#MadMaxFuryRoad – A Tango’s Thoughts review

In 1979, the world first met Mad Max, which later spawned two sequels, the sequentially titled Mad Max 2 Road Warrior in 1981 and the unsequentially titled Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Now, 30 years later we’ve finally have another installment in the ever so awesome franchise. Here are my thoughts on Mad Max Fury Road.

First, I feel I have to say something about the story in the film, or lack thereof, as it were.While there is a deeper story arc to the film, with Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) “kidnapping” the wives of the main antagonist Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), aiming to save them from a life of oppression. While it’s not the most original plot in existence, it does work for what it’s there for. With that said, this story doesn’t really show its face until sometime mid-film and again toward the end, with a lot of action filling in all the gaps in between. And boy, is it action packed! ‘To the brim’ is a definite understatement. Over the top action bonanza pretty much from start to finish, which would seem a bit much for some, but the use of practical effects over CGI turns  this 120 minute action frenzy into an absolute delight!

Now, as for Max himself, well… One could argue that the movie is more about Furiosa as she’s the character that drives the story forward. Sure, he does serve a purpose, being the badass that he is, but the lack of dialogue from the titular character, this movie could just as well be titled Post-Apocalyptic Road Wars or something to that effect, just dropping a nameless male character in the mix. But, it is a Mad Max-film and even if Tom Hardy did a great job with what little he had, he was no Mel Gibson, but that’s just my own issues I think.

George Miller is the man behind the original trilogy and he sits as both writer and director on this installment as well, and that’s something that’s very noticeable. The visuals of the film is all-out Mad Max and the action is even greater than it was in ..Road Warrior, so the combination of a great job from the actors and the genius writing and directing from Miller, this film can stand proud as the recipient of Tango’s ‘Stamp of Approval’. It’s not a ‘Platinum’, but it’s one of the greatest action films of this generation, a beautiful piece of visual entertainment and a definite addition to my To Buy-list.

#Randomness 2015 – series #1

A lot has been going on in the world of geekery, as always, so I thought I’d jot down some thoughts on some random subjects for you, beginning with Tom Hardy leaving Suicide Squad.

Apparently, the scheduling met with some conflict, leading Hardy to drop out, while other sources say that he dropped out because of the script. Whatever the case, I think it’s sad that he’s out, he would’ve made one hell of a Rick Flag! It’s also been reported that they’re eyeing Jake Gyllenhaal as a replacement and, well…. it could work. He has some pretty decent performances on his resumé, but can he do a good Rick Flag? We’ll just have to wait and see… but my guess is, he’ll do at the very least an okay Flag. Not as memorable as Ledger’s Joker or Keaton’s Batman but it’ll still be better than his own Prince of Persia.

Secondly, with The Hobbit-trilogy being concluded, Peter Jackson has spoken out about him wanting to do some smaller projects. Sure, he’s done some major budget-Mastodons over the last decade and one can’t blame him for wanting to go back to his roots. However, should he be given the chance, he admits he’ll be likely tempted to take it. Which could mean, Chris’ willing, that he’d actually be taking on The Silmarillion sometime in the future, and what Tolkien-fan wouldn’t want that? I know I’ll be lining up for tickets! What do you think? If given the chance, do you think Jackson should adapt The Silmarillion? Let me know down below…

Thirdly, I just wanted to drop some thoughts on that whole Sony/Marvel-debacle that’s been going on for some time now. Personally I think that, whoever holds the rights now, every single Marvel-character out there is going to end up in Marvel’s corner sooner or later, that’s just a given. With the incredible success Marvel has had with their shared universe, I think it obvious that they will do whatever they can to assemble all their characters under one roof, whether it’s Spider-man coming home from Sony or the X-Men and Fantastic Four coming home from Fox, they will all be together at some point and we will all be able to see them together in the MCU, if not this one, then the rebooted one in 20-30 years, and I’m willing to bet money on that. Sadly, however, Spider-Man won’t be joining up with the Avengers until Avengers: Infinity Wars at the earliest, but hey… at least we get Civil War, right? Yeah!

What do you readers make of all this? Do you agree with me on Marvel getting back their characters? Do you want to see Jackson adapt The Silmarillion? Or do you perhaps have someone other than Gyllenhaal in mind to replace Hardy in Suicide Squad? Let me know down below. And as always, more goodies coming soon, but until then….

Suicide Squad Official casting confirmed!

Well would you look at that. In the midst of all the holiday bonanza, the official casting for the Batman V. Superman-follow-up movie, Suicide Squad, is announced, and the geek in me can’t seem to stop giggling. 

The casting was reported by The Hollywood Reporter earlier today, and the ensemble is looking pretty damn good, I have to say. Will Smith, Tom Hardy, Cara Delevingne, Jai Courtney, Jared Leto and Margot Robbie has all been signed on the helm the ominously awkward team of (evil?) do-gooders and apart from Jai Courtney, I am a fan of them all. “But who will play who?” you ask… well, let me tell you.

Rick Flagg, the group leader, will be portrayed by none other than Bane himself, Tom Hardy. Some might say that it’ll be a bit confusing, seeing as he already did another DC-character (iconically, one might add), but for an actor to helm two different comic book characters is nothing new. My thoughts on the cast; Awesome!

Captain Boomerang will be portrayed by the (in my opinion) awkard Jai Courtney. Not my first choice, but seeing as Captain Boomerang is far from a favorite character, I don’t really care, it could go either way.

Enchantress will be portrayed by the mysterious but oh so talented Cara Delevingne, which I see as one of the best casting choices of the decade. Nothing at all can go wrong with that one!

Deadshot will be played by, and this was a Big surprise to me, Will Smith. Wow! How did that happen? But who cares, it’ll be sinceriously badass!

And finally, the couple to end all couples, the Insanity-embodied duo of pure and utter chaos, Joker and Harley Quinn will be portrayed by Jared Leto  and Margot Robbie respectively. How hot is that? Harley has yet to be immortalized on the big screen so I’m really excited to see how Robbie will handle it, but the Joker…. well, that’s a different scenario all together. Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger have all brought us spectacular Jokers all in their own rights, but I am more than certain that Leto has the versatility needed to do them all justice.

As I mentioned earlier, I am not a fan of Jai Courtney, but apart from that, I am excited about this ensemble and I can’t wait for Batman V. Superman to be over so I can start getting really excited for the Suicide Squad.

What do you think about these choices? Let me know. And tune in tomorrow for another installment of my 2014 Holiday-a-Thon, keeping the merriment going all through Christmas!

Take care now, bye bye then….