How To Make Apocalyptic Eye Candy
June 3, 2015 12:03 PM   Subscribe

The Visual Effects of Mad Max: Fury Road - Visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson said: “I’ve been joking recently about how the film has been promoted as being a live action stunt driven film - which it is, but also how there’s so little CGI in the film. The reality is that there’s 2000 VFX shots in the film. A very large number of those shots are very simple clean-ups and fixes and wire removals and painting out tire tracks from previous shots, but there are a big number of big VFX shots as well.”

The 'Cross Hair Framing' of Mad Max - “One of the many reasons MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is so successful as an action film is the editing style. By using "Eye Trace" and "Crosshair Framing" techniques during the shooting, the editor could keep the important visual information vital in one spot...the Center of the Frame. Because almost every shot was center framed, comprehending the action requires no hunting of each new shot for the point of interest. The viewer doesn't need 3 or 4 frames to figure out where to look. It's like watching an old hand-drawn flip book whiz by. It's always in the same spot!”

Previously: The Apocalyptic Cars of Mad Max: Fury Road
posted by hoodrich (169 comments total) 54 users marked this as a favorite
 
I am impossibly excited any time a new Fury Road thread pops up.
posted by Windigo at 12:07 PM on June 3, 2015 [30 favorites]


Anyways, a good marriage of practical and digital is when you don't even consider a shot might be CGI and then look at a stunt and think, "There's no way that was real" just to then find out it was.
posted by Windigo at 12:08 PM on June 3, 2015 [8 favorites]


Great. Now I have to go see it *again*.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:11 PM on June 3, 2015 [12 favorites]


So much of it is real guys... Like pretty much all the stuff you care about. If a car is flipping or exploding there's a fair chance an actual car is flipping or exploding and they've added maybe some background or a guy on a bike in the foreground.

Top notch job compositing as well.
posted by Artw at 12:12 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


Biggest surprise real thing for me: the guys on poles.
posted by Artw at 12:12 PM on June 3, 2015 [8 favorites]


There was one shot....near the beginning of the film with the spiky cars. At one point a guy goes flying through the air, ejected from his vehicle. I remember thinking, vaguely, "Oh, that was fake." Only to see raw footage recently of that very scene, with the cars actually smashing and a stunt guy being thrown 20-30 feet from it. Damn.
posted by Windigo at 12:14 PM on June 3, 2015 [7 favorites]


Great. Now I have to go see it *again*.

Friday after work? I'm there.
posted by Mars Saxman at 12:16 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


I like the eye candy, I just wish they'd added another 10% brain candy.
posted by fairmettle at 12:17 PM on June 3, 2015 [8 favorites]


I finally saw this yesterday and then I stayed up half the night compulsively reading stuff about it and NOW THERE IS MORE so thank you for this new thread just as I was running low on the old one.
posted by Stacey at 12:17 PM on June 3, 2015 [13 favorites]


Personally, Fury Road's about as brainy as I'd ever want a Mad Max movie to get.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:20 PM on June 3, 2015 [32 favorites]


I guess a good chunk of those 2000 VFX shots must be just about any shot with Furiosa in it.
posted by Dr Dracator at 12:24 PM on June 3, 2015 [8 favorites]


There's plenty of brain candy. It's just not forced down our throats in a LOOK LOOK LOOK HOW CLEVER WE ARE!!!1! way, ya know? I appreciated that it wasn't precious about itself.
posted by Windigo at 12:26 PM on June 3, 2015 [27 favorites]


It's great to see modern filmmakers going back to practical effects and I hope the trend continues.
posted by Ratio at 12:27 PM on June 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


I like the eye candy, I just wish they'd added another 10% brain candy.

That was my initial reaction too; I wanted to know more about the world and its history. But I did some reading online afterwards, and I was satisfied.

The only things I really objected to were the frenetically quick cuts and the ubiquitous use of undercranked footage to speed up the action. You've got some really cool stuff here; it would be nice if you'd actually let me look at it.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:29 PM on June 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


If I ever win the lottery, I'm so buying a flame-throwing gituar chariot to follow me everywhere.
posted by T.D. Strange at 12:30 PM on June 3, 2015 [14 favorites]


Here's an article with a little more information about Margaret Sixel, the editor of the film, and what went into the process of editing Mad Max.
posted by Slurms MacKenzie at 12:31 PM on June 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


I think it does a pretty amazing job of world building and storytelling almost entirely through visuals and action, which is a relief from a lot of modern films where you basically have story bits and action bits and you can tune out the later.
posted by Artw at 12:32 PM on June 3, 2015 [10 favorites]


Everybody should have a Doof Warrior to soundtrack their lives.
posted by Artw at 12:33 PM on June 3, 2015 [10 favorites]


I like the eye candy, I just wish they'd added another 10% brain candy.

It's eye protein.
posted by maxsparber at 12:36 PM on June 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


That was my initial reaction too; I wanted to know more about the world and its history.

No, The Card Cheat is right. World-building info dumps and exposition are how sci-fi movies become bloated messes, and it really doesn't fit the raw, lean Mad Max style. I'm glad they didn't give us anything more than they did. They gave what we needed to know to know what's going on, and some teases about how things got the way they are, and that's enough.
posted by Sangermaine at 12:37 PM on June 3, 2015 [36 favorites]


In Christopher Nolan's Fury Road, the wives would have been the audience surrogates everything about the movie gets explained to. It would have been half an hour longer and half as much fun.

Metafilter: No, The Card Cheat is right.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:39 PM on June 3, 2015 [45 favorites]


BTW I can thoroughly recommend the art book, which is gorgeous and may scratch that itch too.
posted by Artw at 12:39 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


Sangermaine: "World-building info dumps and exposition are how sci-fi movies become bloated messes, and it really doesn't fit the raw, lean Mad Max style. I'm glad they didn't give us anything more than they did. They gave what we needed to know to know what's going on, and some teases about how things got the way they are, and that's enough."

I'm still blown away by the fact that they made multiple mentions of Gas Town and the Bullet Farmers, but neither is ever fully explained or even shown.

This kind of teasing stuff walks a fine line between being irritatingly vague (looking at you, The Road with your no-idea-what-happened-apocalypse) and total curiosity-inducing crack. I think Fury Road walks that line expertly.
posted by Happy Dave at 12:45 PM on June 3, 2015 [17 favorites]


I'm very glad we are moving away from Borne style shaky cam / can't see what the hell is going on to something a bit more old-skool.

And particularly that it was colour graded to make it look even more intense / colourful instead of standard post-apoc brown sludge
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:49 PM on June 3, 2015 [11 favorites]


World-building info dumps and exposition are how sci-fi movies become bloated messes, and it really doesn't fit the raw, lean Mad Max style.

