I just had the pleasure of seeing George Miller in person at a screening of MAD MAX: FURY ROAD at Arclight Hollywood just last week, and he seemed perhaps a bit apprehensive about jumping right into the next Mad Max movie. Coming away from his speaking of a desire to do something "small" before heading back to the Wasteland; feeling "the engines needed to cool a bit first", Miller has now decided not to continue with his epic, visionary post-apocalyptic tale...and he couldn't have made a better decision, and I mean that in only the best way as a true fan of the series!

 

It was early last fall when I speculated; what if George Miller realized this fantastic movie he'd created, with its extremely high praise and across-the-board acknowledgement and appreciation, was indeed his crowning achievement of this series and that anything else would be overkill or too much of a repeat?

 

With Mr. Miller having decided that this indeed would end his affiliation with directing another, or even two more films, I applaud his decision! Not because I do not want to see more of this newly invigorated cinematic landscape, but because MAD MAX: FURY ROAD doesn't need further additions! It's an all-inclusive, spectacularly choreographed, fantastically told and resonantly acted masterpiece!

 

In this 21st Century world of instant blink-of-an-eye gratification, fans are so very quick to ask who will take up the reins from him to move the story forward. My answer to that is NONE. At this point I would say that no director should continue from where he left off.

 

Anything that anyone else might do with the world of Mad Max could potentially be shit, as so much of modern cinema has become! Why mess with a movie that stands on it's own without need to wean every last bit of story-nugget out of it?

 

There are many films that stand alone, without need to create into a whole new franchise. And yet the industry stands today as more of a greed-crazed movie production pimp than ever before; wanting to rape and pillage our best movies from the past no matter how far out on a limb it has to go to do it. Let's allow MAD MAX: FURY ROAD to stand as a singular towering achievement and a final bow in the desolate post apocalyptic land of Max Rockatansky for the great George Miller; who basically kicked every other young director's ass last summer, and the man is 70 years old!

 

And yet, as far as the studio is concerned, you know stopping now is probably highly unlikely.

 

If somehow this became the end of the Mad Max movies (like in another dimension where current studios held respect), remember that even more so we have MAD MAX: FURY ROAD to watch again and again and savor for all it’s visual and story nuances. Unless the Master himself is at the helm with a legitimate reason to continue, I believe the series should find itself at a fitting end.

 

What do you think? Should there be more Mad Max movies, even without George Miller in the director's chair?