Mad Max 4: Fury Road

[Duke Togo]

Waddling into a cinema near you

Another film on the penguin theme is Happy Feet (December), a computer-animated comedy by George Miller that tells the tale of an emperor penguin who tries making up for his lack of singing ability by tap dancing his way across the permafrost. (Miller is also in pre-production for Mad Max 4, which, let's face it, is the news we really want to hear.)

He's also been quoted in non-online publications that the film is back in pre-production, with full production starting by the end of the year.

[Graham]

Heh, I read the thread title as "Furry Road" first of all.

Graham

[the white drew carey]

It's about frickin time.

"Who you?"

"Me Max."

With dialogue like that,m this movie could blow away the oscar competition. Get a move on, Gibson! We haven't had quality destruction on the big screen in a while!!!

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

I really hope this lives up to my fave, Mad Max 2 aka "Road Warrior".

I loved that climatic scene with the truck and those feral bikers trying to claw thier way to the drivers seat to kill him while he is driving and defending himself at the same time. Talk about tense moments and then it ends with a huge head on collision. They have to really recreate that same level of tension from no.2 to get me interested. I didn't like no.3 all that much though. No.1 ain't really easy to watch on repeat viewings as an "action movie" though. Like with escape from new york which I just watched recently, it kind of moves sloooow.

They also need to bring back that humor and violence from the past movies - I actually thought that no1 had the most funny lines. Ie "You're a blasphemer!"

"What do you want!!?!?!"

"Kundalini wants his hand back!" (after having it ripped clean off from his arm and stuck to the rope tied to the back of the car!)

Edited February 2, 2006 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[bsu legato]

No. Way.

This project has had so many false starts that I'm not going to get my hopes up just yet, but this is potentially good news.

[Gui]

I precisely rewatched the first Max the day before yesterday and thought that it'd be cool to get another one

[KingNor]

the new Punisher was just mad max repackaged. seriously.

i'm not too sure about a new max. the last one was very silly and disney.

I'm an Mad Max 1 fan. Although Lord Humongous is pretty damn cool.

"Just walk away"

[Agent ONE]

The bronze... They keep you from bein, proud.

[reddsun1]

I dunno--I think they should maybe leave this one alone. For some reason, "3" seems to be the magic number for film series about the same character/storyline; any more than that, and it just goes all to hell. Besides, I think that--as flawed as some might think it is--Beyond T'dome does give a certain degree of closure to the story of Max Rockatanski [well, at least a point where the audience can say "okay, this guy's gonna be allright from here on out"]. There's certain underlying themes to the movies, certain "critical points" in this guy's life, when you look at each of them as parts to the bigger story:

Mad Max: "man becomes monster." when Max loses everything, he does that, in a sense; there's even that wonderfully symbolic scene just before he suits up and goes out after the bikers

Road Warrior: "redemption/man regains his humanity." his actions were pretty much self-serving, but at least he regained his 'dignity,' as Papagallo put it.

Beyond Thunderdome: "man becomes true hero." yeah, it was a bit Disney-fied; but what he did for others [the lost kids] in this part of the story was pretty selfless and noble.

KingNor, I'd say you hit the nail on the head about the Punisher. I remember thinking when I saw it "this director must have really liked Mad Max/Road Warrior when he was younger." Lots of symbolism/similarities from those films in that one.

Edited February 2, 2006 by reddsun1

[Roy Focker]

This one will reuse the script to the fast and furious.

[Majestic]

As much as I love the Mad Max series (not so much Thunderdome, although there's some great lines in that one), I'm not sure we need to see Mel playing Max again. The man is getting pretty old and he's been a bit off his rocker lately.

Better they should find some no-name middle-aged Australlian actor to take up the reigns, and spend the money they save on actor payroll on dune buggies covered in cowhides, IMO.

[Apollo Leader]

Regarding the Punisher, the way they killed Frank's wife and son made me think back to the original Mad Max. Clearly the first Mad Max had an influence on this film.

As for the Mad Max movies, the first one is my favorite. It will be interesting to see how number 4 turns out since the series had the chance to rest for 20 years. I wonder how old Max (Mel) will be depicted for this one?

[Wesker99]

As much as I love the Mad Max series (not so much Thunderdome, although there's some great lines in that one), I'm not sure we need to see Mel playing Max again. The man is getting pretty old and he's been a bit off his rocker lately.

365903[/snapback]

I agree with that completely, but I don't see anyone watching it unless Gibson's in the new one too. That is the problem that I see.

[HWR MKII]

I was thinking of a what if the other night for the Max series. What if they took a step back a bit and did more movies in the time of the MFP. Be nice to see black interceptors and motorcycle gangs going at it again instead of monster trucks with no body shells and tina turner wearing chain mail.

[reddsun1]

Oh yeah, the way they kill Frank's wife/son is a given. There's a lot more similarities in there too.

