Oscar season is upon us once again, so it’s time to examine the Best Picture nominees in all their whiteness. 

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Returning to a once-acclaimed franchise that’s last iteration was released 30 years ago and not well received is generally not a recipe for success at the box office, and especially not when it comes to raking in awards. But that’s what George Miller did, and holy hell was it worth the wait that no one realized they were waiting.

There have been a few big-budget action films to make it into the Best Picture category in recent years, and since the category was expanded to allow for more than five entries each year, there has usually been one that crept up into the nominees. But for the most part, they have seemed to be a nod from the Academy that, yes, they are hip and with the times, and they do know how to have fun, but also not too much.

The difference with “Mad Max: Fury Road” is that there was major buzz about the movie coming out of film festivals, which other than perhaps Quentin Tarantino movies, rarely happens for mainstream films. It’s as if the film had been raging inside Miller for those 30 years and he finally got the chance to unleash it, and what came out was a volcanic eruption of a movie that the Pompeiians hadn’t seen coming when Miller was working on such awe-inspiring titles as “Happy Feet” and “Happy Feet 2.”

Then there was also the negative hype surrounding the movie when word got out that it played out as “a feminist piece of propaganda posing as a guy flick,” according to men’s rights activism website Return of Kings, which presumably has nothing to do with the similarly named third installment of “the Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Indeed, Miller had hired “Vagina Monologues” author and feminine activist Eve Ensler as a consultant for the movie, as he had planned to include pro-woman social commentary into his movie about cars chasing each other and explosions. But then again, that kind of “negative” attention is more of a “positive” for most well-meaning people, and the spite serves as just another motivator to make the trip out to the theater, on top of all the critical acclaim. And despite “Max” needing to be a guy flick, who would have guessed that women could enjoy movies as well as men can, and men are also able to watch movies that star women?

As in previous “Mad Max” movies, other than the original, Max is a man living in a world where society has devolved into gangs prowling the desert and worshipping the gods of chrome (. He has a certain simple moral code: his first objective is to survive, but second is to help those in need. As such, he doesn’t have his own story, as much as he helps groups of people who are being oppressed by powerful people. The oppressors in “Fury Road” are led by Immortan Joe (a growly Hugh Keays-Byrne) the human incarnation of patriarchal regime, who controls all the area’s water, which is the world’s most valuable resource along with gasoline (here known as guzzoline). He also “owns” women, keeping the young, attractive virginal ones for breeding purposes, and older, larger ones for harvesting breast milk. But under his command is Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), who is secretly plotting to set the breeding women free.

Max isn’t exactly a willing participant in this slave drama, as he is caught by scavengers under Joe’s command who nourish themselves through their captives’ blood, since presumably they are told they don’t need food, as Joe and his buddies probably take all of that for themselves considering how they handle the water situation. As such, Max finds himself fashioned into a human blood bag, and eventually as a hood ornament, once Joe’s regime has discovered Furiosa’s plot and scrambled all vehicles. But once Max breaks free, he finds himself tentatively aligned with Furiosa’s cause, though it takes some convincing.

Also along for the ride is Nux, one of Joe’s boys, who has a slavish devotion to Joe, like his fellows, and the life goal of dying in battle in Joe’s service so they can reach the mythical spiritual realm Valhalla. He just so happens to have the misfortune of making Max his blood bag, and since Max isn’t exactly new to this sort of thing, spells bad times for young Nux. Nicholas Hoult makes Nux vicious, yet sympathetic as he winds up tagging along with Furiosa, Max, and the slave women after Joe rejects him for being “mediocre.”

Of course, it wouldn’t have worked on a number of levels to bring back onboard a then mid-50s Mel Gibson, so Brit Tom Hardy moves into the simple role, which he handles just fine. He carries the same sense of hard-nosed skepticism that eventually gives way to compassion. It’s not a demanding role, but Hardy is always enjoyable. But really, it’s Theron’s movie, as she’s just as much the star, and for what her part is, she works in her role, but again, it isn’t exactly demanding.

The real star of the movie is the action, and it’s as many reviewers have said, possibly the Sistine Chapel of action movies. It may sound dubious whether that title deserves any distinction, but compare this to movies by Michael Bay or even JJ Abrams. It’s possible to put a good effort into making a crowd-pleasing action flick that is well-produced, tells a good story and has charismatic, entertaining actors, and make it successful, and crowds flocked to theaters in 2015 to see “Star Wars,” “Jurassic World,” and “Furious 7.” Then again, it’s also possible to make garbage like the many “Transformers” movies and people will see those too. But it’s obvious that Miller loved doing his job in creating his masterpiece “Max.”

