You keep digging there. You’re doing great!
So… aside from that. The number of reviews at RT has about doubled since that initial mention, and this is still at only one negative review; moreover, while a lot of movies that get high % are buoyed by a wide acclaim that it ‘might not be great but it’s definitely good’, all sorts of reviewers I normally agree with are calling this the defining action movie of the decade.
I thought this was going to be terrible… all indications were that it was going to be terrible. I am so confused (but excited!) right now.
Remember when people used to read links? Sigh.
No, a female lead doesn’t mean that. I read half a dozen reviews that all talked about how feminist it was. And the author of VM was consulted on the film. That’s why I expect it to be a message movie (where the FEMINIST!!!1!!eleven message will overshadow the rest of the story). It may not be, but I’d give it better than 50/50 that it is.
I wasn’t trying to convince you of anything, I was mocking your over-the-top response. (You know, getting your panties in a wad? It’s the wad that’s the important part. You compensating for something?)
I’m glad they had the cajones to keep the ‘R’ rating for a summer blockbuster. Wonder if that will hurt it at the box office?
I assume I’m supposed to be offended, but I’m mostly just baffled.
I’m glad too. It was never going to be an Avengers-level box office or family movie. I don’t think it will hurt it much. Making it PG13 would have cut some viewers on the other side who don’t want something watered down.
The usual suspects are calling for a boycott.
Personally, I’d reserve judgment until after actually watching the thing. Reviews are never good sources.
What were these indications?
I’d like to know too. For me, all indications from when I first heard about it months ago were that it was going to be awesome. George Miller? Check! Tom Hardy? Check! Charlize Theron? Check! Holy fuck, I am so there! What do you mean it doesn’t come out until May of 2015??? Daaaaamn!
That’s hilarious!
If a woman does anything in an action movie besides fuck, suck, cook and pop out babies it’s going to be a message movie? What’s the message? “Hey look at this shit, willya?! This movie is showing that women can, like, do other stuff! Like, you know, DRIVE, and stuff like that! That’s a bad influence on our kids! We’re trying to raise PROPER sexist pig men and know-their-place women!”
Fucking eels! I had no idea they were feminists.
And I’m really into SJW-ing. Whatever that is.
A sequel to a long-dormant series, where the last entry was pretty bad, and where the director/writer hasn’t done anything particularly good for over 30 years*? An action movie reboot that no one was really asking for that touches a couple of currently-popular genres, in an early/pre-summer release slot? That trailer? It’s not like this never goes well, but the range of likely outcomes is weighted to the negative.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m quite happy with this. I see what most people would call a ton of movies - in other words, probably a quarter or third of what Equipoise sees in a given year - and I’m always happy when there are more good films to see.
*Notwithstanding those who celebrate Babe: Pig in the City as the misunderstood masterpiece of modern cinema.
No one ever suspects the eels.
Social Justice Warrior-ing. An insult for those who believe social justice is a bad thing.
I have no problem with the movie having a feminist spin (if it does). That’s fine. I do have a problem with deceptive advertising. Advertising this as a MAD MAX (!!) movie and then relegating that character to a supporting role (which I understand to be the case) is pretty underhanded.
American culture? How the fuck is anything about this franchise American?
As long as the message is wrapped in a good, long, violent, post-apocalyptic car chase; the message can be “Look at what a total bastard scabpicker is! Get HIM!”, I’ll still be able to take what I want from it.
And really, after the first movie, Max is just a character or agent that’s moving through other people’s stories.
I haven’t seen the movie yet so I’m basing this simply on reviews (same as you), but I think you might be taking the “Mad Max is only a supporting character” too far. What I’ve seen suggests not that he’s a bit player, but that Furiosa is just as ass-kicking as Max. Even the Slate review, which plays up the feminist angle more than many, describes it more in the context that Max isn’t the only one who can rescue the damsels in distress.
I can see how some might read that as “Max is weak and unimportant,” but I read that as “it’s not only about Max, men aren’t the only ones who can kick ass, and women aren’t the only ones who need assistance.”
And really, from the first installment, Mad Max has been about the cars and chases, and nothing I’ve seen in any reviews suggests those parts get short shrift. The Slate reviewer didn’t love the non-stop action but certainly appreciated it for what it was. It sounds like if this is “message movie,” the main message is that it’s cool to blow shit up.
The problem is that at least some people who pay their hard-earned money to see a MAD MAX!!! movie are going to have a reasonable expectation that Mad Max is the hero of the movie.
If the movie is really FURIOSA!!! (with Mad Max) then be honest enough to advertise it that way.
I don’t understand the rolling rock-concert rigs in the middle of this chase. At 1:46 there is a guy with a guitar standing on top of a truck with a stack of speakers like he’s at burning man.
Look at the cast on IMDB. Charlize Theron, Rose Huntington-Whitely, and Zoe Kravitz. All three seem like they would appeal to men, they appeal to me. 
Keep your troops motivated and -heh- driven with music… been done for thousands of years.
You might be looking too deeply for meaning. A review mentions “…a fleet of vehicles so freakishly elaborate that one of them includes an electric guitarist suspended from its front as a living hood ornament, shredding away as the dusty miles fly by.” Your comparison to Burning Man is apt. The characters trick out their vehicles for the same reasons that Burners do.