Mad Max: Fury Road

is by far the craziest, most full-tilt-boogie action film in ages.  With a consistent--and insane--vision that informs every shot, from the broadest sweeping takes on his weird future to the most intimate close-ups, filmmaker George Miller has created a compelling velocity exercise that you can't stop watching.  It's no wonder that its Rotten Tomatoes ratings sit at 98% critics and 93% audience as of this writing.

The real star of this movie is neither Tom Hardy nor Charlize Theron; it's Miller, with his incredibule pacing and his consistent--and consistently disturbing--post-apocalyptic future.  That said, Hardy and Theron do fine with their roles, though most of what Hardy does amounts to looking intense and grunting.  Theron delivers a more interesting performance and is always in character.  Nicholas Hoult, portraying one of the rough boys of the big bad guy, steals almost every scene he's in.

None of this is to say that this latest Mad Max is a film without flaw; it has many.  It just drives right through them, intent on sustaining its speed no matter what.

If you want two hours of non-stop, bat-shit-crazy action, Mad Max:  Fury Road is the film for you.