Mad Max: Fury Road is the latest Mad Max movie from George Miller. You’d think the series is done, having shown enough, but you’d be wrong. 90-95% of this movie is action thriller, and it pays off.

That being said, it helps if you’ve seen the other MM films, but it’s not entirely necessary. Society has totally broken down and degenerated into chaos. There are towns, whose sole focus is the production of some sort of product. Each trades with the others, but it’s a dangerous operation. Raiders loners exist everywhere. Max (Tom Hardy) is one such loner, captured at the beginning of the film, and is brought to the town run by Immortan Joe, whose commodity is water. He leads his people with promises of reincarnation, and glory through battle. While he’s no Ayatolla of Rock and Rolla, he’s definitely got some form of barbaric psychosis, with a ‘uniform’ to match.

Meanwhile, a trade event is happening. Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), leaves with her truck and trailer on the premise of getting gasoline and ammo from nearby towns. She diverts from that plan and goes her own way. The chase is on. Meanwhile, Max has type O Negative blood, and has been imprisoned in the hospital, plugged into Nux, who’s suffering from an indeterminate illness. All warriors are summoned to chase down Furiosa. Nux is a driver, and lashes Max to the front of his vehicle, and they give chase.

Why is Furiosa running away? Where is she going? I’ll leave that for you to find out. This film is one long chase scene, punctuated by periods of exposition. I really couldn’t understand why they made another Mad Max movie, but then again, it’s been 36 years since the original Mad Max film was released (34 since The Road Warrior). This film offers no insight into the world that was, but honestly, it’s not necessary. The action is frenetic, even sped up at times, but it isn’t rehashing stunts you’ve already seen. It’s an exciting film that hooks you and doesn’t let go. Recommended.

Note: This film has extreme violence.