Mad Max: Fury Road

By: Robert Murphy

The post apocalyptic genre is a place many film makers have tried to go to and that is for one simple reason, Mad Max. Some thirty odd years ago the first of the three films came out and set the standard for this type of film with its desolate and society crumbling idea for the future of the human race. We would all basically become animals trying to make our way through desolate and grungy looking scenes and I loved that. Now, George Miller returns after three decades to the wastes and the character he started all those years ago but he receives a new face with Tom Hardy. This isn’t a bad thing as Tom fits the strong and silent Max character well as he now faces a new sort of danger than the one he had before. Desperately trying to forget the mistakes of his past, Max is traveling from place to place hoping to escape the ghosts that now haunt him but it seems the world just can’t leave him alone. 

Max is no longer a warrior who travels from place to place trying to scrounge up whatever fuel he can scavenge, no now his character really wants nothing to do with the outside world. Running away from the past is his main concern at this point as people and faces haunt the stoic Max to this day, all the people he couldn’t save and the ones that couldn’t survive this harsh new world. He has frankly gone just as mad as the rest of the world around him. The rest of the remaining human race are still ragged and tattered but now they no longer run around looking for power or fuel rather they come to the new found source of all power, Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne, a former bad guy in the first Mad Max film). Joe has created an empire out of the wasteland that currently remains of the world by controlling one of the few remaining sources of dependable water. He controls those underneath him and the men that fight for him by supplying them shelter and promises of immortality. His army of pasty skinned soldiers all believe that they will die and be reborn again in Valhalla by following his commands and doing his bidding. They all attack with no fear of what will happen if they die as it appears Immortan Joe knows just how to control the feeble minded masses.

What causes all the trouble for the story though comes when Joe's second in command steals a very precious commodity of his.  Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) leaves on the scheduled trip to secure fuel for Immortan Joe's machines but she secretly has her own plans and has made away with all of Joe's beautiful wives. She is honestly just as much a main character as Max though as she is both intricate to the plot but she also supplies some of the hard hitting action as well. The one armed Furiosa commands a mighty rig that only she knows how to drive, she is able to hold her own and take a hit like no other woman and she has plenty of skills with guns, knives and fists. She hopes to free the former enslaved wives of Joe and take them to her former home which is now run by a few remaining biker grannies who really know how to put up a fight on their own too. Once Joe finds out about all of this, that's when things really kick off.

Almost immediately the somewhat decrepit Joe sends out every available War Boy and heavy hitting vehicles to retrieve his stolen property. This leads to some of the most spectacular CGI stunts and massive car chase that I have ever seen. The makeshift vehicles in Joe's command vary from supped up mustangs to giant war rigs and even a traveling bard car complete with massive speakers and a flame wielding guitar player on bungee wires. If you think that was a mouthful to read wait until you see just how crazy it is on screen. All the vehicles are decked out to the maximum with all sorts of weaponry like flamethrowers and machines gun. You then have the crazed War Boys swinging from car to car by paper thin poles as well and it truly is quite a sight to behold. It's this madness, the crescendo of the music and the vibration coming off of the cars and explosions that will have your eyes glued to the screen. It has been awhile since I was on the edge of my seat for an action movie such as this an I guess it took the return of George Miller and his Mad Max to do it.

 This also happens to be where Max comes back into the picture after being initially captured in the first few scenes of the movie. A bright eyed and thoroughly brain washed War Boy by the name of Nux (Nicholas Hoult) is using Max as a sort of blood donor after being previously injured. He comes into play later after questioning Immortan Joe and all he has stood for. In the meantime Max has sort of felt like a back seat driver for most of the movie and that works out in all honesty because his story is more of a quiet one this time around and he wants to go unnoticed. This still doesn't stop him from tearing through the never ending onslaught of Joe's men and being an all around solid character, perhaps one of my favorite scenes is when he mysteriously walks off from the rig and you hear some brief explosions in the background. Max returns a bit bloodied with an full arsenal of weapons around his shoulders and only utters at most one word while the flaming wreckage of what occurred laid behind him.

Fury Road excels at creating an absolutely out of this world post apocalyptic action movie. Once the ball starts rolling in the story there is just no stopping it and that is what a great action movie needs to do, it supplies over the top stunts, intriguing characters and doesn't fall into the the slumps of what all normal action movies do today. Out of the wreckage and chaos that ensues throughout this Mad Max sequel, you get a truly beautiful experience.  

