ITALIANO wrote:I mean, you ("you" in general, not you Oscar Guy) enjoyed the movie for its action and the thrills? Good, I don't have anything against it - like I don't have anything against amusement parks. But please don't say that this is a great movie because this is really embarassing... I'd expect it from my 5-year-old nephew, not from adults.
Are you saying that action films that offer visceral thrills can never, ever be a great film or at least an artistic work of note simply because it aims to thrill and entertain its viewers? I strongly disagree with that.
Mad Max: Fury Road is undeniably an enjoyable thrill ride of a film. It features superb editing, the cinematography is outstanding (did you see the shots during the sandstorm sequence? It's like a freakin' painting!), the acting is great and the special effects and stunts are extremely well-executed. This is CINEMA. This is what CINEMA is. Entertainment that's visually telling a story on film! It goes right back to stuff like
The Great Train Robbery or
Battleship Potemkin or even the elaborate stunts of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. Although this infuses it with modern-day technology, it's really old-fashioned in its very core down to its scant dialogue and deceptively simple plot. This is on top of the themes tackled in it like the oppressiveness of patriarchy, sex slavery, feminism, the brainwashing of child soldiers, as well as environmental awareness. These subject matters have been tackled in more straightforward films that are more to your taste but the fact that they tackled it in a highly stylized action film to make more palatable to more people is something to be admired. That's what placed it over-the-top for me.
I've already made a food comparison at another thread but I'll make it here again. Yes,
Mad Max: Fury Road is ESSENTIALLY an action film. It is not a masterpiece in a way like, say,
La Dolce Vita is a masterpiece or let's say
Celine and Julie Go Boating is a masterpiece. It is not foie gras or caviar.
Mad Max: Fury Road like all action thrill pictures is a hamburger. However, unlike most other hamburgers,
Mad Max: Fury Road is a gourmet hamburger with lots of high-quality ingredients and made with soul and with love. Films that are traditionally thought of to be awards-bait films strive to be foie gras and caviar but even the mediocre ones almost always get to sit at the table. My argument is,
Mad Max: Fury Road is a delicious, well-made quality hamburger and deserves to be at the table alongside the foie gras and caviar and I would definitely prefer it to be showered with awards than a mediocre foie gras and caviar (*coughs
Trumbocoughs*)