To each his own, I guess. I like infodumps. I'm the guy who'd rather sit in a quiet corner and read a splatbook for an RPG than actually play a campaign.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:51 PM on June 3, 2015


Nice article. I loved the movie but perhaps I will take this opportunity to vent about a couple of things in the CGI effects that bothered me and broke the suspension of disbelief.
{WARNING: SPOILERS}

In the Citadel scenes, you know those giant chains that lifted and lowered the platform? The links themselves that made up the chain would bend around the wheels. Arrr!
Also, when they dump the water on the proletariat, rather than try and collect it effectively, the actors fail around comically because they have no idea where the water is supposed to be coming from.
{END SPOILERS}

Sorry to be a grump about it but I guess my expectations were set too high regarding the relative lack of CGI. I did see the movie in the theater twice, which is a first for me.
posted by exogenous at 12:55 PM on June 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


Everybody should have a Doof Warrior to soundtrack their lives.

You mean you don't already?
posted by entropone at 12:56 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


I understand the movie supposedly takes place in a post-apocalyptic future, in Australia, but I enjoyed it more imagining that it takes place in contemporary times a few miles outside of Black Rock City, NV and it's just Burning Man folks that didn't arrange a ride home in 2002.
posted by Cookiebastard at 12:59 PM on June 3, 2015 [68 favorites]


My second viewing I caught a lot more green screen/compositing than the first time. Still, love all the real vehicles. I'm very interested to see how it will stack up against the effects in Star Wars.
posted by starman at 1:00 PM on June 3, 2015


You mean you don't already?

All you need is one blind child with his mother's severed head in his lap.
posted by maxsparber at 1:00 PM on June 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


Here's an okay clip of some of the boys in Sydney doing their thing; the cars aren't driving, but a couple of polecats climb up and start swinging, some bikers drive around, and of course iOTA / Coma the Doof Warrior is up doing his thing on the big sound rig. It sort of highlights the practical nature of at least a little of the gear, although obviously it's hard to actually demonstrate a car chase in front of a crowd at the Sydney Opera House.

PS: YAY MAD MAX FURY ROAD THREAD YAY
PPS: I'm so sad that I've been super busy at work and can't see it again until next week. I've never seen a movie in the theatres a second time. And I'll be seeing it in Australia.

posted by Homeboy Trouble at 1:01 PM on June 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


I love that the Doof Warrior - when confronted and grabbed by Max - just struggled and clawed to get back to his guitar and the second he had it back he was rocking out again before Max had even cleared his space.

May we all have as much care and passion about our jobs as the Doof Warrior.

posted by Windigo at 1:07 PM on June 3, 2015 [45 favorites]


According to the linked story, it was indeed real.
posted by maxsparber at 1:11 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


I too am overjoyed by another MMFR thread. This movie is going to do a great job at teaching a lot of otherwise uninformed people (such as myself) about what good filmcraft is. I wasn't fully aware of what was lacking in a lot of movies I've seen until I saw this.
posted by LegallyBread at 1:12 PM on June 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


May we all have as much care and passion about our jobs as the Doof Warrior.

It's probably more like Joe will kill him (at best) if he stops playing.
posted by dogwalker at 1:13 PM on June 3, 2015


Doof Warrior interview
posted by exogenous at 1:13 PM on June 3, 2015 [7 favorites]


I like the eye candy, I just wish they'd added another 10% brain candy.

That was my initial reaction too; I wanted to know more about the world and its history. But I did some reading online afterwards, and I was satisfied.


the problem is that the movie is mainly about furiousa, immortan joe, and his wives. but they rarely even share the same frame throughout the movie, and when furiousa climactically says "remember me?" to joe, you'd forgive him for not exactly remembering... she's that truck driver , right? when the inevitable director's cut edition comes out, it would be vastly improved by about 15 minutes of exposition in the beginning showing a relationship between immortan joe and his wives and immortan joe and furiousa, heck, just seeing joe and the wives together in the "we are not things" rape room would have given that scene a lot more power.

also, when Max is chased around in the beginning, the frame chopping is really obvious (and makes it look like it needs yakety sax) for the scenes of the 'warboys' running after him. i had thought that was just for time purposes in the trailer or something so was surprised to see it in the actual film...
posted by ennui.bz at 1:15 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


Doof Warrior gotta doof, mate.
posted by vibrotronica at 1:18 PM on June 3, 2015 [4 favorites]


the frame chopping is really obvious (and makes it look like it needs yakety sax)

That's the undercranking I mentioned. It was everywhere, it was obvious, and it really bugged me.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:20 PM on June 3, 2015


To each his own, I guess. I like infodumps. I'm the guy who'd rather sit in a quiet corner and read a splatbook for an RPG than actually play a campaign.

Sure, but the splatbook is explicitly out-of-band, so it's a reasonable way to deliver that information. Having a character deliver it, usually with only the smallest of efforts made in service of context-appropriateness, is narrative pathology.

Also it sounds like you don't like RPGs that much?
posted by invitapriore at 1:23 PM on June 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


when the inevitable director's cut edition comes out, it would be vastly improved by about 15 minutes of exposition in the beginning showing a relationship between immortan joe and his wives and immortan joe and furiousa, heck, just seeing joe and the wives together in the "we are not things" rape room would have given that scene a lot more power.

I have to disagree. We know everything we need to know about Immortan Joe and Furiosa's relationship. They presented us with just the right amount of back story (She was taken as a child. Her mother was killed. What did Furiosa have to do to reach her status where's she's referred to as 'boss' by the War Boys? She's looking for redemption. Her last words to Joe are "remember me?"). I think that speaks volumes when taken together, and nothing they could have added would have necessarily expanded upon that.

As for seeing Joe and the Wives together, why? Did we really need to see him dominating these woman to know that he's a Bad Dude? No, we didn't. It would have been fat on the bone. I thought it was more powerful to see that room plundered of his 'possessions' and his response to that, and to Miss Giddy.
posted by Windigo at 1:23 PM on June 3, 2015 [53 favorites]


> when the inevitable director's cut edition comes out, it would be vastly improved by about 15 minutes of exposition in the beginning showing a relationship between immortan joe and his wives and immortan joe and furiousa, heck, just seeing joe and the wives together in the "we are not things" rape room would have given that scene a lot more power.

I hear you, but personally I was happy filling in the gaps on my own. All you (i.e. I) needed to know is that a bunch of Fucked-Up Shit went down.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:24 PM on June 3, 2015 [4 favorites]




when the inevitable director's cut edition comes out, it would be vastly improved by about 15 minutes of exposition in the beginning showing a relationship between immortan joe and his wives and immortan joe and furiousa, heck, just seeing joe and the wives together in the "we are not things" rape room would have given that scene a lot more power.

Just go to see any other summer movie, where there will be reams of paint by numbers exposition about people we don't care about in between tedious shakycam action glurge. Leave us this one glorious exception and go in peace.
posted by selfnoise at 1:32 PM on June 3, 2015 [28 favorites]


you'd forgive him for not exactly remembering... she's that truck driver , right?

