36 Of The Coolest And Most Interesting Screens From The Mad Max: Fury Road Trailer

I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that Mad Max: Fury Road was the standout trailer to come out of Comic-Con in San Diego over the last week. It has been a long time coming — 25 years in “development hell”, apparently — and has a swathe of Australians behind the production, like original movie director George Miller. Plus there are loads of explosions and cars and post-apocalyptic spiky things. I can’t wait.

If you haven’t seen the three-minute-long first look trailer from Comic-Con already, here it is:

There’s a lot going on in the trailer, so I thought it was worthwhile dissecting it and taking a few dozen of the most interesting frames out for discussion. So, with no further ado, here are two dozen of the coolest and most revealing moments in the Mad Max: Fury Road trailer. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments at the end of the article. (Beware: there are probably spoilers below.)

Click on each picture for a 1080p version. Enjoy!

The V8 Interceptor is back. It’s interesting that there’s only one fuel tank in the back of the XB Falcon GT coupe, though — this would seem to suggest that Fury Road is set in between the original Mad Max (where the car has all its original body panels) and The Road Warrior (where it has two).

Update: My brother just pointed out to me that the Falcon doesn’t have the bulky, low front bumper that it has in the first couple of movies, which maybe points to it being repaired after Mad Max 2. And the addition of massive off-road tyres and the raised springs on the rear end. The timeline is unsurprisingly a little fuzzy; we’ll learn more as the premiere creeps closer.

The two-headed skink is a blatant reference; I’d suggest that it suggests that the nuclear war chronology of the original films is still intact. Fury Road is very obviously going to be post-apocalyptic in the most literal sense of the term.

Yep, it’s back.

This early chase, where the Interceptor is flipped and smashed up pretty badly, seems like it’s almost a prologue to the rest of the film — which means we probably won’t get a great deal of screen time for the last of the V8 interceptors, which is a huge shame. (Hey, prove me wrong and I’ll be happy.)

See that trail of dust off in the distance? I’m guessing that’s the slaver’s prey, and the flares are to alert the rest of the gang.

Post crash, long-haired Max (played by Tom Hardy) is captured by the slavers.

Imperator Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron — with a goddamn robot Terminator arm — looking off into the distance.

Max gets some great new tattoos courtesy of the slavers. (Are they slavers? Probably. Check below for my slightly shaky reasoning.)

“O-Negative. Universal donor. Genitals intact.” These are the kind of things a slaver would tattoo on a slave, right?

This is the most visually impressive scene in the trailer by a long way. Giant sandstorm, chase scene, bad guys — you get the idea.

Presumably the view from the vehicles being chased. Or just an excuse for cool heat-haze visual effects.

Hey look, it’s Bane!

Charlize Theron looking off into the distance, again.

There’s at least one scene indoors and not on a fast-moving vehicle — it looks like some kind of raiders’ den.

And presumably those guys worship steering wheels. Are they crazy or do they just really like driving?

Our first look at the women the movie seems to be centred around. One suggestion I’ve read is that they’re some of the last fertile women (in the state? Country? Planet?) and that’s what the whole death-race chase is about.

Of course there are going to be car crashes. What, are you surprised?

Fertile ladies (who just also happen to be supermodels). England’s own Rosie Huntington-Whitely is one of them.

Coachbuilt monster truck death machine driving through flames. Welcome to Fury Road, guys.

Here’s at least some of the slaver/raider fleet. What can you spot? There’s a car carrier with some spiky rat rods, a dirtbike with a massively extended swingarm, what looks like a stripped-back Humvee chassis, and the all-important petrol tanker. Is that a Charger at the left edge of frame?

Max chained to the front of a spiky rat rod. Some guy is throwing spears at him. (What a dick.)

This shot is from what looks like an electrical storm in the middle of the desert. Sandstorm lightning is definitely a thing, so maybe that’s what we’re seeing.

Hey look, it’s Megan Gale! With a Winchester repeater. (This entire movie looks like someone took the Wasteland mod for Half-Life and put it on the big screen. And that’s really awesome.)

Look, lady, the hood of a speeding truck is not a safe place to be.

Especially if that truck is jumping off a ledge.

Charlize Theron looking off into the distance, again.

Tom Hardy and a humble thumbs-up. That cab is too spacious to be the Interceptor, sob.

I’m guessing this is the supremo bad guy? He’s dual-wielding H&K MP5ks, though, so he probably has a great K/D ratio.

Second most visually awesome scene in the trailer. Slavers boarding the chased truck with big long-jumping poles, like The Fast And The Furious meets Commonwealth Games.

Charlize Theron looking off into the distance, again. Upwards.

Another explosion! This looks like it was expensive. (Fuel is expensive, guys. Be careful.)

Our titular anti-hero Max Rockatansky shooting someone with a rifle from the roof of a truck.

Some poor biker getting literally minced by that truck. I’m guessing he’s wearing a red shirt.

Max and Furiosa getting some face time. The dynamic between these two could make or break the film, so let’s hope they get along.

Mad Max: Fury Road is scheduled to hit cinemas around the world on May 15, 2015. I can’t wait.


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