Source: Variety
(Found via HitFix)
Any Mad Max fans out there? Honestly, I watched The Road Warrior (the American-re-titled Mad Max 2), and while I appreciated it as a well-made action movie, it just didn’t do it for me. One of these days, I’ll finally catch the original Mad Max and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and get a more complete opinion of the trilogy. For all you fans, though, you might be happy to know that original director George Miller (who went on to make Babe and Happy Feet. Kind of a 180 from post-apocalyptic, hard-edged, nihilistic action epics, huh?) is gearing up the long-discussed sequel, Mad Max: Fury Road.
The Mad Max films were about the titled loner, an armed drifter in the near future trying to survive in a wasteland Australia (he was actually once a good cop who watched his family get murdered by savages). I’m not too good on the other details, so if anyone else knows more, pipe in in the comments. I liked that iconography, though—the one, leather-clad Man-with-Nothing-to-Lose, fighting for some minuscule bit of order amidst absolute chaos. Gibson was very good in this, and that paved his way to superstardom with the later, somewhat similar role of Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon.
As for this new film, details are a bit scarce. Charlize Theron will be the lead female role, and British actor Tom Hardy (I know him best as Handsome Bob in Rock ‘n’ Rolla) will take on the supercharged futuristic muscle cars. So, is he replacing Mel Gibson as Max? Hard to tell at this point…although I’m guessing not. I think Hardy will be some sort of disciple, the similarly badass character (probably with his own leather jacket and convenient shotgun) who takes over the franchise, just like Shia LaBoeuf, who’s definitely being groomed to take the Indiana Jones mantle. Gibson probably won’t have a major role, but I could see him stopping by to pass on the torch and bid farewell to his star-making character.
I can’t say I’m excited about this, though I’m pretty intrigued. If anything, it makes me want to rewatch The Road Warrior, along with the other Mad Max films, just to see what I think now as opposed to 6 years ago.
What do you guys think? Looking forward to one more trip to hell-on-Earth Australia?
Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
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