Mad Max: Fury Road

press release: Australia, USA | 2015 | DCP | 120 min.

Director: George Miller; Cast: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Hugh Keays-Byrne

Still wandering the scorched earth, Max (now played by Hardy) finds himself captured and turned into a slave to patriarchal post-apocalyptic warlord Immortan Joe (Keays-Byrne). Max’s opportunity to escape comes in the form of one-armed truck driver Imperator Furiosa (Theron), who leads a small platoon of Joe’s former concubines across the desert in search of a new home. Continuing the visionary, action-packed saga 30 years after Beyond Thunderdome, director Miller delivered the most critically lauded movie of his career. Winner of six Academy Awards, Fury Road will be shown in its much-celebrated 3D version.

All Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public.

Mad Max at 40

1979 brought the release of one of the most influential and visionary movies in international film history, George Miller’s futuristic cop-revenge thriller Mad Max. In the U.S., Mad Max was given a slapdash exploitation release and the voices of star Mel Gibson and the Australian cast were dubbed over with American accents. Despite this, the film gathered a cult following in America and around the world, prompting a sequel, the decidedly post-apocalyptic Mad Max 2. The follow-up, retitled The Road Warrior for North America, became a critical smash and a box office success. Along with Gibson’s last entry in the series, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and Miller’s Oscar-winning 2015 reboot, Mad Max: Fury Road, the four movies have been acclaimed for their imaginatively designed dystopias, increasingly elaborate action set-pieces and breathtaking chase sequences, and a sometimes hopeful vision of humanity. This summer, the Cinematheque celebrates the 40th anniversary of Mad Max’s first release with screenings of all four films, including a 3D showing of Fury Road