* Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne | Written by George Miller

The recent blockbuster film, Mad Max: Fury Road has taken over our screens since the 14th of May and is still proving to be one of the most prominent action films since the beginning of the year. Shot in Namibia the film is made up a combination of green screened and visually stunning shots which are meant to portray a very plausible snapshot of life in the future once we, as mankind, “kill the world”. Many people, including myself, have seen this film from an environmentalist’s point of view, seeing it as a wake up call in a way as to what can, and may, happen to the Earth. Ultimately, the locations that were used provide a large and barren expanse of land for the action packed plot to unfold on our screens which makes this film truly reminiscent of the original Mad Max films.

    Despite the high budget production and the high profile cast the plot appeared to be fast paced but with little substance. This was mainly due to lots of high powered scenes, plenty of car chases and fights which ultimately amounted to very little in the way of story and character development in my opinion. The trailer for me encapsulated the of the entirety of the film, the plot was repetitive and on the surface I found it to be successful in the way of being a spectacle film rather than a film with a successful and substantial plot.

    However that being said it’s not bad for promoting the themes and morals that the film encapsulates. Strong themes of feminism, equality, the corruption of capitalism run throughout the film which for me is an important advancement in film-making as opposed to films which implicitly display society as a perfect and functioning system. The film’s message for me was that we need these changes in our current system to avoid this situation in our own planet.

    Moreover this Mad Max film perfectly captured the style of the franchise with an array of excellently designed clothes. This reboot makes use of a recognisable style which will likely be found on sale for any merchandising or such because of how fully it is able to communicate the ‘Mad’ aspect of the film’s fictional society, or lack thereof. 

    The costume of Max himself plays a key role in ensuring that the audience’s imagination is captured and engaged in this dystopia. The character’s moral values displayed a few times during the film which can be interpreted as a comment on our materialistic society and its faults.  All characters together help portray the harsh reality of the world, in particular the way in which the old women in the ‘green’ place dress and cling to their props. Overall the costumes truly help to make the film and immerse us as the audience into the world of the film.

    Looking from a more technical perspective the film’s cinematography features frequent closeups of the characters help to really intensify all the emotions felt by the characters. This is especially important in allowing the plot to be fully communicated to the audience. Especially because the story itself featured a minimal script comprising of very few words.

    Additionally the camerawork truly helped to direct the audience around the film in a seamless stream of editing allowing us to always remain with a specific party of people to present to us the story as it unfolds, regardless of whether it was Max and his allies or the tribes that threaten their lives. On top of the camerawork one of the most iconic micro features found throughout this film was by far the soundtrack. Following the release of the trailer with its tense and exciting track “Fury Road” becoming very popular with listeners on Apple’s iTunes store.

    In conclusion Mad Max: Fury Road is deserving of its status as one of 2015's best selling films and was worthy of its large budget! I whole-heartedly recommend that you go and see it in the cinema or purchase it for home viewing! 

*Starring Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johanson, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen and Chris Hemsworth | Written & Directed by Joss Whedon

//This post contains content that may be seen to be spoilers//

Avengers: Age of Ultron, the newest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe can be considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest film of 2015 so far. With the familiar characters the team of superheroes join forces in order to neutralise the threat presented by the artificially intelligent program Ultron, a character set to give Jarvis a run for his money. With the Ultron Program being “only an idea” for Tony Stark (Robert Downey Junior) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) before they retrieve the sceptre the two characters were on a mission for “peace in our time” that turns out horrifically. The presentation of Ultron whilst without body is a true work of ingenuity, perfectly capturing the fact that Ultron is in fact not tied to any physical being and is just a program, his 'battle' with Jarvis is also well visualised and shown to that audience aiding our understanding of the two as warring computer programs instead of characters themselves.

