MICHAEL LOMAX: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ packs furious feminist punch

In a year full of franchise sequels and reboots, “Mad Max: Fury Road” may have just set the bar, even if feminist undertones might drive away its core male audience.

Starring Tom Hardy as the title character and introducing Charlize Theron as one-armed warrior woman Furiosa, the latest installment in director George Miller’s game-changing action series is every bit as innovative and wild as the original “Mad Max” in 1979. But while the first three films, released over 30 years ago, were innovative for their heavy use of practical special effects and gritty thematic material, the reincarnation is polarizing for very different reasons.

At some point in a distant, post-apocalyptic future, water has become a precious resource monopolized by a hyper-masculine society. Led by god-like dictators, these war parties oppress a population unable to fend for itself while terrorizing great expanses of inhospitable desert. In this wasteland, we find Max and Furiosa — the former a man haunted by visions of his dead daughter and the latter a rig driver searching frantically for her homeland.

Furiosa has also recently stolen the five beautiful brides of King Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), rescuing them from a life of sex slavery with promises of a brighter future in the “Green Place.” But King Joe is not easily deceived. He recruits allies from neighboring settlements and leads his entire army in the desperate, explosive pursuit of his wives.

This plot is excellent fodder for an action thriller, but what ultimately comes to define the film are its stylistic decisions and a message that, interestingly enough, can be read by most as very anti-male.

“Fury Road” is unapologetically political. A tyrannical patriarchy dominates the landscape and wages war for the sake of water and gasoline. But lifegiving women eventually overcome their oppressive male counterparts. They restore balance to the world, and Max, unnecessary in this new order, walks away alone into the sunset.

I try never to bring my political beliefs into the evaluation of a movie, but it is hard sometimes. At the very least, the fact that “Fury Road” confronts and criticizes its own male viewers is nothing short of fascinating. The film is, in a way, biting the hand that feeds it, but I somehow doubt anyone really cares.

The men turning out in droves to watch this film probably won’t see this as some grand philosophical indictment. They’ll just see what I’m choosing to see: a high-octane, post-apocalyptic western with incredible aesthetic appeal. The cinematography is gorgeous and the action is beautifully choreographed. And don’t get me started on the editing, which is a frenetic feast of cuts sharp enough to slice through steel.

Sure, the message can be a bit much sometimes, but there’s no denying that this is as slick an action film you’ll find this summer, and definitely the boldest. If we’re keeping count, “Fury Road” has just thrown down the gauntlet. So who’s getting behind the wheel next?

Michael Lomax is a writer-filmmaker currently at work on a film script to be set and shot in Albany.