"Once again, I salute my Imperator, Furiosa"
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:34 PM on June 3, 2015 [25 favorites]


there's plenty enough exposition. The brilliant part is, none of it's in words.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 1:35 PM on June 3, 2015 [41 favorites]


Also, that first non-CG explosion in the "Final Chase" section before picture is a hell of a thing. I love that there are people out in the world making explosions that big.
posted by selfnoise at 1:35 PM on June 3, 2015


How Fury Road was filmed, presented by the film's cinematographer. (Warning: 2 hours long) or (Wow! 2 hours long!)
posted by daveje at 1:41 PM on June 3, 2015 [11 favorites]


I'm pretty sure the two-headed lizard in the opening was CG.

Pretty sure.
posted by rifflesby at 1:42 PM on June 3, 2015 [9 favorites]


the problem is that the movie is mainly about furiousa, immortan joe, and his wives. but they rarely even share the same frame throughout the movie, and when furiousa climactically says "remember me?" to joe, you'd forgive him for not exactly remembering... she's that truck driver , right? when the inevitable director's cut edition comes out, it would be vastly improved by about 15 minutes of exposition in the beginning showing a relationship between immortan joe and his wives and immortan joe and furiousa, heck, just seeing joe and the wives together in the "we are not things" rape room would have given that scene a lot more power.

That none of this was explicitly show is what I love about the movie. The premise is jaw droppingly simple: The women want to get away from a very bad man. That's it and that's all that's really needed. It's an instant hook for empathizing with the women, Furiousa and Max, while showing exactly what kind of person Joe was. The bonus part is that we didn't have to sit through a single rape scene.

Supposedly the Blue Ray disc is going to have a version that cuts out the dialogue and is just in black and white. Can't wait.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:43 PM on June 3, 2015 [29 favorites]


Also it sounds like you don't like RPGs that much?

I love RPGs. I love the carefully constructed worlds, and histories, and technologies, and magic systems. I love the convoluted rules and mathematics. And don't forget the charts; I love the charts and tables that show the odds of every possible outcome.

The part I don't like is when the players and GMs come in and start messing everything up.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:43 PM on June 3, 2015 [7 favorites]


I'm not sure what additional (and especially spoken/narrated) exposition would've helped in this movie. I mean, yes, it would be satisfying in a geek-out-about-the-worldbuilding way, but it would be at a detriment to the pacing of the film. Like, I don't think the movie posed any questions about the plot that it didn't answer in one way or another.
posted by griphus at 1:46 PM on June 3, 2015 [4 favorites]


FWIW not only does the art book have more on Gastown and The Bullet Farm, it also has maps.
posted by Artw at 1:47 PM on June 3, 2015 [10 favorites]


I know talking exposition isn't really about the effects, per se, but I thinking the editing in this film is a visual effect in its own right. So I'm going for it.

You Can't Tip a Buick has it right - there is so much exposition, but very little of it is in dialogue, and the parts that are through words are found by reading between those lines. Take The Splendid Angharad. Here's her story:

She's the de facto leader of the group and not only talked Furiosa into aiding and planning their escape, she rallied the other Wives to her views. We Are Not Things. She realized that self-harm would not help her plight, and that a different route would have to be taken. So she bided her time. She is the favorite of Immortan Joe's wives. Joe, who takes pride from having not only the healthiest, loveliest young women as his breeders but also from them being educated and refined, with knowledge of literature, writing, and music. She was excellent at these and as time came for the escape, schooled everyone to be extra pleasant towards him. Leading Immortan Joe to assume it was Furiosa who led them astray, and not that the very aspects of Splendid he so cherished allowed her to lead the mutiny that would ultimately be his downfall.
posted by Windigo at 1:50 PM on June 3, 2015 [26 favorites]


maps

nooooooo the magic word my moneyyyyy
posted by rifflesby at 1:53 PM on June 3, 2015 [28 favorites]


when the inevitable director's cut edition comes out, it would be vastly improved by about 15 minutes of exposition in the beginning showing a relationship between immortan joe and his wives and immortan joe and furiousa

This is why the Star Wars prequels were so good, because we finally learned how Darth Vader came to be. I have three kids, and you better believe that I showed them the prequels before the originals because I didn't want them to be confused about Darth Vader and his motivations and everything.






/hamburger
posted by nushustu at 1:54 PM on June 3, 2015 [31 favorites]


Take The Splendid Angharad.

The Wives had names in the movie? When did they say them?
posted by Sangermaine at 1:55 PM on June 3, 2015


I'm still blown away by the fact that they made multiple mentions of Gas Town and the Bullet Farmers, but neither is ever fully explained or even shown.

What they are is obvious, along with the fact they have leaders/managers in both towns (who are both older white males of course). The War-Rig is needed because there are plenty of rival groups who have probably jumped the caravan before. Obviously Joe and the boys are usually safe up in the citadel, but in order to get more gas and bullets, they gotta make runs. Hence the armed caravans.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:56 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


Better a Doof Warrior than a Boof Warrior.
(Waitaminute, is this the Boofhead thread?)
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:56 PM on June 3, 2015


Immortan Joe says her name when he enters their cell - no one else's name, actually. "Spendid? Angharad!"

I forget where else names were said, but the credits have pictures of every character with their names attached.
posted by Windigo at 1:57 PM on June 3, 2015


Seriously though: if George Miller wanted to make a prequel about Furiosa, I'd be there opening night.
posted by nushustu at 1:57 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


Yeah, this movie is a masterclass in show don't tell, and more movies could stand to learn from it. I especially appreciated that the movie never showed the Wives being raped or otherwise brutalized. There's some fighting and grabbing, and that's basically it. It feels like, for once, the filmmakers asked themselves, "Would the movie gain anything by showing explicit violence against women? No? Then we're not putting it in."

Also, I think the crosshair framing technique is a big part of why this movie was so lacking in male gaze. If you shoot everyone the same way, in the center of the frame, then the camera's not participating in any objectification. Though obviously, the main merit of this style of filming is its admirable clarity when it comes to action.
posted by yasaman at 1:58 PM on June 3, 2015 [20 favorites]


The Wives had names in the movie? When did they say them?

They didn't. They're all named in the credits, but you have to do extratextual reading to find out who's who. (I don't recall any photos in the credits.) The redhead is Capable, and the short brunette is Toast the Knowing.

The ridiculous names were actually one of the things I loved most about the whole movie.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:58 PM on June 3, 2015 [7 favorites]


I'll agree that the show did an amazing job with Show Don't Tell. It left me wanting a little bit more - tantalizing - and so I applaud its restraint.

The only thing I didn't buy, though, was Nux's switching sides. It happened so fast. I'm still chewing it over. How could he so suddenly flip from devotion to Joe to basically being like, "Aight, I'm on this truck right now, so I guess I'm on these people's sides"? Just by being called mediocre? Man, that leaves me with some thinking to do.
posted by entropone at 2:01 PM on June 3, 2015


The Doof Warrior is never named in the film either, but we've all managed to figure out what he was called.
posted by maxsparber at 2:01 PM on June 3, 2015 [9 favorites]


Just by being called mediocre?

Well, yes. By God.
posted by maxsparber at 2:02 PM on June 3, 2015 [17 favorites]


Maybe I'm having false memories, but I swear they did the thing with the credits where they have stills of each character with the names attached? That I sorta noticed when I was leaving? Oh well. Maybe I saw a graphic on Tumblr instead and smooshed them together.

