Mad Max (1979 - Present)

boldfinger

Yeah, I don´t reall buy that world cup excuse. But I tend to believe that the production process was a nightmare and the film turns out good. That would also give room for a most thrilling behind-the-scenes documentary for the dvd/br ;-). Like Hearts of Darkness for example, or The Hamster Factor.

oo7

maybe wb has alot of confidence in this new mad max game and wishes to sell as much of it as they can to get people keen on the character again? that game could have 6 months to years worht of dlc leading us into the films release? look at what they did with the arkham games, they released them in years outside of the film because they are valid arts in their own right so again why can this massive mad max game not be.
on a side note. fallout 4 is it winter?

Creasy47

Here's a new shot of Tom Hardy in the film:

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/notyetamovie/news/?a=96508

Thunderfinger

Damn! I was thinking this was an appreciation thread for the parrot, sorry. I know my way out...

boldfinger

Creasy47 wrote:

Here's a new shot of Tom Hardy in the film:

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/notyetamovie/news/?a=96508

Great, just when I was starting to forget thinking of that film. And that shot looks quite awesome too. So it´s back to consciously waiting for, when was it again, the end of 2015 or something?

Thunderfinger wrote:

Damn! I was thinking this was an appreciation thread for the parrot, sorry. I know my way out...

There´s a parrot called Mad Max?

Samuel001

The film is out in May 2015 and the parrot, Max (not his real name), is in two Bond films.

thelivingroyale

Could they please just release a teaser trailer? Just to tide us over? Also, is the game still set for release next month? I've heard nothing about it for a while and I just googled it and couldn't find an official release date.

Anyway, this thread being bumped is good timing actually because I watched Mad Max 2 and 3 again recently. Road Warrior is still brilliant. A terrificley crafted action film full of energy and great stunt work. The story is simple but it's exciting and it's pretty much a western set in the apocalypse. One of, if not the, best action films ever made.

Thunderdome isn't as good. I get that they tried to do something different but I don't think it quite works. It's a bit too Americanised and watered down, and there's only one chase sequence. Max is called the road warrior for a reason. Another thing that annoyed me is the pilot in this one. It's the same actor but is he the same character as the pilot from Road Warrior? If so, why would he steal from Max? I do think Thunderdome is alright though. The setting is really fleshed out, the Thunderdome sequence itself is great, and I like how Max's character has developed.

boldfinger

thelivingroyale wrote:

Road Warrior is still brilliant. A terrificley crafted action film full of energy and great stunt work. The story is simple but it's exciting and it's pretty much a western set in the apocalypse. One of, if not the, best action films ever made.

Thunderdome isn't as good. I get that they tried to do something different but I don't think it quite works. It's a bit too Americanised and watered down, and there's only one chase sequence. Max is called the road warrior for a reason. Another thing that annoyed me is the pilot in this one. It's the same actor but is he the same character as the pilot from Thunderdome? If so, why would he steal from Max? I do think Thunderdome is alright though. The setting is really fleshed out, the Thunderdome sequence itself is great, and I like how Max's character has developed.

Those are pretty much my thoughts too. The very first one holds up very well too. I think the problem with Thunderdome is, they couldn´t decide what to do with it. It has this great character development, but then in the end it doesn´t stick to it. Plus, as you said, that pilot matter is disturbing, and the whole film is watered down.

Creasy47

@thelivingroyale, the 'Mad Max' game has a release date of TBA 2014, so we will see. I really haven't heard much from the game lately, so I'm hoping we either get some more images/trailers soon, or at least a bit of news instead of hearing it gets delayed until 2015.

bondsum

Hello fellow geeks. I thought I'd pop back and give you an update on the new Mad Max movie as there's been sweet FA happening on the Bond front....

An updated synopsis has been released for Mad Max: Fury Road, as reports from the first test screening appear online...

It's hard to believe that after all this time a new instalment of Mad Max is nearly with us. Well, sort of nearly - we've still got a year to wait for the film, but that seems short change after how long it's taken to get this far.

Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron feature in the movie, which is due in cinemas on May 15th 2015. What's more, a test screening appears to have taken place this week, and the reactions seem to have been quite mixed. It's just a test screening of course, and one a year ahead of the movie's release. But thought you may be interested.

