Mad Max: Fury Road (May 2015)

Official Australian release date: 14/5/15. Viewed: 19/5/15.

Director: George Miller

Actors: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne

Genre: Action

Rating: MA

‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ doesn’t – to the best of my recollection – pick up from where the third film ended, which is fine, seeing as ‘Beyond Thunderdome’ came out the year I was born! I don’t recall too many specifics from the original trilogy, other than it was a post-apocalyptic desert (Australian) wasteland and motorcycle and car gangs reigned supreme. ‘Fury Road’ keeps that tradition alive – at its core, it is a road/chase film, and is relentless throughout with everything it does, from the scenery, soundtrack, stunts, cars, violence and explosions.

The over-the-top-ness serves the film well, though – much in the same way ‘300’ was hyper-visualised, this is the same, but instead of heaps of slow-motion, some of it is sped up, keeping the pace of the chase buzzing. It also has the same silly-ness, in that none of it is remotely realistic, but it all works within the universe the film inhabits (except for where all the fuel comes from!). Miller must’ve dreamt up most of the car/truck hybrids when he was a kid – and kudos to him for making them a reality, especially the pole-swinging guys and the main rig – certainly great to watch.

Hardy is satisfactory as Max (there’s not many lines for the brooding hero) and Theron is good as the vengeful Furiosa, trying to protect a group of women from the evil Emperor (or whatever his name is – played by Keays-Byrne, with Billy Connolly hair). Not sure why Hardy had to have a Bane-like face covering for some of the film, after ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ – detracted a bit from the film. Favourite bit – the guitarist on the front of the truck! Loved how the drums and his riffs only came to the fore when the camera panned to them.

Overall: Exciting action/pursuit film. Beware driving after watching – “road rage” is a given!

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

Pitch Perfect 2 (May 2015)

Official Australian release date: 7/5/15. Viewed: 10/5/15.

Director: Elizabeth Banks

Actors: Anna Kendrick, Hailee Steinfeld, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow

Genre: Comedy

Rating: M

‘Pitch Perfect 2’ (rare in the fact that it doesn’t have a sub-title!) is a decent sequel to the surprise 2012 hit comedy about a university a capella group. This film is obviously aimed at females and is going after a younger audience, introducing 18-year-old Emily (Steinfeld) into the mix now – probably to allow a third film in the series. However, these don’t make it a bad film – still plenty of enjoyable moments throughout.

There’s probably less of a focus on the singing this time round, because – let’s face it – a capella isn’t really that exciting and can get old pretty quick. Especially with some of the rival teams – “Das Sound Machine” – and some of the terrible song choices (depending on your point-of-view, obviously). This is usually a good thing, as it gives Amy (Wilson) a chance to drop more quick-witted remarks and have more awkwardness with Bumper (DeVine) and even Becca (Kendrick) has some funny moments with her new boss (Keegan-Michael Key). But the best bits are still between the commentators – Elizabeth Banks (also her first time directing) & John Michael Higgins – plenty of hilarious lines and inappropriate comments.  

It’s a little too long (almost two hours), has a few redundant scenes and is very predictable, but you’re going to get what you expect – lots of laughs, some young-adult-what-does-the-future-hold musing and plenty of extras in a Louisiana field pretending it’s a Danish festival! I wish the original song (‘Flashlight’) wasn’t by Jessie J, but there’s still some decent songs in it.

Overall: Up-tempo feel-good fun.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.