The most recent trailer for “Mad Max: Fury Road,” accurately entitled “Retaliate,” starts off with three clean cut shots: a side and low-angle of the big rig to show off its size and a high-angle to send the message that it’s vulnerable. These establishing shots also give a small sample of the film’s setting. We’re then given our first-look at Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) inside of the rig and of her stepping out of it. The camera goes 360 degrees around her to give off the sense she is worn down and to reveal that her left arm is mechanical. After she says a couple of lines while looking around the canyon. We finally have a shot of Mad Max (Tom Hardy) duel-wielding pistols and crouched inside of the rig with a mysterious blonde-haired woman, who appears to be at the 47 second mark The Splendid Angharad (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley). Once we have a quick glance at him, the screen fades to black followed by voice-over from Hardy.
We’re shown more clean cut shots of Furiosa and of a big car chase, which should excite fans of the Mad Max series because that’s when the films hit its stride and are at its best. (Insert “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior” here.) As these shots play across the screen, we can hear Hardy’s voice-over again and this time say, “My world is reduced to a single instinct: survive.” A close-up of Furiosa right after shows her scream “Drive!” and flip over the coupling holding together the rig and the cargo its carrying. A calm score plays as we see shots of Max in the driver’s seat of the rig and putting it into gear before its about to be chased. A high and wide-angle shot is used again to show vulnerability but now for the wasteland everyone will be facing off in.
Before everything in the trailer goes crazy. One of the kidnapped Wives is seen playing a small instrument, which any fan of the series will immediately recognize from The Road Warrior. Max is then seen carrying someone who looks to be Nux (Nicholas Hoult). Two shots follow of the open-road, hearkening back to the original films, and of a symbol of some kind being worshiped by the pale-skinned enemies. Here’s when we have our first-look at the villain in the film Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) — he also played Toecutter in “Mad Max.” And to finish off the end of the trailer, Nux says probably the most memorable and best line of it, “Oh, what a day! What a lovely day!”
The rest speaks for itself and what the film has in store for its viewers. (Watch from 1:50-2:18.) What makes Fury Road breathtaking in this trailer is how it stays away from CGI almost 100 percent and uses only practical effects, especially in 2015.