Before that though, here's the updated current synopsis for the film:

“MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is the fourth film of George Miller‘s Road Warrior/Mad Max franchise co-written and directed by Miller. The post-apocalyptic action film is set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and most everyone is crazed fighting for the necessities of life. Within this world of fire and blood exist two rebels on the run who just might be able to restore order… There’s Max (played by TOM HARDY from The Dark Knight Rises), a man of action and a man of few words, who seeks peace of mind following the loss of his wife and child in the aftermath of the chaos. And… Furiosa (played by CHARLIZE THERON from Prometheus), a woman of action and a woman who believes her path to survival may be achieved if she can make it across the desert back to her childhood homeland.”

So then: that test screening. Some reports have likened Mad Max: Fury Road to the final act of The Road Warrior, albeit stretched out to an entire film. Those reports suggest it works, too, with particular praise for the action sequences, vehicles, costumes and makeup. On the other hand some reports suggest that others were less than enamoured with the above approach and hope that the film undergoes extensive re-shoots/gets scrapped and started over again.

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/mad-max/30333/synopsis-and-test-screening-reactions-for-mad-max-fury-road

OK, not convinced? I found a much more detailed review of the unfinished movie on AICN and the information the talkbacker gives does stand up to scrutiny and it does appear that he was in fact there at the screening. If you don't want to read his comments then ignore what's below, but if you do then it's fair to say it's not a pretty sight. I'm actually disappointed by what's being reported as it seems GM has perhaps wasted a good opportunity in bringing back Max to the screen.

Well, I was at the screening on Wednesday as well, and I have a very different take. To be fair, I walked in with reasonably lowered expectations, but I still found it falling far below them. The movie is essentially one long chase scene with barely a hint of plot or characterization. The action scenes (which comprise basically everything) are relatively well done, but the cardinal sin committed by Miller is that he actually makes Max a tangential character in the story. MINOR SPOILERS: Max is captured by Immortan Joe's people about three minutes into the film (the V8 interceptor is immediately trashed and stolen) and then held as a helpless captive mounted on the hood of a truck for the next half hour. END SPOILERS When he does enter the story, he does nothing to effectively alter it at all. He may as well not be there.

Hardy has about five or six lines of dialogue in the whole film, and he does them in a VERY deep voice with occasional hints of an Aussie accent (it's not Bane, but it's close). Other than that he grunts a lot. I'm sad to report that he's pretty badly miscast here. Hardy plays the role like an unkillable bulldog without a hint of intelligence, whereas Gibson's take on the character always presented Max as actually thinking his way through action sequences rather than simply being a brute force battering ram. There are some moments of weirdness, albeit all too few (and most are just dropped in without explanation and quickly dismissed) but the film is mostly comprised of an endless car and truck chase that begins at Immortan Joe's Citadel stronghold and then goes out into the desert before turning right back around and going back to the starting point. It's one long videogame sequence that played for over two hours but felt like six. Endless action gets dull when there's not a hint of character to be seen.

The closest we get to anything about Max is when he has a few flashes of his thirteen year old daughter (yes, I know he had a son in the original film, don't know where a daughter came from) appearing and saying "you promised to save us!" That's it.

The movie is, to put it mildly, a complete and total mess No plot, no character, unending chase scenes, a sense of Max being a tourist passing through the movie... oh, and it's fucking PG-13. No blood or nudity whatsoever. It cuts away anytime something might be too brutal for younger viewers.

Lower your expectations, folks. It's not the worst thing ever, but it's also not very good. I mean, THUNDERDOME actually towers above it. And lest you think I'm a hater, I went with a group of both MAD MAX lovers as well as newbies, and all of them HATED it. My prediction: fanboys will be annoyed, and MM virgins will be uninterested. This is not the franchise restart WB is hoping for. At all.

thelivingroyale

Thanks @bondsum. I'm sure the action sequences will be good and I don't mind the idea of one long car chase (the stories have always been fairly simple anyway) but that review has made me worried.

boldfinger

Thanks for the update @bondsum. It´s thrilling to hear there was a test screening, although that negative review gives me a painful feeling in the gut.
Well, whatever that one review may mean. If there were people at the screening who said the film worked, then this guy´s prediction is already proved wrong.

boldfinger

I read some of the feedback to the testscreening again. Some of it doesn´t make sense:

[qoute]A reader also told us the following:
“Just saw a Mad Max advance screening. I can’t say much about it but let’s just hope they do tons of re-shoots before it’s released next year, or start again from scratch. Also Tom Hardy can’t stop doing the Bane voice. So annoying.”