Good:

- The sheer amount of insane stunts and action

- Tom Hardy's Max may take a backseat for some of the film but he still hits insanely hard

- The incredible world that is built and presented before you

- Theron and her portrayal of Furiosa 

Bad:

- Keep on scrolling, nothing to see here

Scully Rating: 9.5 out of 10

A Million Ways to Die in the West

By: Robert Murphy

All the old westerns we know and love with big names like John Wayne, always will tell the story of how the west was not a safe or easy place to live because there were dangers around every corner waiting to get you. This is still true for the new Seth MacFarlane comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West but there is a bit of a twist as the story isn't told from a big hero who ain't afraid of nothing, no more of the opposite. Albert Stark (Seth MacFarlane) is the focus of our story and he is by all definitions what you'd call a coward and they aren't looked at to kindly in the old west. Albert's character though seems to be the only logical speaking one half the time as he notices all the dangers around every day life and the ridiculous nature of life in his home town of Old Stump. People die quite frequently around this little town and Albert is the only one who sees just how messed up that is with the combination of outlaws, Indians, disease, wild and vicious animals and so many more things to be afraid of, it makes you wonder why people now think it was so great.

Albert's cowardice in the film almost can be perceived as a defense mechanism to all the insane things going on around him but mostly it's just because he is a coward. This cowardice is what also drives the main story when Albert loses his girlfriend Louise (Amanda Seyfried) to the towns most successful and handsomely mustache business man Foy (Neil Patrick Harris). Due to the fact that Albert has a low self image about himself he feels that he was so lucky to be with Louise that he'll do anything now to get her back and help comes from an unlikely place. A new stranger comes to town named Anna (Charlize Theron) and she comes to the aid of Albert in his time of need but proves to be more of the woman he needs and actually appreciates him. The two even share the realization and the horror of life in the west and how ridiculous it is for them just to survive, they're more like 21st century people living in an 1800 kind of life. It is overall a very interesting sort of take to life in the west to say the least but interesting is about all you're going to say about it.

A Million Ways to Die in the West is one of those movies that had all the funny portions in the commercials for the film and only had a splash of humor for the rest of it. While I was watching it I couldn't help but feel that things were just listing off the dangerous things that happen in the west and trying to make each of them funny like a random cut away in Family Guy. In fact the whole experience probably would have been a lot better if it was animated, it would have been much more enjoyable and made more sense especially during a trippy moment where Albert does some Indian peyote and goes on a weird psychedelic trip.  It's really disappointing considering the terrific supporting cast that surrounds Albert and his quest to impress the blonde idiot that dumped him. Liam Neeson takes on the role of the resident baddy Clinch Leatherwood who in true fashion makes a great bad guy and provides shine to an otherwise dud of a film. Charlize Theron also provides a stellar role as Anna who for some reason likes the sheep herding Albert, she's deadly and more of a man than most people in the west as she can out shoot and out drink most anyone she comes across.  

Albert or rather Seth MacFarlane was really a major fault with the film for me as he really isn't what you would call a wealth of acting experience. He definitely does not aid the lack of substance in the writing by trying to add his brand of comedy to the main role of the film and shouldn't be the one in the spotlight the entire time. I understand that he wanted to try his hand at acting in his own film but that's the thing, it is his own film and that's the reason he is in the spotlight here. I'm not saying it was a conceded decision on his part but it wouldn't be one that any other director would make. Where you see the shining moments as I said before is with the supporting roles of the rest of the cast here. 

In conclusion, Seth MacFarlane should stick to the background and writing of his films and not be the center of attraction unless he's a talking foul mouthed teddy bear. All of A Million Ways to Die in the West's funniest moments were included in the commercials for the film so as you got geared up for a humorous story about the old west you get screwed over. Many of the supporting roles do deserve a tip of the hat, Liam Neeson, Charlize Theron and Neil Patrick Harris all performed top notch in their roles and provide a glimmer in the dust of a bad film. I think I will be sticking with the more serious kind of westerns in the future, it will be a safer bet I think. 

Good:

- Great supporting cast of characters

- The funny bits were still funny even though they were in the commercials 

Bad:

- Seth MacFarlane should probably stick to the background 

- Very weak story that lacked substance

- Really just tried too hard to make itself be funny, trying to pile on joke after joke with little to no substance

Scully Rating: 4.0 out of 10