Podcast recommendation: ‘Mad Max Minute: Fury Road’

If you’re a fan of the Mad Max franchise and Fury Road in particular, but also, if you’re a fan of meticulous analysis of the art of filmmaking, this podcast deserves your time and attention.

Mad Max: Fury Road

If you haven’t seen the movie yet, this is a brief summary of the plot: man gets captured by a post-apocalyptic cult and their sadistic warlord, man tries to escape, escape plan intertwines with that of someone else, and it all unfurls from there.

It’s the fourth installment in the Mad Max franchise, with the first three taking place between 1979 and 1985, famously starring Mel Gibson.

Although its commercial success was moderate at best, due to its high production and marketing costs, the movie was a critical hit. Reviews praised it as one of the best action movies of the decade.

Upon first watch, you may be tempted to dismiss it as just another edition of the same cookie-cutter dross we get served every few months by studios, but I assure you, that verdict would be very much inaccurate.

Mad Max Minute: Fury Road

The Mad Max Minute podcast goes into extraordinary detail, enabling you to appreciate the movie in ways you never thought you could. Every episode, roughly half an hour each, devotes itself to a single minute of the movie. Not a frame more, not a frame less.

From the opening credits to the end credits, Mad Max Minute hosts Rick and Julia Ingham reveal such detail from 60 seconds that it makes you reassess both the genius of George Miller, as well as the sheer amount of work it takes to make a great movie.

They examine sound design, set design, lighting, editing, props, cars, actors, characters, background details, tone of voice, word selection, body language, foreshadowing techniques, expositional clues, behind the scenes details, everything that could conceivably be dissected.

It’s an amazing exhibition of dedication to the phrase ‘deep dive’. My suggestion? Watch the movie one more time (currently available on Netflix), if you’ve watched it before already that is, and then head straight to your preferred podcast service and subscribe to Mad Mad Minute: Fury Road.

Stay shiny and chrome, friends.