On Sunday, I watched Mad Max: Fury Road for the second time. I had previously seen it in the theater while I was visiting Edinburgh in June. My expectations were somewhere between very high and very low; Very high because of all the internet hype, and very low because I found all previous three Mad Max movies incredibly boring. I actually found them so boring that I fell asleep while watching every single one of them. For that reason, I also cannot really say if I think they are anything other than boring. It’s all a bit of blur.

While I was watching Fury Road in the cinema, however, my opinion was still constantly fluctuating between “awesome”, “overrated”, “insanely good”, “too crazy”, etc (and I definitely didn’t fall asleep). This film certainly has not much of a plot, but the little plot it has is pretty awesome. Maybe feeling that this film is overrated comes from the expectation of this film having more of a plot. But actually, when accepting the film for what it is, it is actually insanely good and just really as crazy as it needs to be.

I do enjoy post-apocalyptic stories very much (I even wrote my bachelor’s thesis about them). And as a post-apocalyptic story, Fury Road is absolutely awesome. It’s one of the most daring, desperate and desolate landscapes I have seen in this genre, but one that at the same time is sooo incredibly beautiful. George Miller set a new precedence with this film’s incredible cinematography, as Australia has never been so colorful – oh wait, the film was shot in Namibia. That’s basically my only complaint; the red desert of Australia has gone really pale after the apocalypse. Also, no more kangaroos? But it’s not only the colors that really shine in this film’s cinematography. Also, the shooting technique adds quite a lot to the film:

However, I fear that the next Mad Max might not live up to the hype of Fury Road. Fury Road received a lot of praise for its portrayal of women, and Furiosa was without a doubt the true star of the film. But her story is told, and according to Charlize Theron, she will also not return for the next film – even though I’m pretty sure that’s what fans would like to see. So how exactly are they going to make another film like this, without these great women, but maintaining this theme while keeping fans and feminists pleased?!