Movie Analysis: “Mad Max: Fury Road” — Plot
This week we launch a new bi-weekly series in which we will be analyzing movies currently in release. Why? To quote the writing mantra I coined over 5 years ago: Watch movies. Read scripts. Write pages. You will note which one comes first. Here are my reflections from that post about the importance of watching movies:
To be a good screenwriter, you need to have a broad exposure to the world of film. Every movie you see is a potential reference point for your writing, everything from story concepts you generate to characters you develop to scenes you construct. Moreover people who work in the movie business constantly reference existing movies when discussing stories you write; it’s a shorthand way of getting across what they mean or envision.
But most importantly, you need to watch movies in order to ‘get’ how movie stories work. If you immerse yourself in the world of film, it’s like a Gestalt experience where you begin to grasp intuitively scene composition, story structure, character functions, dialogue and subtext, transitions and pacing, and so on.
Let me add this: It’s important to see movies as they get released so that you stay on top of the business. Decisions get made in Hollywood in large part depending upon how movies perform, so watching movies as they come out puts you in the same head space as reps, producers, execs, and buyers.
This week’s movie: Mad Max: Fury Road, written by George Miller and Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris, directed by George Miller, starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron.
Our schedule for discussion this week:
Monday: General Comments
Tuesday: Plot
Wednesday: Characters
Thursday: Themes
Friday: Takeaways
For those of you who have not seen the movie, do not click MORE as we will be trafficking in major spoilers. If you have seen Mad Max: Fury Road, I invite you to join me in breaking down the movie to its component parts and analyzing why this movie kicks ass in almost every single way.
Let’s explore the plot of Mad Max: Fury Road. It is a simple story. A chase. Bad Guys after the Good Guys… or in this case Good Gals plus Max. Indeed, the Opening Incident is itself a chase — Max being chased by the War Boys — which is a kick ass way to begin the story that not only services the central plot, it serves as a preamble for the bigger chase to come.
The chase plot may be simple, but it’s elegantly constructed. It tracks three characters — Max, Furiosa, and Nux — and intersects them in innovative, yet perfectly explicable ways.
The plot provides plenty of twists, for instance, Max attempting to steal the rig only thwarted by the killswitch Furiosa had installed, separating Nux from the others, then bringing him back on board. These narrative turns add to the entertainment value as they keep viewers on their toes.
One huge twist provides a singularly emotional moment: When the Vulvalini inform Furiosa that the dismal swamp they had driven through is, in fact, The Green Place. This crushes Furiosa as she had cast all her hope for at least a shred of a better life on this spot she had once known, now idealized in her imagination. Now her hope squashed.
Yet this moment leads to the biggest plot twist of them all: The decision by the group to head back to The Citadel. That choice is driven by a daredevil kind of logic: Since Joe and his cohorts are all out chasing the group, that has left the water and greenery in The Citadel unguarded.
However when the group turns back and heads for The Citadel, that transforms the plot into the shape of a classic hero’s journey: A circle. Start at The Citadel. Separate from that ‘old’ world and enter the ‘new’ world, in this case the journey toward The Green Place. All of their experiences represent an initiation into new ways of thinking and behaving. Finally the return back ‘home’ as transformed individuals.
Those three movements — Separation, Initiation, Return — serve as a way of understanding the three overarching acts of MM:FR.
How about someone taking a crack at the major plot points of the story? Or better yet, a sequence breakdown?
Just in general, what strikes you most about the plot?
Please join me in comments to further analyze this exceptional movie Mad Max: Fury Road.
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