Ultron's Physical Body

The plot of Marvel’s cinematic masterpiece is filled with fast paced action, impassioned romance and quick-witted humour. These key components work together to evoke an array of emotions in the film’s audience. The narrative of the film opens with an in media res sequence that is shot continuously which provides a seamless link between all of the characters. This increases our understanding of them as a team from the first Avengers film, additionally the journey for peace through violence is an ironic statement only to be repeated by Ultron’s deluded character later in the film. The action sequences throughout the film provide increased tension with Ultron presented as a catalyst for violence, murder and betrayal at each situation for which he is present, the well written combat scenes work with the camera-work in each of them to provide an immersive experience for the audience whilst they are also provided with comic relief from each major action sequence, for example whilst in Wakanda Quicksilver’s attempt to grab hold of Mjolnir caused a ripple of laughter across the audience in the cinema. The final climax’s cinematography is a marvel in itself, the seen is flawlessly constructed moving between all of the heroes as they defend the Vibranium core from Ultron in slow motion with the music truly giving the scene the expected feel of heroism expected from a major Marvel studios blockbuster such as Age Of Ultron.

Furthermore the romance in the film is used to provide an alternate subplot for the audience to follow giving the film depth and realism, despite Natasha Romanoff’s affection for a “big green rage monster”. Their light flirtation, presented in typical film noir bar-counter style, begins at one of Stark’s parties, but by the main climax of the film it is clearly a fully fledged romance with Romanoff’s low-key declaration of her feelings for Banner “I adore you”, a clever use of script writing by Whedon considering her character’s previous statement “love is for children”. However their on-screen relationship is not the typical ‘love-interest-in-an-action-film’ cliche, this pretense is broken during an emotionally charged sequence between the two when Romanoff recalls her time in the red room where she “was trained- where [she] was raised” and describes to Banner the graduation ceremony she had to undergo whilst Banner makes it implicitly clear that he too is infertile. The two characters’ tragic backstories provide them both with a bond of mutual understanding which gives their relationship substance, a sub-plot that is definitely required in the film in order to give it the depth that many felt that the 2012 Avengers film was lacking.

Throughout the film the threat of Ultron’s actions are aided by Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, “two of Strucker’s brightest pupils” who come to our screens as the two ‘enhanced’ humans: Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. The addition of Scarlet Witch allows the audience to see the development of a true hero from the beginning of the film to the end, this provides the audience with a great deal of empathy for her character, her situation and also admiration for what she has overcome during the course of the film all of which comes to a crescendo by the film’s end. Her true change of heart takes place in the midst of the action at one the most intense moments, but her dialogue with Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) provides comic relief for the pre-climax of the film. These two characters are key to the film and provide a fresh lease of life to the team from Avengers: Assemble (2012). Despite the change of casting from X-Men: Days Of Future Past the portrayal is not at all a hinderance for the audience’s experience of the film with Aaron Taylor-Johnson providing a high bar for Evan Peters to meet if his character is to appear in any future X-Men films.

Taylor-Johnson (Left)
Peters (Right)

*Starring Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart | Directed by Etan Cohen

The film, Get Hard, employs witty dialogue, good cinematography and an array of stock characters that are built up and given depth from 21st century racial stereotypes in a manner that, in some ways, exposes the ignorance of those who treat stereotypes as being the absolute truth.

An engaging start to the film is produced through the use of prolepsis of the non-linear narrative, showing James King (Will Ferrell) crying in an excessive manner following his sentence to prison. This style of narrative promotes key questions (Why?, When?, Where?, How? and Who?) about the character and his situation which immerses the audience into the plot, an effect that may not have been as easily achieved if the film was edited into a chronological order. Furthermore the use of timestamps that overlay the film are not obtrusive and are designed to fit seamlessly with the mood of the film as well as in a way that allows the audience to remain informed with our position in time relative to the film and also not lose focus on the plot itself. 

The two actors, Ferrell and Hart, produced a believable pair of protagonists each playing to the other's strengths and weaknesses giving a strong cast to the film, the pair created characters that seemed already pre-established in the film world giving a convincing performance. King's genuine ignorance and Darnell's (Hart's) false confidence and bravado allow the viewer to experience comic relief aside from the main plot of betrayal and crime which could have negative consequences for both characters. 

Finally the ending, despite being cliché, is filled with amusing fights and character development that truly lives up to the Greek's visions of comedy as "following the rise of a sympathetic hero". The twist in the tale and the comic relief following the film's denouement combined with the film's plot that never fails to amuse audiences definitely has produced a film that is highly recommendable to any comedy-action film fan.