It was almost the shortest instant, yet the film immediately caught the audience's attention especially Guan Yadi, who had flown all the way from China. He was a crazy fan of Duke Rosenberg. Upon hearing that Fury Road couldn't be released domestically, not only did he write a satirical article online mocking the relevant authorities, but he also spent extravagantly on a flight to Cannes just to watch the film.
"Damn, that's awesome!"
When Charlize Theron, with cropped hair, forehead smeared in engine grease, and eyes blazing with intensity, appeared on screen striding with those long legs, Guan Yadi couldn't help but mutter.
The film's pace was insanely fast. Before Guan Yadi could even process what just happened, the action scenes had already begun and this state persisted throughout the majority of the movie. Nearly all of the story unfolded in this high-speed state, with clear narrative threads and characters constantly in pursuit or being chased, simultaneously battling one another.
It gave people a rush of exhilaration.
To Guan Yadi, words like explosive! violent! desolate! magnificent! weren't enough to describe the wonder and greatness of this film.
Aside from being a fan, Guan Yadi was also the host of a film column program on a TV station otherwise, he wouldn't have splurged on an international flight just to catch a movie.
Countless cool-looking vehicles in frenzied pursuit, the flying sand, and the violent collisions all got one's blood pumping. There was not a single moment of nonsense or excess emotional expression only life-and-death clashes and brutal combat.
When the red-clad rock warrior appeared, accompanied by an adrenaline-pumping soundtrack, Guan Yadi couldn't believe his eyes. And the next moment took him to the peak.
Just as the music hit its climax, the rock warrior's electric guitar spat fire it actually shot out fire!
How massive must Duke Rosenberg's imagination be to come up with such a wildly creative scene?
And it wasn't just Guan Yadi. The whole cinema was going insane.
"If this film doesn't win every single special effects award worldwide, they might as well just cancel those awards!"
"A new benchmark for Hollywood blockbusters!"
"This year... no, it's at least the best Hollywood action movie of the past decade!"
Barely ten minutes in, the audience had already reached a conclusion about Fury Road.
"It's not that I've seen too little—it's that Duke Rosenberg knows how to go full-out badass."
In the front row, Quentin slapped his thigh hard, ignoring everyone around him, and said to himself, "Duke, how the f*** did you make this?"
Thinking back on the tricks he'd played in his own films, and comparing them with the rock warrior, the chase and fight scenes, and the insanely stylish convoys on the screen, Quentin could only feel like all his past work were child's play in comparison.
Park Chan-wook's eyes were a bit dazed. "Holy sh*t, who thought of this?! How did they shoot this?!"
He never imagined an action film could reach this level of coolness!
Just when he thought he was immune to standard special effects from franchises like Transformers, this film grabbed him from the first shot then used jaw-dropping wasteland visuals, cult-level settings, blood-boiling action, and surging music to pin him firmly to his seat.
Robert Rodriguez didn't even know what to say anymore. That a mainstream director like Duke Rosenberg could outdo even madmen like him?
Of course, being "wild" is one thing pulling it off is another.
And Duke Rosenberg not only did it like him and Quentin, but turned it into something epic.
First of all, the cinematography never had there been a movie that filmed violent scenes so beautifully.
Vast deserts under blazing sun, moonlit nights drenched in blue, eyeball-scorching scarlet flames, night flashing like snow during lightning storms Duke Rosenberg and John Schwartzman achieved all this in a post-apocalyptic car-chase movie.
Even the rare static shots had a magnetic pull that sucked viewers' eyes in, as if they were about to climb into the driver's seat and fire up a raging V8 engine, charging into the endless desert.
Since The Rock, Robert Rodriguez knew John Schwartzman was absolutely a landscape geek. He mastered wide-angle compositions and skillfully used lines to enhance motion in the frame.
Unlike Rodriguez, Guan Yadi didn't really understand the technical stuff. But when the heroine fought the hero after the sandstorm, under the wide-angle lens, all he could feel was that Goddess Theron looked like she was about to punch Pretty Tom right out of the screen.
Fury Road was like a fusion of westerns, road movies, and action films. With survival in a post-apocalyptic world as its theme, it had a gritty texture and a bizarre, ritualistic vibe.
The film's cinematography and production design were outstanding. The visuals were saturated with color, using high-saturation tones and wide shots to present the natural environments of a post-apocalyptic wasteland deserts, yellow sand, and swamps creating grand, visually striking scenes.
