I just rewatched this today for the third or fourth time. I am a big fan of Mad Max 1 and 2.
Tom Hardy sucks ass as Max. It's like he never watched or just ignored Mel Gibson's portrayal. The weird grunting and facial expressions and some almost Jeff Goldblum-esque mannerisms in places, and e.g when he says "That's mine, I want it" when he sees his old car again are so massively off it is literally the one thing I dislike about this film.
Discuss.
I thought so.
shareI’m with you. When I first heard Tom Hardy had been cast as Max, I thought that could work. I mean, no one can replace Mel Gibson in the role, but Tom Hardy seemed like the right direction. Then I saw the movie & totally agree with you. I was glad the movie focused more on Furiosa because Tom’s Max was just bland…
At least Hardy wasn’t doing that silly high voice thing that he’s been doing in a lot of movies lately.
Let's be honest, Mad Max isn't much of a character (on paper). He was a cop who lost his family, then he became a drifter who doesn't talk much, and occasionally he helps people out along the way. That's literally it. It was Mel Gibson with his screen presence and charisma who made the character more than just a cardboard cut out and part of pop culture. In fact, Max's most iconic look still to this day is the way he looks in Road Warrior and that was down to Gibson who just cut one of his sleeves off his leather jacket, tore up his gloves, and roughly cropped his own hair. Tom Hardy just doesn't have that magnetism so Max was just lost amongst the bizarre characters and spectacle in this.
Co-writer Brendan McCarthy who came up with the idea for Fury Road back in 1997 and was doing storyboards for the film with Gibson in them, said that Furiosa felt much more central in the finished film than he'd ever anticipated precisely because Gibson's presence was missing.
George Miller would never admit it of course but I think deep down he knew that Gibson was irreplaceable. He said in 1985 when the character of Max was shoehorned into the Beyond Thunderdome script (originally another hero saved the tribe of children), that if Gibson had said no, he wouldn't have put Max in it. When he agreed to do this one, Gibson was already lined up for it. I seriously doubt he'd have had Max's face covered up in the first hour if he'd returned though.
Max shouting "that's my head" after one of the War Boys throws a pole that barely misses his head bothers me more than his "that's mine" line.
Both are very out of character though.