So great to see him looking well.

What? No, I'm not crying...

There was an idea floating around in cosmology (before Dark Energy was discovered in 1998) that if the universe didn't have enough energy to keep expanding, it would collapse in on itself again in a big crunch and this would somehow reverse the arrow of time. That idea was just speculative and is now obsolete anyway, but obviously the writer took this idea and ran with it.

In addition, there's a bit of Sliding Doors concept as well of alternative realities if a different decision had been made at a crucial moment in one's life.

Like Fight Club, great directorial flourishes. Every technique in the manual is on show. You could use it to illustrate a course on directing. Nice soundtrack too.

The most expensive movie to ever come out of Belgium, and no one's heard of it. Just like Agora, one of the most expensive Spanish movies ever made, and also no one's heard of that either. To help international box office, both are in English, but that didn't help.

They can do Jodorowsky's DUNE while they're at it, and why not Kubrick's NAPOLEON? He left enough notes.

The fight sequence from 18m:30s was the best part for me. Reminded me of Hot Shots 2 humour.

The Directors Series video essay continues... https://vimeo.com/channels/directorsseries/128163934

The brand MAD MAX is well-known (even by people that haven't seen the movies)... a car-based post-apocalyptic  wasteland. That's all you need to know. Branding probably accounts for 80% of box office these days.

No one saw John Wick, but had it been exactly the same movie under the James Bond or Mission Impossible 'brands', I'm sure the box office would have been 5X+ as much.

It's like opera - there are only about 20-30 operas in the core repertoire that are resurrected each season. It's lately been criticised as a dead artform, or at least 'ossified'. There are occasional attempts to write new operas, but most of these are financially unsuccessful.
Similarly, in movie tentpoles, there are only about 20-30 brands: Terminator, Aliens, Star Wars, Star Trek, DC, Marvel, James Bond, Mission Impossible, Transformers, etc which are mined each season. Most attempts to launch new 'brands' are unsuccessful, so it's easier just to appropriate an existing one, whatever your story.

I hear there are going to be several more Mad Max movies now that this one is successful. And if Blade Runner 2 resurrects that brand, there'll no doubt be more of those.

I have my own fridge logic questions

1. How can you possibly carry 160 days worth of motorbike fuel? I reckon two days max, Max. Unless they're some hyper-efficient futuristic engine.
2. What planet are we on? 160 days x 80 miles an hour x 10 hours a day = 5 times around the Earth at the equator.

How the hell did a second or third tier director get $150M to make an R rated film? That's unheard of these days. Normally R-rated genre movies like Dredd are never given more than $50M, usually a lot less.

Fucking insane!

Exhilarating, grotesque, heart-pounding! Like an extended heavy metal road chase. The production design, stunts, costumes, make-up, stunts, special effects, and cinematography all felt like a breath of fresh air after all that Marvel crap.

For example, that sand-storm approach looked terrific, like a John Martin painting.

How the hell did they film it?! It just looks so over the top. Sorry Star Wars nerds, but Episode VII is gonna look like a lame cartoon by comparison.

My only gripe is that a couple of the third act action sequences were cut a little too fast - it was hard to take it all in. Perhaps they were cut for a lower rating (and will be restored in an UNRATED blu-ray release. As you guys have commented above, it definitely needs multiple viewings.

Highly recommended! 9.5/10 Best movie of the year so far, by far, and I would be most surprised if Terminator, Tomorrowland, Jurassic World, or Ep7 could come near it.

It got a round of applause in the cinema at the end, and that's pretty rare for a British audience.

Week 5 :: 1 :: avatar :: Mr Nobody