Review: George Miller’s ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Starring Charlize Theron & Tom Hardy

A relentless action spectacle that will dazzle audiences with its visceral torque and blazing vehicular madness, perhaps the most impressive feat director George Miller has achieved with "Mad Max: Fury Road"—beyond successfully thunderdoming without Mel Gibson and executing some of the most spectacular action-stunt sequences committed to celluloid maybe ever—is how the 70-year-old filmmaker takes a traditionally testosterone-fueled series and reimagines it as a kind of feminist manifesto with much on its mind. No really. 'Fury Road' might be the most intense and bruising action ride of the year, but the movie also moves like a speeding maniac in possession of big and provocative ideas—ideas it scatters out the window while it’s moving at breakneck speeds.

In constant manic motion, ‘Fury Road’ wastes absolutely no time getting started, taking off like a lightning bolt from the jump, and barely slowing down. But when the picture does eventually idle, if even for a brief...