--When Frank comes home after his retirement party, notice his outfit; he's wearing a black leather jacket and a sky-blue tee--I didn't notice at first, but coincidentally the colors of the MFP uniform.

--The car Frank fixes up ['69, '70 GTO?] is done up in a pretty Max-ish style, with the black paint and all. I guess it bears a resemblence? You'd be surprised how many people guess "GTO" when they see my Falcon. I guess if he'd put a supercharger on it, it would have been just too blatant.

--Frank's final revenge on Howard Saint and his son is sort of an amalgam of the Johnny The Boy scene. Frank leaves Saint's son trapped and about to die; the Punisher walks away stone faced and resolute, as he begs to the effect "don't leave me like this," much like Johnny the Boy did. And how does he do Saint himself in? Ties him by the ankle to a car, and blows him up. Seem familiar?

--The final shot of the film features Frank standing in the middle of the road by his car, looking pissed and surly as the camera zooms out. Definitely reminded me of the final shot in MM2/The Road Warrior.

Nothing wrong with paying some props to a groundbreaking and influential film series. The director's definitely a Mad Max fan...

[Zentrandude]

Im not sure at the moment. Seeing how holliwood is murdering good movie ideas and spawning nasty piles of garbage out of the corpse, This may turn out to be a crossbred of waterworld and 2fast 2furious.

If they put neons under mad max's car I'll proly say "my stop here" and leave earth in any means how.

[the white drew carey]

As much as I love the Mad Max series (not so much Thunderdome, although there's some great lines in that one), I'm not sure we need to see Mel playing Max again. The man is getting pretty old and he's been a bit off his rocker lately.

365903[/snapback]

I disagree. I think the fact that Gibson has been off of his rocker lately make him more suited for the role of Max, who is also a little off of his rocker.

Fury Road is a lame name, though.

[Hikuro]

Espically considering a name like Fury Road would mean cars, cars and cars and by the third movie he's using a wagon and camels.....I forgot if he lost his sports car on the second movie or if over the years it just trashes out.

They had Mad Max on Action Channel I think a week or two ago....but its Road Warrior I wanna see again, I haven't seen it since I was 15 and able to better grasp the world in that era of the film.

Didn't really give a crap about Thunder Dome, by my old man really likes that one out of the other films.

[JsARCLIGHT]

Espically considering a name like Fury Road would mean cars, cars and cars and by the third movie he's using a wagon and camels.....I forgot if he lost his sports car on the second movie or if over the years it just trashes out.

The V-8 interceptor got blown to bits in Road Warrior.

As for this new movie I have one sentence:

If I see any, any CGI in this movie I will absolutely crap all over it.

The singular standout awesome factor of all the Mad Max movies are the insane stuntmen and insane practical effects. I always told myself "they will never make another decent Mad Max in today's Jar Jar Binks do everything with CGI world"... will I be wrong? I hope so.

[Mr March]

Miller's Mad Max films are classics of Australian cinema, but I can't really see a sequel working all that well. The third film was awful and really, Mel Gibson is too far removed from the character at this point. There is also such a thing as too much of a good thing

I'd love to see another decent post-apocalyptic film that actually works like the Mad Max films, but I think the Max franchise is pretty much done.

[reddsun1]

Espically considering a name like Fury Road would mean cars, cars and cars and by the third movie he's using a wagon and camels.....I forgot if he lost his sports car on the second movie or if over the years it just trashes out.

Ah yes, one of the most tragic scenes--for a car guy--in the whole series: when Max has the big crack up down into the ravine, then the fiery death of the Interceptor. Still hurts me a little just to watch that scene. But at least it was a "stunt double" that gets blown up in the film. The real car still resides in a museum in England. Don't believe the hype! There was only ONE Interceptor! There were no "17 cars" used! And NO it didn't have no fu--in blown Pontiac motor! or any of that other sh-- that people like to speculate, guess and otherwise spew out of their arses about that movie/car. And to think: before there was Eleanor, there was the Interceptor; this car has spawned an entire underground car-customizing cottage industry. And on a whole other continent.

Some have posted that they'd like to see more of the "MFP era" to the story told. Well I for one sure as s--t hope they don't try to get all Bruckheimer-ized with the production and go with fake-ass Jar Jar Binks do everything with CGI [as JsARCLIGHT so succinctly put it] effects, or destroy-25-duplicate-cars-12-stage-crash-em-up-pointless-destructo stunt sequences. They did much better and told the story much more creatively with a small budget production; the original film cost only $200K to make, IIRC. That, plus those Falcons and Monaros are getting damned hard to find. Much rarer than say, a Mustang or Camaro here in the US.

[the white drew carey]

Ditto that. CGI=Death.

