If you told me at the start of 2015 that a long-gestating reboot of a sci-fi franchise that first revolutionised cinema in the late seventies and became a cult staple in the decades that followed would emerge as the year's best blockbuster, I certainly wouldn't have picked this one. Mad Max: Fury Road was a revelation, an antithesis to pretty much every common thought in blockbuster cinema. We need young indie directors to helm big budget flicks? CGI is a one track route? Revisionism is the only order of the day? No - just give a genuine talent the financial freedom to be creative and they'll turn in something incredibly special. Much has been made of the film's streamlined narrative - go from A to B, find out B isn't what it once was, go back to A - but what the praise so often misses is that Fury Road isn't lacking in character; every player in the story - even the much-sidelined titular hero - and the world of the wasteland, from the totalitarian Citadel to the gangs that populate the surrounding sands is explored and developed through the action. It's not all explained explicitly or in detail (just take those marshland stilt-walkers), but the sheer level of detail make it's clear there's a purpose to everything on screen. That's what it really takes to make an action movie for the ages - love and care. Read the full review here.
