The Honest Trailer series from YouTube channel Screen Junkies have been acclaimed for their scathing and hilarious takedown of movies that don’t live up to expectations, or are particularly dumb. But what happens when its makers encounter a movie that is as beloved and acclaimed as this year’s glorious R-rated Mad Max; Fury Road? A movie that has held on to its 98% Rotten Tomatoes rating months after its release, which makes it virtually flawless in the eyes of the discerning movie-goer?
Since its debut, Mad Max: Fury Road has been lauded as a feminist triumph, and the summer’s strongest Oscar contender. But, if we’re being real, it’s really just a two-hour chase scene that unfolds because someone dared to turn left. At least, that’s what Screen Junkies have to say in between their gushing praise of this year’s cinematic marvel.
Describing the movie as a “two hour game of ‘Mario Kart’ from hell,” the honest trailer points out that while Tom Hardy’s Mad Max may be the film’s titular protagonist, he pretty much plays the grunty second fiddle to Charlize Theron’s ass-kicking Furiosa. While the Screen Junkies crew admits that the plot is pretty threadbare, they are totally right when they counter that sentiment with: “Who cares when the action looks like this,” cutting directly to some of the film’s spectacular shots.[blockquote type=”left”]This Corridor Digital fan film for the Mad Max game is almost as good as the original film.[/blockquote]
If nothing else, the Honest Trailer is worth viewing just to hear the announcer use his gravelly voice to mention Babe: Pig in the City (seriously George Miller directed that too) which sounds like a seriously kickass movie when he says it. And just because Fury Road is a great movie, and it is, doesn’t mean that we can’t all laugh at it a little. When they make the movie that you remember as a two-hour nonstop action scene look an RV trip with your grandfather, it’s just funny even if they are the only three scenes in the film that don’t include something blowing up. And for those you just like to beat up on the terrible movies, no worries, they get a dig in on Terminator: Genisys too, just for good measure. However, the trailer may make you wonder just a bit too much about the excessive use of gasoline and wasted water in a world where both are precious commodities.
Oh, what an Honest Trailer. What a lovely Honest Trailer.
