The Fast and Furiosa

» ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ movie review

Joshua Grant
Senior Columnist

OOOO

M“ Max: Fury Road may be

a twist-free, two-hour car
chase—but that’s not all it is.
Director George Miller has seen
to that. Like the otherworldly
Frankenstein’s-monster vehicles
from the film, Fury Road packs an
impressive amount of substance
(most of it explosive) onto a
recognizable chassis.

I'd like to start by discussing
the aesthetic appeal of the film.

I didn’t think that I would ever
call a movie “tasteful” where a
dude chained to the back of a
tricked-out desert truck plays
metal riffs on a double-neck
guitar, but Fury Road is tasteful.
The CGI effects are kept to a
minimum. Asa result, everything
feels real. Everything has weight.
Every single explosion (there

are a few) feels earned. The
post-apocalyptic look is lovingly
detailed and totally consistent.
And the costumes—each leather
harness, asthma mask, and set of
nipple clamps—add to the setting
and the mood.

This is not a typical action
movie, and its titular character,
Max (Tom Hardy), is not a typical
action hero. In fact, he’s not
much of a hero at all. He has
his heroic moments, but mostly

: he serves as a super-competent

: sidekick to the main course:

: Imperator Furiosa (Charlize

: Theron). Furiosa, who’s some

: kind of officer in the army of big
: baddie Immortan Joe, kicks off

: the plot by stealing away Joe’s

: abused wives in the back of a gas
? truck.

Miller’s treatment of Furiosa

: in particular, and the agency

: of women in general, has been
setting the Internet alight since

: the movie came out. Not only

: is Furiosa a one-armed, grease-

: faced fighting machine, she’s

: also executing her plan explicitly:
: against a nasty patriarchy without :|
: the help of any menatall. When :
: Max finally does show up (the

: baddies have been using him

: as a human blood bank), he’s

: somewhat less than welcome. Or
: helpful. But eventually Max and

: Furiosa learn to trust each other
: and become a team.

Further, despite the number

: of women in the film, the

: objectification and sexualization
: of female characters is always

: framed as explicitly problematic
: or outright vile (Immortan Joe

: keeping a harem of “breeders”

: to produce male heirs comes to

: mind). This is a stark break, I

: think, from other filmmakers

: who give great roles to women.

: In the realm of stylized action

: films, Quentin Tarantino might
: come closest, but even he can rely :
: a bit too much on the titillation

a  ————

and objectification of women
: (Exhibit A: those lingering shots
: of women’s feet).

Miller is different, and I

: don’t think he is simply being

: progressive. He’s being tasteful.

: He avoids seduction scenes at the
: expense of the movie’s mood and
: theme. This is awesome, and the
: film deserves praise for pushing

: artistic and social norms that

: seem so entrenched.

Not everybody is happy

: with Fury Road’s women-on-top

approach to action. Predictably,

: some Men’s Rights bloggers have

> crawled out of the dark corners

: of the Internet to express how

: they feel threatened by the new,

: more feminine face of action

: movies. Honestly, it’s hard to

: sympathize. After all, the battle

: is far from won, and there remain
: many options for those who

: feel uncomfortable with non-

: sexualized female agency. For the
: rest of us, a thumbs-down from

: a borderline hate group is just

: another reason to love Mad Max:
: Fury Road.

The movie is a triumph.

: The decision to recast Max

  

Photo by Jasin Boland - © 2012 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

: from sexist/racist/everything-

: ist has-been Mel Gibson to the

: comparatively affable Tom Hardy
: might be emblematic for what’s

: made the film work as a whole.

: Fury Road manages to take the

: best elements from ’80s post-

5; apocalyptica and tweak them

: with new technology, fresh faces,
: and modern social values—

: without making a CGI-bloated,

: pandering mess.

Mad Max: Fury Road is

exciting, visually appealing, and
: probably one of the best action
: movies I’ve seen in my life.

 

Crowded Bookshelf: The mysterious lives of robots

» Isaac Asimov's ‘Robot’ series review

Duncan Fingarson
Contributor

’ma fan of mystery stories. I’ve

read over a hundred of them
by now, and amongst the ones
that stuck best in my mind are
those penned by Isaac Asimov,
featuring Detective Elijah
Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw.
Though they are lesser known
than Asimov’s hugely popular
Foundation series, the Robot
novels are classics of science
fiction in their own right.

Caves of Steel, the first
Baley novel in the Robot series,
introduces the characters of
Baley and Olivaw. Baley is a
New York City police detective
living on Earth thousands of
years in the future where great
steel domes have been built
over the cities and humanity
has expanded outwards into the
stars, resulting in a distinct class
divide between the Spacers and
the planet-bound Earthmen.
Olivaw is a humaniform robot—
the first of his kind—built to
appear as human as possible but

: still constrained by Asimov’s
: Three Laws of Robotics.

Then, of course, there’s a

: murder. The problem is that

: the murdered man is a Spacer

: and the relationship between

: Earth and the Outer Worlds is

: rocky at best. The murder falls

: under Baley’s jurisdiction and

: he gets assigned to investigate

: it, but the Spacers will only

: agree to allow this if Baley takes
> ona partner of their choosing.

: Thus, the robot-hating Baley is
: stuck working with Olivaw. The
: two new partners have a very

: interesting dynamic and the

: evolution of their friendship over
: the course of the series is just

: as fun to follow as the mysteries
: themselves.

As it happens, Baley solves

: the case, and solves it well-

: enough to impress the Spacers,

: which sets the stage for the next

: book, The Naked Sun. In that

: one, Baley is sent to Solaria, one
: of the outer worlds, where there

: has been another murder. Unlike
: Earth, however, Solaria is a world
: with few humans and many

: robots (to the point that having
: two humans in one room isa

: highly uncommon occurrence)

: and the planet has strong :
: cultural taboos against physically :
: standing in the presence of :
: anyone who isn’t a robot. Of

: course, a robot could not have

: been the killer under the First

: Law of Robotics, but here, as in
: his other works, Asimov finds

: inventive ways to bend his Laws
: without actually breaking them.
: The conclusion of the novel

: reveals the extent to which the

: Laws are being bent, and what —:
: that could mean for the future of:
: humanity. It also sets the stage
: for the third novel.

In The Robots of Dawn,

: Baley travels to Aurora, another

: of the Spacer worlds. There, the

: mix between humans and robots
: is balanced, rather than going

: too far one way or the other like

: on Solaria and Earth. There has

: been another murder, but this

> time the victim is a robot and the
: only man with the knowledge to

: shut it down could not possibly

: have done it. This novel is much

longer than the previous two

: and it is here that all the social

: conflicts outlined in the first two
: books come to a head with Baley
: in the middle. It’s also where

: Asimov begins the process of :
: tying the Robot series to his other :
: works, making it an excellent

: jumping-off point to get into his
: other books and short stories.

Asimov was a master of his

: craft, and these stories are some

 

: of my favourites of his work.

: They manage to be smaller

: personal stories than something

: like the Foundation novels as well
: as being broad in their vision of

: the future. If you’ve never read

any of Asimov’s books, start here

: and you wont be disappointed.
: If you’ve read his other books

: but not these, then you’ve been
: missing out. The Robot novels

: are Asimov at his best.