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'Mad Max: Fury Road' is a jawdropping ode to the road (spoiler-free review)

Actors Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron jam the pedal to the metal in this stunningly painted, sandblasted future of fire and blood.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Expertise Films, TV, Movies, Television, Technology
Richard Trenholm
3 min read

"My name is Max. My world is fire...and blood."

Having seen the gobsmackingly over-the-top trailers, I went into "Mad Max: Fury Road" worrying that it would be review-proof. And it is, in that my review could consist of me pointing at the screen for 2 hours and going, "AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHHHHTHISISAMAAAAAAZZZIIINNNG!"

"Fury Road" jams the pedal to the metal and keeps its foot down for a breakneck 120 minutes of vehicular carnage, a jawdroppingly beautifully painted demolition derby streaked through with humour as dry as the desert in which it's set and hearts as black as the precious "guzzle-ine" that fuels it. Cracked lips and sandblasted faces leer from the ochre nightmare of a world fallen to rust, flame blossoms from speeding war rigs, twisted metal and bodies crash and tumble -- the mayhem is viscerally, exhilaratingly real, making the glossy CGI heroics of " Avengers: Age of Ultron" look like a Saturday morning cartoon.

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