Mad Max: Fury Road

Balls to the wall and brutal.

So a little disclaimer, first and foremost I'm going to try and not spoil anything that isn't already known about the film, there isn't too much of a plot here but enough to segregate it from some of the more soulless action movies.
Secondly I have never seen any of the previous Mel Gibson movies so if I give an opinion or speculate something about the titular character or universe then I'm probably going to be wrong, don't take it to heart.

In a post apocalyptic Australian wasteland (nuclear weapons are bad) we're quickly introduced to Max Rockatansky (Hardy), a disheveled and shifty survivor living day to day on the run from the personal army of a cult leader known as Immortan Joe (Keays-Byrne.) Though Max is healthy it appears not everybody has been so lucky and 'the dead' live half lives and capture healthy people to use as personal blood bags, an eerie opening chase scene put mildly in fast forward sets the pace for the return of the road warrior, this isn't your grandaddy's action movie.

Max inadvertently finds himself in the middle of Imperator Furiosa's (Theron, and yes they all have silly names) plot to smuggle five of Immortan Joe's breeder wives out to somewhere known as the 'Green Place.' It's assumed by a scene where Joe opens up a waterfall to the parched masses that the land is sustainable but they keep the water from the people most of the time as to not make them greedy. Yeah he's a dick. There's not too much left to write about the plot other than Joe and his war parties travel across the Aussie wasteland to bring back the wives and to kill Furiosa.

Fury Road's main selling point is it's spectacle, an early scene in which Max is strapped to the front of a modded car to be used as a blood bag by the fanatic Nux (Hoult) sets the tone. Into the heart of a desert storm it's hard to make things out until bolts of lightning hits and bodies rain from the sky. Joe's followers could best be described as zealot's, eagerly sacrificing their own lives after screaming at their associates to 'witness' them, they then proceed to spray their faces with a chrome aerosol and leap in front of/onto/turn themselves into fireballs to kill our protagonists. It's savage and you can't help but love the barbarity of it. Plus seeing one guy playing a flame-throwing guitar on a giant tank made from amplifiers and drums is so dumb it's ingenious. It revels in it's own madness.

I mentioned earlier I know little of the Mad Max lore but I did find out that Mel Gibson had only around fifteen lines in the first movie, so it only fits that Hardy's portrayal is also laggard when it comes to his dialogue. Unfortunately and not to take anything away from Hardy, but it does tend to put Max on the back seat (pun intended) in his own movie. The characters that really shine in this pumped up testosterone laden thrill ride are the ladies.

Don't let anybody tell you a woman couldn't lead an action movie. Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor are already proof enough but Furiosa sets the bar in not to be f-ed with. From her superior driving skills to going toe to toe with Max in a fist fight (did we mention she only has one arm?) she delivers far more than she takes and ended a certain character in a particularly bloody and bad ass way. It takes a lot for a film to leave your jaw hanging (people who've already seen will know what I mean) but Mad Max proves that you can teach old dogs new tricks.

I'll avoid the white knuckle power hour cliché but Fury Road is a definite cinema viewing and feels like a humongous punch to the gut that you enjoy. Confused? The film will have you feeling the same way.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Super powered mutants, evil robots, time travel and a whole lot of flares and sideburns going on you wouldn't expect Bryan Singers newest X-Men outing to be anything but groovy, I just wish that was the case.

The latest in one of the longest running comic book movie series going, Days Of Future Past shows our favourite team of exceptional youngsters not so fresh faced anymore. Initially beginning in a dystopian future where mutants and the majority of mankind are all but extinct, no thanks to Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinkalage-Game Of Thrones) an anti-mutant military scientist who created the Sentinel Program, giant morphing robots that seek out mutants to purge them from the earth. Singer begins the film with imagery reminiscent of a concentration camp, bodies being strewn around by machines and the disheveled living wandering through cages. This is where old Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and old Magneto (Sir Ian McKellen) hatch a plan to send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back in time to stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing Trask and changing the future they reside in. It's a lot to take in this soon into the movie but just go with it, there's so much else that will aggravate you if you think too hard about it and the plot almost pleads with you just to enjoy the ride.

Wolverine must now bring together a haggard and somehow walking Young Xavier (James McAvoy) now powerless after Beast gives him a serum he can take that takes away his powers but lets him walk again. Apparently injections can heal a broken spine, it's pretty dumb. Also having to find the other side of the morality coin is an imprisoned young Magneto (Michael Fassbender) serving life sentences for the apparent murder of President John. F. Kennedy one of the films highlights stems from his rescue with the aide of the super speedy Quiksilver, It's very reminiscent of the opening scene to X2 but somehow the schoolboy style humor he brings keeps it well in your mind after the credits roll.

As much as the internet seems to be loving Jennifer Lawrence at the minute and her characters development from happy go lucky shy girl to conflicted revolutionary is second only to Xavier's transformation into the wise teacher he'll become, she seems to get an abnormal amount of screen time as apposed to some others who could have desperately used it. For instance Trask's motivation for wanting all the mutants isn't that compelling and he's nothing more than a face for the films villains. As much as I hate the casting of Halle Berry as Storm it wouldn't have hurt to see more of what the future mutants could do, Iceman uses his classic ice slide for a moment and fan favourite Blink fights using portals which I left thinking she had one of the more visually stunning powers.

The film flogs a lot of what you've seen before however, Mystiques eyes glowing yellow while she's transformed and the obligatory Wolverine popping the bullets out of his chest/slow unsheathing of the claws, at times it feels like ideas were running thin in the creative department and even some new things they tried are a little forced (Beast can apparently Hulk out now) Everything aside however the performances are usually convincing, McAvoy and Fassbender outdo their elders and seeing the younger versions of characters you're used to be so flawed and full of youthful rage is a refreshing change of pace.

In it's own right the film is perfectly adequate, an oft confusing plot but full of great dialogue and high octane action pieces will keep you hooked, despite this if you're a fan of the series the contradictions to the other films and lazy wink to the audience will leave you feeling deflated.