this being Batman, I can understand why the film ended the way it did. I just feel that the ending didn't match the tone for most of The Dark Knight Rises.

There are many issues with The Dark Knight Rises; from the excessive runtime to the screenplay. With that said, though, this is still an entertaining film with a lot of good things to see. Tom Hardy's Bane is much different that Heath Ledger's Joker and I think it was a smart move on Christopher Nolan's part. Instead of replicating what was done before; having a charismatic character like the Joker, Nolan instead provides Bane who is just brute strength. This is not to say Bane is better, not by a long shot. It was just a good idea of Christopher Nolan to not go to the same well again.

Overall, this is not a bad film. This is a good film with a lot of flaws. I wish the screenplay had been edited down to have given a tighter and leaner film instead of the bloated film we got. Like I said, though, this film has a lot of good in it as well. When it comes down to it, this superhero film is nowhere near as bad as Superman IV: The Quest For Peace. And in the end, isn't that all that matters?

7.2/10