The real-life stunts are what added such kick ass to the Mad Max films that tripe like Gone in 60 Seconds and 2 Fast are sorely lacking. That was one of the few good things about the recent Dukes of Hazzard movie, all real stunts, and the only computer stuff was superimposing the actors faces into the cars.

[myk]

I was under the impression that Sean William Scott was trained to do quite a bit of the driving himself; not that loooooooong drift though, they had that champion rally driver Rhys do that...

[KingNor]

the only computer stuff was superimposing the actors faces into the cars.

366042[/snapback]

aw really? i thought it was sort of a dukes trademark to see some grizzled stuntman (sometims with a mustach!) driving in the stunt scenes?? maybe i'm thinking of a diffrent show.

I've been trying to think of what possible story they could tell involving max. I'm worried they'll go "big" this time..

when you think about it, for all max's awesomeness, he's kinda a small timer as far as his adventures go.

he beats down some random bike gang terrorizing some crappy desolate roads in the outback..

saves a random group of people in a oil pumping facility

rescues some kids and a midget from a methane town (and beats up a retarded boy).

if they make a 4th movie, i'm REALLY scared that max'll be come a super hero, instead of the underdogs hero. he'll end up resurecting order in all of post pocsaclips austrailia and set EVERYTHING right.

that would be too much for max.

I guess you could have another story of him happening along some people who need help, and he'd have to decide if they're worth it or not, but it would be odd for him to be soooo much older at this poing. and it would feel very rehash

[Graham]

As Gibson is getting a bit old for action movies and as somebody already mentioned, a bit off his rocker recently, perhaps it's time for somebody else to fill his shoes as Max.

Hey, I know, let's make the 4th movie a comedy buddy movie starring Adam Sandler and Chis Rock......heh, heh, heh.

And yes I was joking in case anybody actually thinks that was a serious suggestion.

Graham

[yellowlightman]

As Gibson is getting a bit old for action movies and as somebody already mentioned, a bit off his rocker recently, perhaps it's time for somebody else to fill his shoes as Max.

366154[/snapback]

Collin Farrell would be perfect.

[Duke Togo]

There is only one Max.

[Graham]

Collin Farrell would be perfect.

366168[/snapback]

Arghhhhh.......NOooooooooo!

Colin Farrell is the new Ben Affleck as far as I'm concerned and should be banned from making movies.

Graham

[Guest Bromgrev]

As Gibson is getting a bit old for action movies and as somebody already mentioned, a bit off his rocker recently, perhaps it's time for somebody else to fill his shoes as Max.

366154[/snapback]

That might work in his favour. I can see him now ... old, grizzled, his brain fried by too much radiation - but still in good health due to the balanced nutrients in every can of Pedigree Chums! *

if they make a 4th movie, i'm REALLY scared that max'll be come a super hero, instead of the underdogs hero.  he'll end up resurecting order in all of post pocsaclips austrailia and set EVERYTHING right.

366149[/snapback]

I'm worried that it'll turn into post-apocalypse America. Then he'll find some long-lost alien cylinder buried for millennia just under the white house lawn, figure out the manual, and use it to restore the environment to pre-industrial conditions.

*EDIT: That's a brand of dogfood, by the way.

Edited February 3, 2006 by Bromgrev

[Cyclone]

I have no hopes of this actually appearing, let alone being any good, and for me the last shot of Max at the end of Mad Max 2 was the peak of the series.

On the matter of cars, they'd probably just build fibreglass shells if they really wanted to recreate the Interceptor with a modern movie budget.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

What I would like to see is a robin hood style story of a guy who is in one of the gangs and becomes a kind of do-gooder protecting who he thinks are his family and believes that he is only the way he is because the gangs are what are needed to survive in this world. The weak and poor perish and fed upon by others like packs of wolves so it is only right that he be the way he is. He is a symptom of the world that is imperfect. His need to steal becomes his only means to survive. (a bit like the chic in Cowboy bebop)

Then max like a father figure comes along to set him straight. And tries to get him away from it. Of course the twist would be the MFP although corrupt from within, try to set up the gangs to fight against each other in a massive gang war to kill them all off in one clean sweep. The reminaing survivors are then killed off by the police and peace is restored.. Or is it? (the kid goes anakin skywalker and see the dark side of abuse of authority. Many of the people within are sadistic and enjoy seeing others suffer. Despite having a badge they are cruel and inhumane.)

This is where we see a series of revenge kills by remnants of the gangs and this time the innocent join up with the gangs who are minorities (formerly peaceful people) on thier side. Reasons being they had thier sons killed by the MFP and believe the cops were too harsh on thier kid. Due to a shortage of good drivers, Max is then used to hunt down the gangs involved and ends up killing lots of innocent people. Max goes crazy again realising the system has failed, and defects again, wandering the world alone, but this time knowing he was used to kill the innocent rather than just failed to protect them like in Mad Max 1. The bad guys and good guys is not so clear cut. end of the first half of the movie.