He hasn’t really deviated from the other “Mad Max” movies here, so much as he’s like a kid who’s got all these new technological toys to play with in the 2010s that he didn’t have in the ’70s and ’80s. The car battles have never looked so vibrant, and the rumble of engines has never been so enveloping, and the speed and danger and lunacy of those chases have never been captured with the clarity and impact that has been accomplished here. And Miller’s use of color and lighting is breathtaking. The sandstorm scene is awe-inspiring, as many suicide-happy scavengers are swept up into the heavens by swirling sand. The lightning combined with the sand shielding the sun bathes the characters and their cars in a deep red hue, as Nux declares “Oh, what a day… what a lovely day!” It’s only one of a number of gorgeously morbid scenes the evil genius Miller cooked up in his film lab. It makes one wonder how awesome “The Road Warrior” might have been if it was made today.

 

And there’s a Doof Warrior. You can’t go wrong with a guy strapped to a car whose sole purpose is to play a guitar that shoots flames as a means of inspiration and intimidation. Then there are other characters with ridiculous names like The Bullet Farmer and the Organic Mechanic and Rictus Erectus.

On top of that, much of the action, especially anything involving Max is filmed in fast-motion, in a nod to one of Hollywood’s early filmmakers, Charlie Chaplin. Despite the grisly subject matter, Miller’s filming technique keeps the movie lively and light, an important part of any great political satire, as Charlie himself was no stranger to. There are also visual references to Stanley Kubrick’s “Spartacus,” a film not-so-coincidentally revered for its visuals and commentary about human slavery.

Oh, the political satire! Beyond the incredible visuals and sound lies a biting commentary on the state of gender relations. Just judging by the fact that there is such a thing as a “men’s rights activist,” anywhere in the world, but especially in a country that has never had a female president and where the most popular religion generally demands gender roles and the heterosexual nuclear family be strictly adhered to, shows that despite progress toward equality for all, there’s still a long way to go before people are actually treated equally. And though claiming that “masculinity is being increasingly punished and shamed in favor of creating an androgynous and politically-correct society that allows women to assert superiority and control over men” seems like an extreme and astoundingly ignorant position to hold, the fact is there are many who believe it, which is why websites like Return of Kings are still propagated. And despite many people’s efforts to create a society and world more friendly to women, in some way the belief that men are superior and entitled is still ingrained in everyone deep down, even in women, because that’s what public opinion subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) still teaches.

“Fury Road” is not so subtly an allegory for those people specifically, but for a patriarchal world in general. Women are treated as sexual objects and breeders, and though a feminist and pro-woman sense of justice and morality is trying to rise to the top or flee the patriarchal world, angry men holler about losing their “property” and are in hot pursuit ranting and raving the entire way about a return to the good ol’ days when women were ideally barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. Meanwhile, there are lots of self-proclaimed “good guys” laughing off the MRAs’ behavior, calling it infantile in one breath, but in the next breath making rape jokes about Bill Cosby’s victims and calling his probable victims liars because such an intimate form of violation is nearly impossible to prove in a court of law, while also complaining about too much “political correctness” in society.

It’s so great that Miller has taken this feminist critique of the world and wrapped it in possibly the greatest action movie ever, with the fascinating world he created, and made it a “Mad Max” film to give it visibility for general audiences. That didn’t translate into success at the box office on the other hand, only cracking the top 20 in both domestic and worldwide ticket sales. The other pro-woman, male geek-enraging action sci-fi film of the year, “Star Wars,” had a better performance. It turns out a sequel 30 years later for a lesser-known series that ended with a clunker, along with an R-rating made it kind of a tough sell.

Regardless, it would have been a minor injustice if “Mad Max: Fury Road” had not landed a best picture nomination, and as the Academy has been more open to including action films, it would have been a severe oversight if somehow this film didn’t make the field. But “Star Wars” with its record-breaking box office certainly had to be a possibility to steal the traditionally sole sci-fi/action slot. Thank the voters for going with a film that was greater on every other level. The pro-feminist commentary likely helped to push it over the top, as that’s something the Academy usually goes for. It doesn’t seem likely that “Max” will be taking home the shiny hood ornament for best picture, though it would be an excellent selection for that honor. It should sweep the technical awards, and Miller probably has a shot at best director since Alejandro Inarritu is practically disqualified this for “The Revenant” since he won last year for “Birdman,” and no one wins two years in a row. Whatever the case, it’s great to see such a daring film get recognition.

Now Miller better get started working on the next one. We can’t afford to wait another 30 years.