MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015)

What a brilliant, intense, gutsy - and yes, deep - movie.  Starting with wall-to-wall action from the first minute, Mad Mad: Fury Road never let's up through its two-hour running time - making, say, Kingsman: The Secret Service (another of my favorite films this year) seem like The Bridges of Madison County by comparison.  Tom Hardy (fast becoming my favorite actor) stars as Max, Charlize Theron (whom I've gained a new liking and mad respect for) fairly owns the film as Furiosa ... and I'd be remiss not to mention yet another brilliant performance by an unrecognizable Nicholas Hoult, as Nux, who adds an emotional texture to the film you don't see coming.  Set in an apocalyptic future where the world's resources are gone and Earth's become a desert wasteland, a tormented Max - still tortured by his past - unwillingly teams with Furiosa, a woman on a mission to get back home and set things right, for the ride of their lives ... if they can outwit and outrun the veritable army led by the one man out to destroy them.  To say any more would risk spoilers, so I'll make it easy: SEE. THIS. FILM. (rated R)  A+