Review Roundup: Tom Hardy Stars in MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron star in the newest installment to the MAD MAX series, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. The film was directed by George Miller and written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, and Nick Lathouris.

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD follows the storyline of two rebels, Max (Hardy) and Furiosa (Theron), who are trying to restore order in an apocalyptic desert landscape. Max is a man of action who seeks peace of mind after losing his wife and child in the chaos of this dangerous landscape. Furiosa is a woman who believes her path to survival may be achieved if she is able to make it across the desert and back to her childhood home.

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD stars Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Holt, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Josh Helman, and Nathan Jones.

Let's see what the critics had to say!

A. O. Scott, The New York Times: It's all great fun, and quite rousing as well - a large-scale genre movie that is at once unpretentious and unafraid to bring home a message. Way back in the "THUNDERDOME" days, Tina Turner sang, "We don't need another hero." That's more true than ever, especially during summer movie season. And "MAD MAX: FURY ROAD," like its namesake both humble and indomitable, isn't about heroism in the conventional, superpowered sense. It's about revolution.

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: Neither Hardy nor Theron (nor anyone else in the film) delivers a particularly strong performance. But they look their parts, and that's ultimately more important. This is not what anyone would plausibly describe as an actor's film....There are also a few missteps along the way-Max's visions of his dead daughter are a rare unnecessary flourish-and 20 minutes might have been usefully shaved from the two-hour running time. But MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is that rarest of indulgences, a blockbuster-season release that fully delivers on its promise. This is vital action filmmaking, a wash of sensation almost primal in its intensity and utterly devoid of the mopey self-seriousness that is so much in vogue these days.

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian: Extravagantly deranged, ear-splittingly cacophonous and entirely over-the-top: the MAD MAX punk western franchise has been revived as a bizarre convoy-chase action-thriller in the post-apocalyptic desert. It's like GRAND THEFT AUTO revamped by Hieronymus Bosch, with a dab of Robert Rodriguez's FROM DUSK TILL DAWN on the side.

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Filming in the Namib desert, Miller has crafted a visual masterpiece, combining dust, fireballs, mud, blood, gasoline and mother's milk in vividly imaginative ways that are hugely satisfying and never look fake. But it's Theron's determined wounded warrior - much more than Hardy's haunted, revenge-seeking road warrior - that ultimately makes this the summer's first must-see movie.

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Exactly 25 years since the last "MAD MAX" entry, Miller, who made the previous ones, fuel-injects the whole shebang. There are wild scenes filled with gutsy, edgy stuff. It's frankly stunning that a major studio like Warner Bros. would sign off on some of the audacity here, but the movie is stronger for it. Yet it's not just the action that benefits. The story's theme of undaunted hope in the midst of appalling inhumanity makes it the rare summer event flick that has its brain stuck right next to its gas pedal.

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: What made the first MAD MAX such a future-shock classic wasn't just its jittery, overcranked action served up with a sick smile, but also its metaphorical depth. The new film is, I'm sorry to say, just another summer action film (albeit a gorgeously shot one). In the end, MAD MAX's road may be furious, but it doesn't really lead anywhere.

Michael O'Sullivan, The Washington Post: Some viewers will never be able to hang on through the story's careening disregard for sense, logic or moderation. I advise them not to even try. But if you know whose car you're getting in - it helps to have seen at least one of Miller's three previous "MAD MAX" films, but it is not required - you're in for one heck of a ride.

Justin Chang, Variety: But even as it plunges us back into a vividly familiar realm of nihilism and despair, "MAD MAX: FURY ROAD" never feels even remotely cynical - or exploitative.

Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair: In a movie season exhaustingly cluttered with never-ending superhero sagas and reboots, FURY ROAD arrives, despite its pedigree, as a daring, fascinating, thrilling jolt of original energy. It's invigorating the way a big cinema spectacular should be, reveling in the medium's towering possibilities, and transporting us to a thoroughly realized world that's wholly unlike our own.

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: And what a rare occasion it is, with award-caliber contributions from editor Margaret Sixel, Miller's wife, to the wondrous, witty costumes of Jenny Bevin and the tumultuous score by Dutch master Junkie XL. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD kicked my ass hard. It'll kick yours. So get prepped for a new action classic. You won't know what hit you.

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