I know they say Capable's name as well as Spendid's during the movie. Pretty sure The Dag and Toast never get name-checked.
posted by Windigo at 2:03 PM on June 3, 2015


I've just realised Fury Road is the closest we've come so far to an InfernoKrusher work of art. Oh what a day, what a lovely day!
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:05 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


when the inevitable director's cut edition comes out, it would be vastly improved by about 15 minutes of exposition in the beginning showing a relationship between immortan joe and his wives and immortan joe and furiousa

How about another 90 minutes? Of course, it might take a couple of years.
posted by bonehead at 2:08 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


That none of this was explicitly show is what I love about the movie. The premise is jaw droppingly simple: The women want to get away from a very bad man. That's it and that's all that's really needed. It's an instant hook for empathizing with the women, Furiousa and Max, while showing exactly what kind of person Joe was. The bonus part is that we didn't have to sit through a single rape scene.

no, for real. what is Immortan Joe supposed to remember when Furiousa says "Remember me?" it may be the only time the two characters are in the same frame. this is not a "rosebud... rosebud" moment.

you can infer a lot of world building. but gastown and the bullet farm don't have an emotional relationship with each other that is resolved by one of their deaths. by all means, let the audience imagine a whole world, but action movies depend on very expert pantomime that lays out enough personality to be able to understand the characters, because there isn't time with all the explosions to do much else. Immortan Joe = bad, doesn't cut it. Take, say, 'Die Hard' so much of that movie, but not one second more, is devoted to telling you who the characters are and how they relate so that when they do blow up, get shot, etc. it means something. Fury Road only really does that for Nux, which I thought was great: actually giving a faceless henchman a character arc. But the other main characters could really have used some of that...
posted by ennui.bz at 2:09 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


Nux switching sides to quickly bugged me a little as well, but he's a teenager living a half-life and there's a pretty lady on this rig who is nice to him unlike literally everyone else up to that point so why the hell not?
posted by griphus at 2:09 PM on June 3, 2015 [22 favorites]


The only thing I didn't buy, though, was Nux's switching sides.

In addition to basically being ditched by his god, don't underestimate the power of compassion extended at the right moment. Capable met Nux not with violence or shouting or anger, but with compassion and gentle human contact that was freely offered. Also, he's a teenage boy faced with this beautiful woman who's a veritable vision of kind loveliness. She might as well be a goddess or angel to Nux.
posted by yasaman at 2:11 PM on June 3, 2015 [21 favorites]


Crosshair technique seems so simple you'd think it would just be what everyone would do by default. "So I should point the camera at the thing you want people to see?"

There's a lot of authorial choice in what thing you want people to see and when, but still.
posted by RobotHero at 2:12 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


Nux is won over by being recognized as someone who matters when Capable immediately trusts him. He's been so caught up in being treated as dirt, a cog, a thing for the whole of his short doomed life that for someone to just take him at his word that he'll help is an earth shattering revelation. I could see it, it's why they picked an actor with such good character acting skills and expressive eyes.
posted by lonefrontranger at 2:12 PM on June 3, 2015 [8 favorites]


I especially appreciated that the movie never showed the Wives being raped or otherwise brutalized.

In addition to this, it's also worth noting that the woman are instrumental in their own freedom. I've seen the movie twice now, and for me, one of the key shots is where one of the characters has her chastity belt removed by another of the woman using bolt cutters. And of course, this is leaving aside the fact that Furiosa is the true protagonist, and that the plot is really about one woman leading one group of women to another group of woman.

Wonderful movie. Shiny and chrome.
posted by daveje at 2:13 PM on June 3, 2015 [11 favorites]


what is Immortan Joe supposed to remember when Furiousa says "Remember me?

From what I remember, and this could be wrong, isn't she saying "remember me!" as an imperative?
posted by griphus at 2:15 PM on June 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


Brandon Blatcher: "What they are is obvious, along with the fact they have leaders/managers in both towns (who are both older white males of course). The War-Rig is needed because there are plenty of rival groups who have probably jumped the caravan before. Obviously Joe and the boys are usually safe up in the citadel, but in order to get more gas and bullets, they gotta make runs. Hence the armed caravans."

Well, yes, that's my point. They are obvious. But a lot of SF/post-apocalyptic films/books would feel the crushing need to give me a combination voiceover/flypast/straight-up exposition 'As you know Bob' speech about something that can be understood from the context you just described. That this film didn't really impressed and heartened me. It has faith in the imagination of the audience.
posted by Happy Dave at 2:17 PM on June 3, 2015 [8 favorites]


Nux fails three times, the third time he just bumbles before his God. Capable suggests to him that perhaps dying gloriously for Joe is not his manifest destiny, leaving him with the question of what his destiny is.

Like the Wives, he reached a moment of choice, perhaps the first in his half life. And so he joined the others who chose.
posted by maxsparber at 2:18 PM on June 3, 2015 [16 favorites]


no, for real. what is Immortan Joe supposed to remember when Furiousa says "Remember me?" it may be the only time the two characters are in the same frame. this is not a "rosebud... rosebud" moment.

He's supposed to remember the young woman he kidnapped away and whose world he destroyed. The woman that still exists under the label of Imperator.
posted by Windigo at 2:18 PM on June 3, 2015 [7 favorites]


The Wives had names in the movie? When did they say them?

They said the wives names in the movie but since most of them are named after English words (Splendid, Capable, Toast, Fragile, etc.) they probably didn't register in your brain as names when you heard them.
posted by Jacqueline at 2:18 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


I hope the black and white version has intertitles.

Actually, just one intertitle.

MEDIOCRE!
posted by ckape at 2:19 PM on June 3, 2015 [18 favorites]


Stunt Goddess Dayna Grant Was The ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Secret Weapon (Playboy) sfw as far as I can tell (though I've got ads turned off)... interesting interview
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:20 PM on June 3, 2015 [2 favorites]



Just by being called mediocre?

Their entire militaristic culture is based around the valorization not simply of death, but of flamboyantly dramatic death while carrying out the will of Immortan Joe. They are all made to look alike, and dress alike from a very young age, each of them one pale skinhead among hundreds. You can tell that it matters that the death be awesome, clearly, because why else would they have ritualized the call for an audience? "WITNESS ME!"

I am pretty sure that the culture in question lionizes anything out at either end of the bell curve, death wise: you can succeed dramatically, and win approval, but equally you can fail while dying spectacularly and still be received in Valhalla. But it better have been spectacular, and you'd damn well better be dead as a result.

Nux didn't do that. He tripped and fell. And lived, seconds after being given a personal commission from, as maxsparber has pointed out, God Himself. "Mediocre" as the single-word response is a condemnation of his very worth.
posted by Ipsifendus at 2:22 PM on June 3, 2015 [24 favorites]


Re: Nux, and Max: The two men are both concerned with life and death. Nux reassesses what is worth dying for; Max reassesses what is worth surviving for. By comparison, Furiosa is a static character.

