Mad Max: Fury Road

A massive vehicle outfitted with speakers and horns barrels through a desert as a performer in red plays a flame-throwing guitar strapped to its front. Behind it, a convoy of weaponized cars and motorcycles kicks up dust under a blazing sky, evoking a cha

The world of Mad Max is a post-apocalyptic hell-scape of never-ending desert. The series’ titular character, Max Rockatansky (here Tom Hardy replaces series mainstay Mel Gibson) makes a high-speed escape from the Citadel, a heavily guarded oasis where the warlord Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) hoards water to leverage the control of guns, cars, and oil. In his efforts to flee, Max makes an unlikely alliance with one of Immortan Joe’s lieutenants, Furiosa (Charlize Theron), and the “war boy” Nux (Nicholas Hoult).


Fury Road’s wasteland is more dilapidated, deserted, and disturbed than earlier entries in the Mad Max saga. Amidst ecological collapse, water is a luxury and the bodies of human servants are used as sites of resource extraction. The true obstacle for the Citadel escapees, however, is confronting the memory of a lost world. In order to face reality and challenge the monopolization of the wasteland’s resources, Furiosa must overcome the arresting power of nostalgia through her remembrance of the “green place.”


Part of our "Human Resources" series. Courtesy of Warner Bros. and Swank Motion Pictures.

Top