This time however it is learnt that the person behind all the revenge kills was that kid who was angry at having his best friends killed by the MFP in the beginning of the movie. The kid pretends to be in need of help to lure max into a trap, and we see a violent stand off between the kid trying to outdo max in driving skill, and max who is aging and lost some of his old skills. Max ends up beating him of course and gives him an Obi-wan-like lecture before giving him a mercy killing. (it was in self defence as the kid had a concealed weapon) Before he dies, the kid confesses he wanted to be just like Max and outdo him, so he could then help others using his influence and skills. Killing the cops was never about revenge for his friends, but to test the MFP so they wouldn't get complacent and let the world slide into chaos like before when they were easily overpowered. (as in the first movie where all the bad guys were protected by thier lawyers and able to get off easily, thus leaving innocents to suffer due to the witnesses being too scared to show up) The kid reasons that killing enough of them might make them wake up to the reality of the gang violence still out there and the young people like himself who were still being recruited by these very gangs to work for them with no other option to go. The kid tells him after I heard you, "Max Rockatansky" were back with the MFP again, I realised there were still good people amongst the bad just as he had innocent good people who ended up in bad gangs. Max reflects on this and realises they are not that much different, protecting people they personally care about but going about it differently.

The end. Max learns a lesson in how important it is to protect people from the unjust on both sides (corrupt mfp and the gangs) and then leaves that town. Not a hero this time. Whether he wears the badge or not, does not matter. He reverts back to his old ways as a mercenary rather than hero like in mad max III.

I always thought the first movie painted him as kind of cruel but max was still young then and lost his family so it was an emotional response at seeing his friend die in the fire and his family run over which turned him into a heartless zombie. The older max should be more akin to his old self before he went crazy, ("the family man" max) and similar to the character he plays in the patriot. (less of a selfish prick and more humane)

Given his age, I would hate to just see him act like the person he was in the first movie. He should have progressed from that stage by now and be too tired to care about getting petty revenge or just to gain oil. I think if mel is going to be in it, let his old age, his injuries, and scars be part of the character of an aged max than to pass the role off to a new face. But because he is old, put him back into a car. This is the horse the lone cowboy rides into town into. Take away the wheels and there is just less of an adventure for max to get into on his journeys. The truck in Road Warrior to me is akin to a horse and carriage and the gangs = the bandits trying to loot travellers with no protection for themselves and whose only defence is to run as fast as they can to escape. So everything in this should be chase scenes and crashes. Not wandering on foot. And it has to be an action movie.

I just saw MM1 again and the story really plods along and moves so slow for a mass audience to really get into. Bring in the drama, action, humor (with violence) and a more non-conventional ending than other movies and I will treat this as a serious movie as opposed to as a fan of this TYPE of movie. Max should not be an anti-hero anymore after what he did in the 3rd movie. (he was practically a jesus figure at that point) So the fourth has to take it into a direction beyond what a fan expects. I would like to see him actually feeling a little guilty at the thought of killing this time and regaining his mental health even though he should be aging and going more senile and battered from all the wounds of previous movies. I think this would be a good place to put a "father forgiving the son for his deeds" type angle on the story. Where the person grew up in the poorest slum worked his way to the top and used fear to control those below trying to take control of the gang, and then at some later point (like in god father III) the kid had intentioned to go legit after a certain point in his adult life.

I think the "Fury" part of the title should be more a description of the anger at rival gangs wanting revenge for thier buddies being killed by a different group as opposed to the "crazy" kind of mad where max loses control of himself in the first movie to become the zombie max with nothing to live for. If they just have him wanting revenge again it will just get repetitive.

Edited February 4, 2006 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[reddsun1]

True, the pacing of the first film doesn't follow a "set pattern" or story arc, but then again--life is pretty much like that, isn't it? As far as it being dull? I wouldn't say so. I disagree. I prefer it to the modern, apparently A.D.D. syndrome style of storytelling in movies, where everything's done in a "wham-bam-no-time-for-story-just-get-to-the-next-crash-explosion-gunfight!" sort of way. When you look back at it, MM1 and MM2 each tell a pretty simplistic story, but maybe that's why they worked so well?

Which begs the question: if they do follow through with this Fury Road thing, just where will they try to take the story? Will they follow the K.I.S.S. principle that worked with the first ones, or try to make an epic bubble-gum-for-the-mind-Hollywood-blockbuster?

[Cyclone]

Compare Chunderdome to 1 & 2. Fury Road would be made as a blockbuster.

[Duke Togo]

Talk about a long time coming. Tom Hardy as Max:

[505thAirborne]

Looks cool, so if this film is for real is this actually part 4 or just a reboot of the series? Kinda hard to replace the Original.