I think the notion of Furiosa as the "real" protagonist is overblown, btw; the movie has a parallel arc that plays out around Max.
posted by billjings at 2:24 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


Furiosa is a static character.

No. She turns from running from to facing her demons.
posted by bonehead at 2:26 PM on June 3, 2015 [8 favorites]


They said the wives names in the movie but since most of them are named after English words (Splendid, Capable, Toast, Fragile, etc.) they probably didn't register in your brain as names when you heard them.

They're Splendid Angharad, Toast the Knowing (the one who counts the ammo and pairs it with their guns), Capable (the redhead with goggles and mechanic aptitude), The Dag (the witchier one who keeps the Seeds) and Cheedo the Fragile (the youngest and the one who tries once to get back to Joe).
posted by sukeban at 2:27 PM on June 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


And yes, Capable's kindness must have felt like a miracle of grace after that. Note well the first form that kindness takes: preventing him from punishing himself.
posted by Ipsifendus at 2:28 PM on June 3, 2015 [6 favorites]


The plot is driven by Furiosa taking the War Rig off course, and she's the primary character with a goal that's something other than just surviving.
posted by daveje at 2:29 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


I liked that they didn't give backstory, because they trusted the audience to be smart enough to figure it out from context.

I also like that there's an art book that gives all the backstory, because I love reading that shit.
posted by jeather at 2:33 PM on June 3, 2015 [10 favorites]


There's a graphic book with 4 prelude stories about Nux, Furiosa, Joe and Max coming out in September.

I've got it ordered already and can't wait. The art book is going to be well read and dog-eared by then.
posted by Jalliah at 2:33 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


If Furiosa is driven initially by regret and a need to escape, she finds both of those needs unmet by the revelation of their destination. Max is the pivot around which her character turns, literally: face what you were and make it better. Her salvation has to be earned, she can't just run to it.
posted by bonehead at 2:34 PM on June 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


I mean just look at the various meanings you get for the name "Nux" from Latin translations, both literal and colloquial; you have: "a nut" "a worthless thing" "a dose of poison..." and similarly its relationship to NO2 (Nitrous Oxide)...

you could go on. there is SO much layered meaning in this movie and believe me none of it is coincidental. Layers upon layers upon layers...
posted by lonefrontranger at 2:34 PM on June 3, 2015 [7 favorites]


>> what is Immortan Joe supposed to remember when Furiousa says "Remember me?
>
> From what I remember, and this could be wrong, isn't she saying "remember me!"
> as an imperative?

That's how I read it too.

It's not "Hey, can you recall having met me before?" He obviously knows who she is. He mentioned her by name in a big speech he gave a few days prior.

Instead, it's "Take into the afterlife the memory of the one who defeated you, and why they turned against you." That line is the other side of the "WITNESS ME!" coin.

(On preview: Windigo's interpretation makes sense, too.)

Something I really liked about the movie as a whole was that it trusted the audience to deal with subtlety and ambiguity and things implied rather than explicitly stated at least three times.
posted by sourcequench at 2:43 PM on June 3, 2015 [17 favorites]


Doof Warrior and his ride are SO Slaaneshi, it ain't funny. In fact, if I can completely diverge for a sec, there was a sort of 40Kish feral world feel about the whole movie.

I am, of course, in no way shape or form denigrating it or failing to acknowledge it's complete awesomosity.
posted by Samizdata at 2:48 PM on June 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


Had a grand old time watching this with my buddy on Saturday night. We got a few bottles of Passion Pop each and sucked them down in the alley behind the cinema, and when the movie was over we went to the pub across the road and instantly won $60 on the pokies with only $3 down. Result? More Passion Pop!
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:48 PM on June 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


turbid dahlia: "Passion Pop"

Welp, I learned about something new today!
posted by Samizdata at 2:52 PM on June 3, 2015


Man, the other day I said this wasn't that great a movie and that I wouldn't call George Miller a master, and I pretty much immediately realized I was wrong.

I still like Road Warrior more. But this was the only movie to get me into a theater in the last five years, and I didn't regret going.

Sorry, I just needed to publicly announce my shame at bad mouthing Miller. Witness me?
posted by teponaztli at 2:56 PM on June 3, 2015 [7 favorites]


WITNESS HIM!
posted by Windigo at 2:57 PM on June 3, 2015 [15 favorites]


Re: Undercranking. It's a Mad Max movie. Undercranking is the star.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:01 PM on June 3, 2015 [6 favorites]


no, for real. what is Immortan Joe supposed to remember when Furiousa says "Remember me?" it may be the only time the two characters are in the same frame. this is not a "rosebud... rosebud" moment.

Furiousa tried to escape before, probably got a bit away and then was caught. Immortan Joe said "remember me?" before beating her into submission for the final time. After that, she stayed in line, managed to rise through the ranks and become trusted.

Obviously she escaped again, but t his time, she isn't going back. Not only that, by saying "remember me," she saying "Fuck you, I'm killing your ass right here and now motherfucker and I'm still escaping with all your prized breeders various woman you kidnapped and abused. Asshole."

At least that's how it goes in my head.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:07 PM on June 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


teponaztli: "Man, the other day I said this wasn't that great a movie and that I wouldn't call George Miller a master, and I pretty much immediately realized I was wrong.

I still like Road Warrior more. But this was the only movie to get me into a theater in the last five years, and I didn't regret going.

Sorry, I just needed to publicly announce my shame at bad mouthing Miller. Witness me?
"

Could have used a dog, indeed, like EVERY good post-apocalyptic badass survivor (or even just Vic) can use a dog.
posted by Samizdata at 3:11 PM on June 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


when the inevitable director's cut edition comes out, it would be vastly improved by about 15 minutes of exposition

Super strongly disagree, but one thing that I think would actually help is 20 seconds near the beginning showing Furiosa doing something horrible in service of Immortan Joe - murder, torture, vehicular manslaughter, locking the wives in the safe, whatever. I think it would help support her "redemption" angle.
posted by thedaniel at 3:16 PM on June 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


Judging on responses to criticism, Fury Road's fans are able to make the movie into whatever they want it to be: the movie is deep, yet dead simple; impossibly weird, yet perfectly predictable; violent, yet peaceful; an art film, yet straight-up action; incredibly feminist, yet not fair to be critiqued for not being feminist enough; etc. If you liked the movie okay but are confused about why people are so breathless about it, you eventually get the sense that it's perfect because it's perfect because it's perfect. Any criticism of it is deflected in one of two ways: 1) you didn't watch closely enough to get the deep things it's doing, or 2) you're expecting it to be something it's not; it's an economically told action film with a straight-forward narrative. I'm not sure how these two stances can be reconciled all that easily - though I think they can, to be fair. I do appreciate that this movie invites such a seemingly contradictory stance more than any others I've seen in recent memory.
posted by naju at 3:28 PM on June 3, 2015 [8 favorites]


*shrugs*

Pretty much...yeah. All those things.
posted by Windigo at 3:34 PM on June 3, 2015 [4 favorites]


Also it has this guy with a flame-throwing guitar....
posted by Windigo at 3:34 PM on June 3, 2015 [16 favorites]


I think it would help support her "redemption" angle

Yeah, once again I don't agree. She was taken as a young girl (almost certainly as a breeder) and look at her now. She's Joe's 'greatest warrior.' She's obviously had to have done terrible things, we KNOW she's had to have done terrible things. Why do they have to be shown? It doesn't ultimately service the plot.
posted by Windigo at 3:38 PM on June 3, 2015 [9 favorites]


I'm still blown away by the fact that they made multiple mentions of Gas Town and the Bullet Farmers, but neither is ever fully explained or even shown.

