‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Trailer Makes the Apocalypse Look Awesome

Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, and explosions star in the uber-action film that has us impatient for next May.

If producer George Miller’s first Mad Max, starring the about-to-be-mega-famous Mel Gibson, was the ultimate Ozploitation film, the now 69-year-old writer’s latest installment in the Rockatanksy story looks to be the apotheosis of Hollywood’s decade-long obsession with the apocalypse. Miller – slightly less well known for writing Babe: Pig in the City, has made franchise reboot Mad Max: Fury Road into a straight-up chase feature and, if the new trailer is any indication, an orgy of violence. Though the preview concerns itself more with machine than plot machinations, we do get to see Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as the aptly named Splendid, and a bunch of what appear to be warrior mimes fighting while attached to antennas. There is also a quick cut of Hugh Keays-Byrne, the big bad (Toecutter) from the first film, who plays a gang–leader named Immortan Joe in the blockbuster, which will hit theaters next May.

What do we learn about Tom Hardy’s Max? Basically his name, that he has regrettable tattoos, and that his life is “fire and blood.” Sounds unpleasant, but we’ll watch anyway.