Mad Max: Fury Road lives up to its name! The film is full of fury. It is fast, furious and then some. The dialogue in the film probably takes up all of ten pages, but who cares. Nobody goes to a George Miller Mad Max film for witty banter.

Mad Max: Fury Road is a Hitchcockian thriller... well, not exactly. There is a very hot and sexy McGuffin in the film though. For the uninitiated, the McGuffin is what the bad guys are after but is not important in the overall film.

Years after a global catastrophe, Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) travels the wastelands seeking nothing in particular. He is continually haunted by visions of the long-ago death of his child, which sent him on his lonely trek. These visions save Max.

Albert Einstein often thought about whether everyone in the world was mad or if he were the mad man. Max ponders those same thoughts. Max has lost everything except his trusty Police Interceptor. There is nothing in the wilderness for Max except survival.

Interesting questions arise about Max from the opening scene with Max standing alone on a bluff overlooking nothing but sand and opressive heat. Survival is Max's reason for living. But, why bother? Why does he fight so hard to survive? For what is he searching? What is in it for him? Where does the road end?

Before the audience can get settled in their seats, the chase is on! Max is captured by the War Boys and taken to their strong hold. His back is tatooed with information about him: No diseases. O Pos blood type. Universal donor. What has Max gotten himself into now? When the red-hot branding iron comes out, Max lashes out with every ounce of energy he has left.

Max escapes into a labyrinthian nightmare. The corridors are cramped. Max slams through doors not knowing what awaits on the other side. Max's fate is sealed when he realizes the complex is enormous. There is no escape!

Max is not normal. Well, in this bleak landscape, who is? As long as Max lives, an opportunity to escape will present itself and Max will take his chance and wreak havoc and vengeance.

The future is no longer ruled by marauders. Instead, civilization has settled into regions. Each region has its own speciality. A truce is in place between the territories as long as no one crosses into another's turf without permission.

Max has fallen into the realm controlled by Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). Immortan Joe is a dictator who controls a vast underground reserve of fresh water. The other territories must bargain with him for water. Immortan Joe ruthlessly controls his subjects by rationing their water.

Imperator Furiosa (an almost unrecognizable Charlize Theron) upsets the shaky calm by making a daring and desperate run for freedom. Furiosa was captured by Immortan Joe at an early age. She has memories of her childhood and is deperate to get back to The Green Land.

The War Boys head out in hot pursuit and the massive chase begins. One of the War Boys, Nux (Nicholas Hoult) is in need of a tap off of blood. He straps Max to the hood of his car with a chain and a blood line connecting them.

Mad Max: Fury Road is loaded with pardoxes. Furiosa is first attacked by the denizens of Gas City when she encroaches on their land. Immortan Joe attacks the marauders because he wants to keep Furiousa safe but he also wants to stop her at all costs. The resulting chase scene is as crazy as it is spectacular. Allies become foes. Foes become allies. Allegiances change quicker than gear shifts.

Just when things couldn't get any crazier, a massive (massive is an understatement) sand storm erupts. Furiosa drives headlong into the fray hoping the War Rig she drives is heavy enough to not be swept away. Freedom is earned. Freedom is fought for using any tools available.

An absolute, histerically riot of a sequence comes after the sandstorm. Max regains consciousness still chained to Nux. He looks around to find six of the most beautiful women any where on Earth calmly bathing. ("I must be dreaming!" comes to mind.)

Max trusts no one. A fight ensues between Max and Furiosa for a hand gun. Max is hampered in his attack since he is chained to Nux. Nux awakens and joins the struggle. Max fights Furiosa. Nux fights Max. Furiosa fights Max and Nux. The women fight Max and Nux. The fight scene is wonderfully choreographed. Furiousa is about to grab the gun, Max pulls the chain connecting him to Nux thus tripping Furiosa. The fight goes back and forth looking a lot like something out of the Transporter film series.

The back story to Mad Max: Fury Road is just an excuse for Miller to create dazzlingly destructive vehicles, choreograph fantastic stunts and car chases, and unbelievable cinematography. Seeing is believing and Mad Max: Fury Road is fully loaded! CG effects are used for background elements like the sandstorm. The stunts are real. The crashes are real. The explosions and fires are real. The destruction is real. Max isn't the one who is crazy. George Miller is completely nuts... in a good way!

Maruaders on motorcycles use the sand dunes to fly over The War Rig throwing explosive spears. A shot from inside the War Rig's cabin shows Furiosa turning to look out an opening in the roof and shoot the man on the cycle. The motorcycle is right above the rig and then the driver goes flying as the bullet strikes him. One single shot in the film and it is mind blowing in its complexity.

Miller also came up with a rig that features a vertical pole with a man on the end. The pole swings back and forth giving the man several options. He can leap onto the vehicle he is chasing. He can throw grenades or fire bullets at it. He can grab someone off the rig and throw them to their death.

Another hysterical and thrilling sequence comes as the War Rig is purued. To gain more speed and pass the War Rig, one of the chasers climbs onto the hood, sucks gas into his mouth and breathes it directly into to air intake. Nux and then Max climb onto the hood of the War Rig to mimic the other's actions. Complete insanity and wickedly funny!

The preplanning, stunt design, vehicle design, manufacturing, rigging and rehearsals must have been as immense an undertaking as the final shoot. Kudos to any stunt man or woman who escaped certain death or a long stay in intensive care to tell the tale.

The dialogue is spartan yet Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron make the best of their respective roles. More is said by not saying anything. When Max first confronts Furiosa after the sandstorm, Hardy holds a shot gun and waves it back and forth gesturing what he wants Furiosa and the women to do. Later, Furiosa comes the realization that she is going to bleed to death. Her dreams of freedom are gone. Theron's demeanor changes from fatalism to raw determination. If Furiosa is going to die, so be it. But she is going to take Immortan Joe with her, no matter what!

Mad Max: Fury Road is a high-octane summer action film. The film is full of enough testosterone to turn a mouse into a T-Rex! The film is rousing to the nth degree and yet there are plenty of touching and tender scenes. Nux has a change of heart after meeting one of the women. Reaching Valhalla is no longer of primary importance. Nux suddenly has another reason for living, and living free!

The future is a bleak, barren wasteland, until Mad Max arrives. He leaves the world a little bit better. The future is not so barren thanks to Max.

Thanks to George Miller. Never has total devestation and destruction been this much fun!