Gas town either has a bunch of or manufactures gas for all the cars, the bullet farm makes bullets, and the Citadel has water and food, the only resources that matter. Each barters the resource it has for the other two. Travel between them is dangerous but necessary, hence, the war rigs and support vehicles.

The answer to any question that starts with "why" is, they're ALL insane. Sanity is a weakness in this world and the weak are all dead.
posted by VTX at 3:41 PM on June 3, 2015 [6 favorites]


Naju, the film pretty much is perfect, yeah.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:45 PM on June 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


no, for real. what is Immortan Joe supposed to remember when Furiousa says "Remember me?" it may be the only time the two characters are in the same frame. this is not a "rosebud... rosebud" moment.

I've only seen the movie once, but when Furiosa said "Remember me?" to Joe, it was pretty obvious. We know he took her when she was young. We have also been shown that to rise in that world, you have to be pretty goddamned fierce, pretty strong, able to destroy competitors to move up the chain.

Furiosa is in a highly-regarded position. To get there, she must have shown incredible skill, and probably done some amazing things. She has respect from all levels: she's the only member of the war rig to be named in public by Joe. The War Boys follow her orders. She drives the most important vehicle in the fleet, which is saying something when driving is seen as the top job for only the toughest bad-asses. On top of this, she's a woman. This is a world where women are treated like cattle. There is no way she didn't have to fight even harder than anyone else to get to her position.

And who put her in that position? Joe. Joe has respect for her. BUT, she also works for Joe. This is a person that had to show a level of bloodthirsty bad-assness unparalleled in that world. At the same time, it couldn't have been so much that Joe would have felt threatened. Or maybe he did, but then he broke her.

The way I see it, Furiosa grew up and probably kicked a lot of ass along the way. She was independent and fierce and just generally awesome. She probably gave Joe a lot of shit along the way. And he responded by putting her through enough that she understood her place on the totem pole. He branded her. He maybe cut off her arm? He took this person and took some of the fire out of her, just enough to keep her in line with him.

At the end, she says "remember me?" She's not saying "I'm the person who drives the war rig." She's saying "I'm that tough motherfucker that took shit from no one, the one you thought you tamed. Guess what? I was just biding my time."
posted by nushustu at 3:46 PM on June 3, 2015 [39 favorites]


Yeah, Nushustu summed up Furiosa and Joe way better than I did. Bravo.
posted by Windigo at 3:52 PM on June 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


>Re: Undercranking. It's a Mad Max movie. Undercranking is the star.

Beaten to it. The undercranking is a complete throw back to the previous movies. It wouldn't have felt like a Mad Max movie without it.
posted by markr at 3:55 PM on June 3, 2015 [4 favorites]


All good people love maps.
posted by Artw at 3:56 PM on June 3, 2015 [6 favorites]


In conclusion, Mad Max is a land of contrast.
posted by RobotHero at 3:57 PM on June 3, 2015 [23 favorites]


Holy shit. I think Joe probably cut Furiosa's hand off because she hit him.

And the "Remember me?" isn't just, "I know you have a lot on your mind right now, and you're probably really busy, but let's take a moment to remember who took those women away from you. I'm still here", but, "Remember the girl you stole? The woman whose hand you cut off? I'm one of your trusted Imperators now, but I'm still them, too. Did you think I had forgotten?" And a much longer, time- and energy-eating speech better distilled into those two words.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 4:06 PM on June 3, 2015 [9 favorites]


From Beyond Thunder dome the kids tell their oral history with "[re]member this", I think there's an echo there to what Furiosa's "remember me"
posted by dipolemoment at 4:11 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


Gotta make a move to a town that's right for me
Town to keep me movin', keep me groovin' with some energy

Well, I talk about it, talk about it
Talk about it, talk about it
Talk about, talk about
Talk about movin'

Gotta move on
Gotta move on
Gotta move on

A-won't you take me to Gas Town?
Won't you take me to Gas Town?
Won't you take me to Gas Town?
Won't you take me to Gas Town?
(And Bullet Farm while you're at it)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:15 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


.Gas town either has a bunch of or manufactures gas for all the cars, the bullet farm makes bullets, and the Citadel has water and food, the only resources that matter. Each barters the resource it has for the other two. Travel between them is dangerous but necessary, hence, the war rigs and support vehicles.

Another bit of "show not tell" is that immediately after the now famous "Max gives rifle with last bullet to Furiosa" scene, is she's shooting out the light on the Bullet Farmer's vehicle; he continues charging towards them with literal guns blazing even though he can't see what he's shooting at. It's by far the most profligate use of bullets in the whole film, and it really highlights the economy, the impact of the resources and their availability or lack thereof.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 4:18 PM on June 3, 2015 [8 favorites]


I thought the movie was kinda meh, and I think the center framing explains part of it. It was 7/8ths truck fighting, from two minutes in until two minutes before the end, and I never even really had to move my head once throughout. It sort of numbed me to the whole thing.
posted by cosmic.osmo at 4:19 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


I hate maps.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:45 PM on June 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


If George Lucas made Fury Road, we'd spend the next 30 years hearing about the buildup to "Gas Town" in the form of 3 movies and an animated TV series all because a certain class of nerds can't let a casual reference to something that everyone on screen knows all about and would have no need to explain to each other go without having it all laid out before them in massive detail.
posted by Space Coyote at 4:49 PM on June 3, 2015 [23 favorites]


Oh this is fun. If M. Night Shyamalan made Fury Road it'd turn out we were Gas Town all along?
posted by erratic meatsack at 5:06 PM on June 3, 2015 [7 favorites]


Just go to see any other summer movie, where there will be reams of paint by numbers exposition about people we don't care about in between tedious shakycam action glurge. Leave us this one glorious exception and go in peace.

There has been too much argument. Too much pain. But I have an honorable compromise. Just walk away. Give us Mad Max: Fury Road and we'll spare your lives. Just walk away and we'll give you the whole summer blockbuster season. Just walk away and there will be an end to the lack of exposition.
posted by FJT at 5:10 PM on June 3, 2015 [24 favorites]


The only thing I didn't buy, though, was Nux's switching sides. It happened so fast.

I thought he verbalizes that he's fucked because he's riding the rig when a wife goes under its wheels. So he throws in his lot with the other side.
posted by thelonius at 5:10 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


METAFILTER: IT WAS 7/8THS TRUCK FIGHTING
posted by Mars Saxman at 5:36 PM on June 3, 2015 [4 favorites]


Nux didn't do that. He tripped and fell. And lived, seconds after being given a personal commission from, as maxsparber has pointed out, God Himself. "Mediocre" as the single-word response is a condemnation of his very worth.

