George Miller isn't necessarily a film director who most people would think of needing to "redeem himself," but have you seen Happy Feet Two? It's bad, guys. Really bad. That questionable flick aside, Miller has had a rather sporadic career in general; he's made good movies, really good movies, bad movies, and really bad movies - all of which span multiple genres with many years in-between. Miller also has a knack for disappearing for long periods of time, leaving people wondering whether he's still active. All that can be forgiven now, though, because we have Mad Max: Fury Road - probably his best film. It's true that nobody - and that means nobody - could have anticipated the movie that Miller and his crew were making out in the deserts of Namibia. Almost everyone who heard that a new Mad Max film was being made wrote it off instantly, declaring it "unnecessary" or a "guaranteed flop." How wrong we all were: with Fury Road, Miller redefined the modern action flick, producing a gritty, raw, physical tour-de-force - free (mostly) from CGI! It's not at all the kind of film you'd expect from a man of 70, and yet Mad Max: Fury Road emerged as something of a late-stage masterpiece. Whatever doubts we had about you and those Happy Feet movies, George, consider yourself forgiven - and then some.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
