Peter Weir, David Michôd and Andrew Dominik would be heartbroken by that slight, Profanicus. :(
Hence the ‘pretty much’? My apologies to those other fine Australian film makers, I am an ingrate. :)
Heh, no need for apologies. I was just being a jerk! While there’s loads of talented Australian directors, I think my all-time favorite Aussie film will always be Wake in Fright by Canadian director Ted Kotcheff (First Blood, North Dallas Forty, Weekend at Bernies). I cannot recommend it enough!
David Michôd has a perfect track record, too!
And don’t just mean all of his films have been good. I mean they’ve both been perfect masterpieces.
Still have a huge soft spot for Strictly Ballroom and its crowd-pleasing moves.
I am a huge Baz Luhrmann apologist, so thanks for bringing that up.
What kind of Australian calls George Miller “pretty much our only filmmaker of note”? Dude, have a little more national pride. You guys have earned it.
-TomAnimal Kingdom is a sublime movie, IMHO, pretty much flawless.
John Hillcoat is makin’ some pretty spiffy films too, IMO.
Philip Noyce and Alex Proyas have pulled out a few good ones too.
that link jumps to after the sketch. ;>
Here’s the start:
I just got notified via Amazon that the DVD/Blu-ray is coming out on 9/1! YAY!
Ok late to the party, but I finally watched it on itunes. I don’t know why some people think this is some kind of feminist action movie. Everything here is full on macho, especially the War Boys. Yeah sure Furiosa is badass, maybe even more than Max, but she, as a woman, is the exception, not the norm in the world of Mad Max. The wives and the older women didn’t break out of their gender role. Everything in this world smell of testosterone and gasoline. I thought the feminist utopia is a gender-blind meritocracy, not a world of just one ubermensch Furiosa and the rest are still confined to their gender role.
Other than that, this is a balls-to-the-wall explosion festival Michael Bay wishes he could have made: it has a coherent plot on top of all the actions. It is a really great post-apoc western.
The Fury Road Legend that George Miller wrote on a flight in 1997.
The Legend of the FURY ROAD
ONCE UPON A TIME… in a dark and toxic land, there lived a WARLORD.
The warlord was brutal and cruel, and the people of his kingdom lived in misery, disease and terror. Poverty and slavery were all they knew… But the warlord had a secret: hidden from view, high in the chambers of his castle, were SIX YOUNG PRINCESSES. These girls were his only love.
Many years ago, the warlord had stolen these girls as babies, and abducted them to his fortress… And there they would remain until they were old enough to bear him healthy children, for all children born by the women within the kingdom were inflicted by plague and sadness. The girls were his last hope.
The oldest princess was already pregnant with his child, and the warlord knew that the time was near, when, at last he would have a healthy son, and his dynasty would continue…
The warlord trusted no one, except a beautiful and fierce WARRIOR WOMAN, who commanded his army and watched over the six girls.
The Warrior Woman came from another land, another tribe… And like the girls, she had been captured by the warlord but had risen up through the ranks of his army to become his most feared and respected soldier, his most favoured comrade…
AND SO SHE BETRAYED HIM…
Under cover of a trading convoy, Warrior Woman hid the six girls in her wagon, and began a hazardous journey through the only means of escape from the warlord’s kingdom: THE FURY ROAD. The Warrior Woman would return the girls back to their original home… at the other end of the Furiosso.
This place was an eden. A haven of love and freedom… It had been named “GYNOTOPIA” by the tribe of women who had founded it. This too had been Warrior Woman’s home. This enlightened place was to be the best future for the girls and their child-to-be. Far away from the terror of the bleak male domain of the warlord, the girls could thrive in this new society.
The warlord’s rage knew no limits. He gathered together the awesome force of his armada and commanded his warrior boys to bring back ‘THE SIX’ unharmed… And to kill the Warrior Woman. He would lead the armada himself.
Down in the dark underworld of the warlord’s fortress were many slaves. Many of these wretched souls planned their escape from this hell hole… None had survived the brutality of the Fury Road. But for one of these slaves, freedom was all that mattered. Once this slave had been a great warrior, and possessed a pure and noble heart. His name was MAX.
The warrior boy NUX, in need of a tracker on the Fury Road, selected the slave-dog ‘MAX’. Chaining his dog to his wrist, Nux drove off down the Fury Road to find and kill his former commander, Warrior Woman, and return the six to his beloved warlord.
When a powerful FURY STORM blew in, the slave Max overpowered Nux in the ferocious wind. Unable to sever the chain, Max dragged Nux out of the storm and stumbled across his means of escape…
Warrior Woman and the six girls…
TO BE CONTINUED…
Pretty sweet stuff, IMO. Also impressive that so much of it made it into the final film.
Since '97? That’s hilarious! Its development tracks with the When Is Duke Nukem Forever Coming Out page, and outlasts it by another six years. Fortunately the end result was much, much better.
I watched this last night and enjoyed it quite a bit. Some thoughts I had:
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I seriously don’t get the ridiculous criticisms about how it was about Furiosa and not really Max. Max clearly played a primary role. Some of the ultra-anti-feminist criticisms were ridiculous (although I honestly knew they were without even seeing the film)
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Apparently, the most useful object in the post apocalyptic future is a pair of bolt cutters. I think the bolt cutters got more screen time than any individual actor.
Minor spoilers I guess. What did that one pole guy hit old seed woman with that made her space out and give up like that? It looked like some kind of power glove or blade but it didn’t do any visible damage. Almost like she was poisoned or something.
I was watching this last night and sort of wondered that same thing. I kind of assumed she was shot or stabbed in the back of the neck but you couldn’t see due to the clothes.
Part of her face/ear was kinda sliced off, I believe, but it was covered by her hair. I think.
It looked like a gas powered hedge trimmer, basically a wasteland power sword.