I feel like the acting carried it through for me. I've seen stills of Nux right after falling and the look on his face is genuinely heartbreaking. He isn't just on the rig after, he's hiding and berating himself in a way that really spoke to me. It never seemed odd for a moment to me that he switched sides.
posted by flaterik at 5:57 PM on June 3, 2015 [10 favorites]


Oh this is fun. If M. Night Shyamalan made Fury Road it'd turn out we were Gas Town all along?

Miranda July's Fury Road would be, surprisingly, exactly like George Miller's.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:00 PM on June 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


I love RPGs. I love the carefully constructed worlds, and histories, and technologies, and magic systems. I love the convoluted rules and mathematics. And don't forget the charts; I love the charts and tables that show the odds of every possible outcome.

The part I don't like is when the players and GMs come in and start messing everything up.


That's fair, but to my eye you're in a similar position to a book-lover who considers themselves such because they cherish the smell of the binding glue, the feel of the paper, and the setting of the type. A completely valid set of priorities, but not one that I'd hope for from someone in charge of the book's actual content. I'd say that the bookbinders appear to be running things in Hollywood's script department, but a sincere love of infodump exposition is unfortunately indistinguishable from laziness, and you know what they say about never ascribing to conviction that which can be adequately explained by cynical profit motive. This movie was a wonderful exception to the general trend.
posted by invitapriore at 6:13 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


I think the "Remember me?" scene is pretty simple. (Which doesn't make it any less exciting.) Furiosa doesn't just want to kill Joe, she wants him to know that she is the one killing him. So she says something to get his attention - and then whammo! It's the inverse of the Warboys saying "Witness me!" before they die.
posted by Kevin Street at 6:18 PM on June 3, 2015 [8 favorites]


I have a friend visiting from out of town starting tomorrow and she wants me to take her to see Fury Road.

I've seen it in the theaters three times. I've never seen a film three times in the theater. In fact, the last time I saw a film twice in the theater was in 1998...Titanic.

Who the fuck sees a movie four times in the theater?

Who the fuck indeed.

*vibrates in anticipation*
posted by Windigo at 7:38 PM on June 3, 2015 [17 favorites]


Everybody was 7/8 Truck Fighting...
And they were fast (but not furious) as lightning...
And it was a little bit distracting...
But they all had expert undercranking...
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:43 PM on June 3, 2015 [10 favorites]


Furiosa and Max’s Best Friends Road Trip is a good movie about a ragtag group of people that take a journey with some unexpected obstacles, and along the way they learn that the Green Place was really the friends they made along the way.
posted by Windigo at 7:49 PM on June 3, 2015 [25 favorites]




Well, how about "Mad Max: Adventure Time Road" Yes, that's Marceline the Doof Warrior.
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:56 PM on June 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


After seeing this, I'd like to visit some of the locations that it was shot in. Does anyone know where in the Blue Mountains those rock formations are?

Sydney Film Festival is kicking off, and I'm being dragged to a bunch of movies that aren't Fury Road, and I just want to see it again.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 8:32 PM on June 3, 2015


I just want to say that I think the way the wives/slaves was introduced was perfect. The first we know of them is the graffiti on the walls of their chambers: "WE ARE NOT THINGS." So right away, we know important things about them: they have agency and they used it. They weren't just stolen by Furiosa, they went willingly, they "begged" her to take them. They are literate and understand the concept of bodily autonomy. Basically, they are the drivers of the action in this story.

We don't need a scene showing them being victimized, or explaining how bad it was that they had to leave - everything we need to know is in that graffiti: WE ARE NOT THINGS. These women have decided to take bold action to reclaim their autonomy and humanity, and this is what starts the story.
posted by lunasol at 8:43 PM on June 3, 2015 [13 favorites]


The Wives had names in the movie? When did they say them?

I missed this at first too, but watch it again. Splendid's name is actually one of the most used pieces of dialogue referencing a character that isn't Furiosa or Joe.
posted by rollbiz at 8:50 PM on June 3, 2015


"Remember the girl you stole? The woman whose hand you cut off? I'm one of your trusted Imperators now, but I'm still them, too. Did you think I had forgotten?"

I think this is it right here, and it's also why as soon as Immortan Joe learns that she's veered off course, he goes right to the vault to confirm that his wives have been taken. He clearly knew what she would value and would take if she ever went rogue.
posted by rollbiz at 9:01 PM on June 3, 2015 [8 favorites]


Everybody should have a Doof Warrior to soundtrack their lives.

You can have mine. No-one where I work will include me in a meeting anymore because he shows up as well and blasts discordant guitar riffs while we try to talk. I'm facing eviction from my apartment because of noise complaints. Also, he drinks like a bloody fish and whenever his accompaniment would actually help me for a change he's crashed on the couch sleeping off the hangover. He sleeps with every woman I'm even slightly attracted to and just leaves the soiled condoms anywhere. He never showers, or cooks, or cleans up after himself. My Doof Warrior is an asshole. I hate my fucking Doof Warrior.
posted by um at 9:14 PM on June 3, 2015 [10 favorites]


THE Doof Warrior, sure. A doof warrior is just going to play bad techno and trance when you're trying to sleep and invite their weird pilled-up friend over.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 9:37 PM on June 3, 2015 [4 favorites]


By comparison, Furiosa is a static character.

She had her own character arc, but the problem is ultimately it was a very straightforward mission of liberation of the oppressed. Like Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy, she is tough, deadly, devoted, and.... humorless. Not much personality besides being a conventional hero.

And that's the thing. She kicks the most ass, but comes off as the most boring, and so is upstaged by Max- well, maybe? Nux had a more interesting arc than he did, too. When they make the Furiosa film, they definitely need to have her show a wider range of character.
posted by Apocryphon at 10:32 PM on June 3, 2015


Soooo… whatch y'all are sayin here is that I need to suck it up and give my money to the despised cinema rip-off chain to see this movie? I'm getting the impression that this is a movie actually worth the big screen, big ticket price.
posted by five fresh fish at 11:16 PM on June 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


HOW ARE YOU NOT IN THE THEATER AT THIS VERY MOMENT GETTING YOUR FACE ROCKED OFF? YES, GO. GO NOW.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 11:26 PM on June 3, 2015 [13 favorites]


The Wives had names in the movie? When did they say them?

I missed this at first too, but watch it again. Splendid's name is actually one of the most used pieces of dialogue referencing a character that isn't Furiosa or Joe.


I think Splendid and Cheedo are the only wife names we hear in the movie. Splendid's name is bellowed by Immortan Joe at the beginning of the movie, and she is talked about by the rest of the wives later. As for Cheedo the Fragile, well, she's the youngest and the most uncertain about the escape, so there's quite a bit of "Cheedo, no! Stay! Cheedo! Bad puppy!" type situations.
posted by peripathetic at 11:47 PM on June 3, 2015


I'm pretty sure someone says Capable's name, but I can't remember when.







