Mad Max: Fury Road 3D

In Fury Road, Mad Max (Hardy) is haunted by his turbulent past and believes the best way to survive is to wander alone in an apocalyptic stark desert landscape where humanity is broken. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a group fleeing across the Wasteland in a War Rig driven by an elite Imperator, Furiosa (Theron). They are escaping a Citadel tyrannized by the Immortal Joe (Keays-Byrne), from whom something irreplaceable has been taken. Enraged, the Warlord marshals all his gangs and pursues the rebels ruthlessly in the high-octane Road War that follows. This is the fourth film in the franchise’s epic history. (Gary Reber)

Special features include six featurettes: Maximum Fury: Filming Fury Road (HD 28:38), Mad Max: Fury On Four Wheels (HD 22:37), The Road Warriors: Max And Furiosa (HD 11:18), The Tools Of The Wasteland (HD 14:26), The Five Wives: So Shiny, So Chrome (HD 11:11) and Fury Road: Crash & Smash (HD 04:02); three deleted scenes (HD 03:20); upfront previews, and an UltraViolet digital copy.

The 2.40:1 1080p MVC 3D picture was converted from 2D original photography to 3D by Stereo D. Nick Stevens was the Stereographer. Photographed using the Arri Alexa digital camera system and Panavision lens, the picture is fantastic looking! The color palette is intensely saturated with bold primaries. Hues are rich and warm, yet vibrant, with reds, rusty oranges, and yellows cast over the desert landscape, and deep blacks. Night scenes are hauntingly visualized. Contrast is excellent and impactful with revealing shadow delineation. Fleshtones are stylized and appealing. Resolution is razor sharp, with fine detail exhibited throughout, which enhances the creative textural imagery, the intricate costumes, tumorous prosthetics, and the wheeled war rigs. Everything is exceptionally clear and defined, even the dust storms and dirt and grime of the proceedings. Hurtling debris and gunfire are perfectly descriptive and in 3D quite exciting to experience, as at times the effects jump out from the screen. The 3D is absolutely compelling and enhances the hyper-kinetic visual twists of the action and the endless depth of the panoramic landscapes compared to the 2D presentation. While there are the occasional out-of-screen occurrences, the 3D strength is in its ability to precisely define depth and perspective and to place the vehicles in proper relationship to the desert wasteland. In the scenes with war trucks, the metal warriors appear more threatening in 3D. This is a perfectly executed 3D experience that is reference quality throughout. (Gary Reber)

The Dolby Atmos/Dolby TrueHD 7.1-channel soundtrack delivers an exciting and perfectly executed thunderous soundtrack tremendously enhanced with the addition of the two added surround channels and height. This is an intensely aggressive and directionalized holosonic® soundtrack, with extensive panned sound effects throughout the soundfield. Explosions and gunfire rip through the soundfield. Metallic debris flies in every direction and out of the screen. The sonics are intense and nonstop, except for a few quieter moments of dialogue exchange. Dialogue is intelligible and nicely integrated spatially. Still, one must pay attention to hear it above the loud chaos and mayhem. Atmospherics and sound effects are sonically thrusting during the intense road chase scenes, and as such, the SPL can be exceptionally powerful, especially when the full might of the .1 LFE channel is engaged with deep bass extension to sub-25 Hz levels and 105 dB levels. While the soundtrack is impressively immersive, with directionalized sonics, the ambience is wonderfully enveloping. The orchestral music score contributes to this envelopment and is a dominant element in the sound design. The music is spread wide and deep across the soundstage and completely extends to all four surround channels. Fidelity is excellent throughout. This is one spectacular holosonic soundtrack experience that demonstrates the power of sound to transmit emotion and excitement and bring to life the visual images. This is reference quality throughout. (Gary Reber)