03 MAD MAX: FURY ROAD 2015

ROAD WARRIOR PUTS PEDAL TO METAL…

EXPECTATION Not high. George Miller’s only two movies of the 21st Century were Happy Feet and Happy Feet 2.

OMG Thirty years after Miller had gone Beyond Thunderdome, here he went beyond anything we’d seen in action cinema, stripping the narrative to its chassis and revving up the vehicular mayhem in a series of sustained set-pieces. And while a terse Tom Hardy couldn’t quite match Mel’s madness, Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa took the wheel with spectacular aplomb.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT Six Oscar wins from 10 nominations, $375m at the box office… and a legal wrangle that stopped Miller from making a fifth Mad Max movie despite huge demand. But now he’s finally announced plans to make a Furiosa prequel starring an actress in her twenties.

“Oh, what a day… what a lovely day!”

Miller and editor Margaret Sixel sculpted a two-hour movie from 470 hours of footage.

THE WACHOWSKIS REVOLUTIONISE SCIENCE FICTION

EXPECTATION The Wachowskis’ first outing as writer-directors – 1996 neo-noir Bound – showed promise, but Keanu Reeves’ previous foray into futuristic sci-fi gave us, erm, Johnny Mnemonic.

OMG From the blistering opening – which saw Carrie-Anne Moss’ Trinity ruthlessly roughing up a gaggle of armed cops – to the mind-blowing finale, The Matrix was an ambitious breath of fresh air in an otherwise underwhelming silly season (one that included long-awaited Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace). Following “chosen one” Neo (Reeves) as he leads the human race to rise up against its AI oppressors, this exhilarating slice of cinematic dystopia fused high-concept storytelling with elevated action and groundbreaking visual effects to astonishing effect. The result was a movie that paved the way for a brave new world of sci-fi filmmaking. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT From ‘Bullet Time’ homages to red/blue pill metaphors, The Matrix was a pop-culture phenomenon and cemented Reeves’ status as a bone fide Hollywood action hero. Its 2003 sequels Reloaded and Revolutions failed to live up to the hype, but that hasn’t dampened excitement for the upcoming fourth instalment.

“I know kung-fu.”

Over half of Reeves’ lines in the film – 56 per cent – are a question (he asks 94 in total, including one rhetorical).