Well...
GUESS I'LL HAVE TO GO WATCH THE MOVIE AGAIN!
posted by Mister Moofoo at 2:33 AM on June 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Oh this is fun. If M. Night Shyamalan made Fury Road it'd turn out we were Gas Town all along?

If Michael Bay made Fury Road, Gas Town would end up exactly how you'd think a place with tons of gas lying around would.
posted by Itaxpica at 6:35 AM on June 4, 2015 [2 favorites]


Ah, and here's a summary of one of the backstory comics (Nux & Immortan Joe). Totally unnecessary, but there it is.

Final paragraph of that article sums things up nicely
Here lies the risks and rewards of doing this kind of tie-in comic. On one hand, an endeavor like this can buttress the vision of a great movie and layer on some nuance onto characters viewers grow to love. On the other, it can also undermine the under-explained charms of a film that makes conscious decisions to leave things vague and mysterious. The next issue of the Mad Max: Fury Road miniseries will be about Imperator Furiosa. Let’s hope they don’t fuck up a comic about the best character in the movie.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:39 AM on June 4, 2015


I actually don't want to know the back-stories. I heard the one about Nux, but it was pretty much what I expected. But Furiosa? Nope. Don't want to risk it.
posted by Windigo at 6:44 AM on June 4, 2015


If Michael Bay made Fury Road, Gas Town would end up exactly how you'd think a place with tons of gas lying around would.

At some point he would re-use this shot from Transformers 4 that combines nearly every Bay-ism there is:

-Orange and teal
-Low angle character shot
-Gratuitous explosions
-Slow motion
-Maybe a couple more that I'm missing

Plus the inclusion of a giant robot in a Mad Max movie wouldn't make any sense, perfect for a Michael Bay movie.
posted by VTX at 7:12 AM on June 4, 2015


There's orange/teal in just about every shot of Mad Max Fury Road, the sky/sand combo. It's not natural. The colour of the sand was enhanced to be less silica white, more ocher red-orange. Still, it looks real, which is why it works, as opposed to the more intrusive Bay-isms.
posted by bonehead at 7:36 AM on June 4, 2015


20+ minute videos about the making of some of MMFR's soundtrack:
Studio Time with Junkie XL - Episode 3: Mad Max string theme
Studio Time with Junkie XL - Episode 4: Mad Max Drums
posted by Bangaioh at 10:28 AM on June 4, 2015 [3 favorites]


While I like the art books and all their hints and broad conceptual strokes I'm staying away from the comics, they seem like an excess of over specific extraneous detail that's not going to improve things.
posted by Artw at 11:32 AM on June 4, 2015 [2 favorites]


Artw, if you continue with such fine thoughts, I'll golf cart you to the gates of Valhalla myself!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:34 AM on June 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Shiny and chrome, I ride eternal!
posted by Artw at 11:35 AM on June 4, 2015 [5 favorites]


>15 minutes of exposition

I am imagining Marlon Brando saying "I'll him an offer he can't refuse, by which I mean (describes extortion)" or a flashback montage with lots of knuckle breaking and face stomping thugs.

And yes, I am saying MMFR is going to be a monstrously influential film to be studied and emulated for decades.
posted by lesChaps at 12:18 PM on June 4, 2015 [4 favorites]


> 20+ minute videos about the making of some of MMFR's soundtrack:

I will say that the score was pretty much the only thing I wasn't fully on board with; there were two or three scenes (the fire/sandstorm chase in particular) where the music was distractingly bombastic and/or didn't seem to be a good fit what was happening onscreen.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:28 PM on June 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


As for Nux having an arc and changing alliances, I agree that it could in part be pragmatic, and/or he is just imprinting on a new leadership. I also think it's interesting that he has been rejected by a patriarchy, accepted by a matriarchy ... In a way though he is unchanged as far as his ultimate goal -- he has a will to self-sacrifice that he sees through, but the act serves to protect rather than destroy. His character didn't change so fundamentally wrt that drive to create meaning or value in death.

Also, it was cool as shit.
posted by lesChaps at 12:31 PM on June 4, 2015 [5 favorites]


I am imagining Marlon Brando saying "I'll him an offer he can't refuse, by which I mean (describes extortion)"

In Star Trek: The Next Generation, one of the single best monologues in series was really sort of butchered immediately after because of, well:

Guinan: Consider that in the history of many worlds, there have always been disposable creatures. They do the dirty work. They do the work that no one else wants to do because it's too difficult or too hazardous. And an army of Datas, all disposable... You don't have to think about their welfare, you don't think about how they feel. Whole generations of disposable people.

Capt. Picard: You're talking about slavery.
posted by griphus at 12:36 PM on June 4, 2015 [6 favorites]


His name is Captain Picard, not Captain Subtle.
posted by maxsparber at 12:48 PM on June 4, 2015 [7 favorites]


I will say that the score was pretty much the only thing I wasn't fully on board with; there were two or three scenes (the fire/sandstorm chase in particular) where the music was distractingly bombastic and/or didn't seem to be a good fit what was happening onscreen.

For me it was the production values in Max's flashbacks. For lack of a better descriptor, they felt too video-y, so they only ever made me think about how they were made rather than what they meant.
posted by invitapriore at 3:00 PM on June 4, 2015


My problem with the comics existing is that future discussions of the movie will inevitably be punctured by someone saying "well, in the comics..." and a few weeks later I find myself standing red-faced in the Coroner's Court while everyone glares at me. Again.
posted by um at 4:14 PM on June 4, 2015 [4 favorites]


Heh. Even as a writer of tie-in comics I don't expect anything in them to be binding.
posted by Artw at 5:05 PM on June 4, 2015


You may be called upon to testify.
posted by um at 7:24 PM on June 4, 2015 [3 favorites]


Speaking of tie-in comics or fan art or whatever: The Great Showdowns Guy Does 'Mad Max Fury Road'
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:21 AM on June 5, 2015




annnnnd this was inevitable... (Mad Maker?)
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:06 PM on June 6, 2015


This helps make sense of why I actually enjoyed this movie in 3D - it was comfortable to watch. I usually find action movies in 3D to be too busy, visually.
posted by lizbunny at 11:31 AM on June 8, 2015


There's orange/teal in just about every shot of Mad Max Fury Road, the sky/sand combo. It's not natural. The colour of the sand was enhanced to be less silica white, more ocher red-orange. Still, it looks real, which is why it works, as opposed to the more intrusive Bay-isms.

I was surprised, but based on that link it seems like they mostly made the sand less red-orange than in real life, and more white/washed out, with the exception of the canyon scenes which are very orangified.

Most of this was filmed in Namibia, right? Place is pretty famous for vibrant orange sand, but it seems like they mostly avoided that look.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 2:58 PM on June 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


Furiosa's background.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:48 PM on June 13, 2015 [3 favorites]


A Warrior Woman’s Work - "Furiosa isn’t history’s first female fighter, but she is the latest to remind us that women’s place is everywhere."
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:27 PM on June 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


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