For a road-racing movie like Fury Road, the cars were undoubtedly a major highlight. But they weren't the usual luxury vehicles or race cars each one was unique, weird-looking, yet incredibly cool. Watching these unconventional cars speed across the sand made the chase scenes all the more extraordinary.
"This film is all about madness!"
Quentin exclaimed. Brad Pitt, who by now had some success as a producer and a good eye for quality, nodded in agreement, saying, "The entire film was produced around that word: madness. From editing and directing, character design, chase choreography, acting, special effects, to art direction and soundtrack—it all radiated a cult-level insanity. That's what made it so polished and so perfectly in line with the feeling from the trailers."
That intense wave of madness sent the 2,000-person audience inside the Grand Lumière Theatre of the Cannes Film Festival into a frenzy applause erupted multiple times throughout.
One car chase after another, relentless and unceasing the film's pace was so fast it made people forget to scream, forget to blink. In today's world of formulaic action movies, it felt like a breath of fresh air or a torrential downpour!
What allowed this film's fast rhythm to stay so consistent was, most importantly, Duke's streamlined handling of character dialogue. Information about character traits, psychological shifts, and their environments was all conveyed through actions and scenes, avoiding redundant dialogue that could bog down the film.
In Fury Road, each shot on screen lasted less than three seconds on average, capturing dynamic fight scenes, chases, explosions, and crashes from both land and air perspectives.
"And the music!"
Brad Pitt said again to Quentin, "If the visuals in this film are wild and unrestrained, then the music is the warhammer that strikes straight to the heart!"
Quentin nodded heavily. In the eyes of a director like him, this was nothing short of a universe-class god-tier film. The overall tone of the movie built into a climax amid flying sand and roaring stones one word: BOOM!
Furiosa, Tom, and the others fought their way to the green oasis they yearned for. Guan Yadi felt a little tired and thought the movie must be nearing its end. Who would've guessed the oasis had become a decayed, acidified swamp? To find a place to survive, Furiosa and the others had to fight their way back.
Thus began another thirty-plus-minute-long climax sequence.
Even though he felt tired, Guan Yadi's adrenaline kept soaring. By this point in the screening, he had completely figured it out—what made the film truly outstanding was definitely not the story. The drama was pared down to the point of being nearly unnoticeable, which was immensely satisfying. The car chases and action scenes carried the entire film!
Besides the endless onslaught of gunfights, car chases, explosions, and tornadoes, the character designs were also impossibly cool. The heavy metal punk aesthetic was irresistible.
It's worth mentioning what happens when a male god and a female goddess co-star in the same film? Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time, they fall in love.
Not in this film it didn't need that gimmick at all. In a post-apocalyptic car chase flick like this, romance is a luxury. The two leads were both steel warriors; their camaraderie as comrades-in-arms was already deeply moving. Guan Yadi could feel how their bond had gradually developed.
Of course, apart from all the elements, Guan Yadi's focus was on Furiosa. She was just too dazzling. Not that Tom Cruise wasn't excellent, but the character's innate aura was simply magnetic.
Just as Guan Yadi had thought, a female character like her—bringing down the tyrannical Immortan Joe...
Deep down, he watched the whole movie on his knees. Even though it was just a regular 2D screen, he felt like he had been hit by sandstorms again and again. Under the overwhelming bombardment of ecstasy, tears streamed down his face—Please! Don't stop!
A seemingly simple and brutal post-apocalyptic story of survival and rebellion, yet it packed the ferocity of a Western, the wildness of a road movie, the uniqueness of a cult film, and the transcendent artistic flair of a fashion blockbuster. The viewing experience felt like unwrapping a gift every five minutes brought a surprise.
No—every moment was a surprise. Dazzling, overwhelming.
Guan Yadi felt incredibly lucky to have come to Cannes this time, lucky to see this movie on the big screen, because the male and female leads were smoking hot. Tom Cruise's sturdy frame and decisive, lethal shooting style were the perfect embodiment of a tough guy, while Charlize Theron's fierce gaze, long legs, and smokey war makeup made everyone gape and instantly become rabid screen-licking fans. The visuals were stunning, the colors blinding every frame was wallpaper-worthy, every person longed to etch the scenes into their memory.
This was a demonic film one that curses anyone who sees it into needing a second viewing!
Fury Road was so cool, it practically made the entire cinema explode and ascend!