Read more at http://collider.com/mad-max-fury-road-reviews/#KqBg6REgxLFR3IhO.99[/quote]

First, Mel Gibson´s Max spoke with a low voice in the Road Warrior. Second, Bane only spoke through a mask, and he didn´t sound as if Tom Hardy spoke much different from his normal voice. This Bane voice complaint was put out already a year or so ago on the net, but it still doesn´t make sense. Also, if, as one other reviewer observed, Max doesn´t speak more than 6 lines, how can one say that "he can´t stop" a certain kind of voice?

I think the bulk of these criticisms is made up.

thelivingroyale

I think we'll see how true these criticisms are closer to the films release, when they announce the age rating. If it's PG 13 like they say, then maybe they were telling the truth and we should see it with lowered expectations.

boldfinger

thelivingroyale wrote:

I think we'll see how true these criticisms are closer to the films release, when they announce the age rating. If it's PG 13 like they say, then maybe they were telling the truth and we should see it with lowered expectations.

I don´t see how PG13 necessarily affects the film. With a production that huge, I would guess there´s no way around PG13, in order to maximise the potential returns. That means the filmmakers were prepared and could build the film up respectively. After all, the post-apocalyptic ambience and the action got good reactions.
What strikes me is that the negative quotes are the only ones that really don´t make sense logically. They sound as if freely invented, just for the sake of saying anything.

QBranch

It seems these comments are pretty old, but Charlize Theron says a few words regarding her experience on the set.

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/charlize-theron-says-gruelling-mad-max-fury-road-shoot-nearly-ended-her-career/story-e6frfmw0-1226934444031

boldfinger

QBranch wrote:

It seems these comments are pretty old, but Charlize Theron says a few words regarding her experience on the set.

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/charlize-theron-says-gruelling-mad-max-fury-road-shoot-nearly-ended-her-career/story-e6frfmw0-1226934444031

Sounds tough for her, but if that kind of intensity translated on the screen, we should be in for an exceptionally good film.
At least it´s very comforting to get the impression that the film is so long in the making due to "just" a tough shoot. I hope they got all that trouble on harddrive, it should make for splendid making-of material for the dvd/br.

QsAssistant

Here's a magazine cover with Hardy as Mad Max. Looks awesome!!!
http://www.nerdist.com/2014/06/mad-max-fury-road-reveals-theron-and-hardy-apocalypse-survivors/

bondsum

You beat me to it, @QsAssistant.

boldfinger

About f***ng time.

Nice arm.

QBranch

‘Mad Max: Fury Road' To Appear At Comic-Con; Teaser Trailer Coming In Near Future

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/mad-max-fury-road-to-appear-at-comic-con-teaser-trailer-coming-in-near-future-20140627

Not sure just how old the pics in this article are, but I haven't seen them before.

Creasy47

@QBranch, those pictures were released just a couple of days ago. I forgot there was a 'Mad Max' thread, or I would've posted them here.

QBranch

Creasy47 wrote:

Two days ago, I saw some new Mad Max pics. You want them posted here? You talk to me.

If it's all the same to you, I'll post those photos. ;)

Creasy47

QBranch wrote:

Creasy47 wrote:

Two days ago, I saw some new Mad Max pics. You want them posted here? You talk to me.

If it's all the same to you, I'll post those photos. ;)

Haha, that freaked me out for a second, because I immediately racked my brain, trying to recall when in the hell I said that. ;-)

boldfinger

The foto with the guys hanging from the vehicles like pirates from a ship´s rigging makes me want to put on war paint instantly. And the article doesn´t make me less excited either. What it says about a silent action movie would fit to the supposed comments after the test screening weeks ago, where some complaints were about not enough dialogue. The Road Warrior didn´t have too much dialogue, but I think little dialogue is not everyone´s thing. On the other hand, two years ago a silent movie won an Oscar ;-).

Thunderfinger

I am beginning to anticipate this film, and Hardy looks great in that photo. Even Bondish.

boldfinger

Some new fotos and story boards:

http://www.superherohype.com/news/306241-mad-max-fury-road-reveals-seven-more-new-images?utm_source=crowdignite.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=crowdignite.com#/slide/1

QBranch

Thanks for the pics, @boldfinger!

Perhaps it's just me, but the two female characters in the back look like CGI:

boldfinger

QBranch wrote:

Thanks for the pics, @boldfinger!

Perhaps it's just me, but the two female characters in the back look like CGI:

Always a pleasure @QBranch. I think rather than CGI the exposition of the shot is so high that some elements appear slightly over-exposed. All the fotos I´ve seen so far suggest that Miller is going for some kind of artificial look. Or a post-apocalyptically changed atmosphere ;-).

bondsum

And here is the teaser poster for Mad Max: Fury Road...