Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
Film
The best way to psych up your war comrades: A double neck guitar... with a flamethrower. By the way, that's not CGI. And, no, you will NEVER be this metal.
Really just the whole damn film,note but specifically:
- Max's frenzied attempt to escape the Citadel, even after enduring a crash, being dragged along behind his Pursuit Special while chained to the tail-gate, quite likely deprived of food and water as befitting a crazy-ass road warrior, forcibly shorn, back tattooed and nearly branded; he manages to fight off multiple War Boys unarmed before being overwhelmed by sheer numbers and even then it is due more to his hallucinations of those he failed crippling him with self-loathing above survival.
- A minor one, right when Furiosa first deviates off course from Gastown; the Warboys under her command barely even question her "detour", showing just how much respect she commands from them.
- The fact that Furiosa managed to outrun Citadel's forces and Buzzards almost entirely alone is worth mentioning on its own.
- One of the War Boys is mortally wounded when fighting the Buzzards attacking the War Rig. He slowly stands up to the cheering of his fellow War Boys, sprays his teeth with silver metallic paint and proclaims "WITNESS ME!" before jumping off the War Rig with a pair of grenade-tipped spears and destroys the pursuing Buzzard car.
- This gets echoed in the finale when Nux decides to make his Heroic Sacrifice, he speaks the line towards Capable, who had befriended him earlier and helped him on his path away from Immortan Joe. He then proceeds to blockade the entire canyon by rolling the War Rig.
- Slit, despite being a jerk to his comrades throughout the movie, manages to eke out his own moment of awesome, as he sees his imminent fiery death: "VALHALLA!!!!!!"
- Pretty impressive when you consider his death is essentially mediocre.
- This gets echoed in the finale when Nux decides to make his Heroic Sacrifice, he speaks the line towards Capable, who had befriended him earlier and helped him on his path away from Immortan Joe. He then proceeds to blockade the entire canyon by rolling the War Rig.
- A brief moment during the fight with the Buzzards, when Ace calls for a grenade from Furiosa - she stomps the pedal lock into place, reaches for her double crossbow, opens the cab door and leans out alongside Ace to fire a simultaneous bolt shot with a grenade that totals two pursuit vehicles at once. These two characters clearly had an amazing Bash Brothers relationship.
- The shot of the interior of the giant electromagnetic storm. And the part when Furiosa smashes the smaller truck of war boys into a twister-vortex. You will gape like Nux does at the sheer majesty of the flame lightning tornado. Now that is CG used right.Nux: [seeing the other vehicle crash over them; ecstatic at the sight] Oh, what a day! What a lovely day!
- Max enduring the full-on super-sandstorm, while stuck outside of Nux's vehicle... with next to no protection.
- "I LIVE! I DIE! I LIVE AGAIN!"
- Nux manages to be the only War Boy to get to the War Rig, with a flat tire and a very angry man strapped to the front of his car, and while having a blood transfusion, in the middle of a giant fucking storm. Is he not way too awesome?!
- Part of Immortan Joe's wheeled retinue is a man known only as Coma The Doof Warrior, who plays his electric guitar nonstop which also spews fire periodically! The Power of Rock at its finest! And by "nonstop" we mean nothing can prevent him from rocking out. Being a part of a brutal three way melee between Max and one of the Imperators? He will keep playing. Being swung around like a rag-doll? He will keep playing! Even better: he actually played a guitar that had an ACTUAL FLAMETHROWER IN IT!
It's a shame he dies as part of Nux's Heroic Sacrifice; one can't help but feel sorry for him as his guitar does a Ping-Pong shot out of the wreckage.- The awesomeness of this death scene sinks in even better once you realize that its Background Music ends with a resounding final riff of Coma's guitar.
- This becomes way more impressive if you get a good look at Coma's face, or know about his backstory; he's completely blind. He's not just missing his sight, he doesn't even have eyes.
- Furiosa and Max fighting each other to a standstill. The choreography of this needs to be noted. Max is still chained to Nux with a car door, while Furiosa is without her mechanical arm. Nux regains consciousness and joins the fight, while the Wives try to intervene by pulling the chain connecting them. Max and Furiosa struggle for a pistol, Max ejects the magazine (which Nux gets) and manages to dodge the round in the chamber despite Furiosa having the muzzle pressed into his jaw, and the four-way melee continues until Nux crashes to the ground, Max rolls Furiosa down, while slamming the pistol onto the magazine that Nux held up for him, and unloading three warning shots into the sand to defuse the situation.
- The best part is the great teamwork that Nux displayed toward what was previously nothing more than an object of convenience for him. At the end he's completely forgotten this was a man whose lifeblood he'd been consuming.
- Keep in mind that this is shortly after the second horrific car crash Max has survived in a matter of days, (and in this one he was on the outside of the car), after spending hours hanging upside down with his blood draining out, against six opponents, one of whom is Furiosa, while still chained to Nux. Max wins.
- By the same token, respect must be paid to Furiosa, who's fighting a man much larger and stronger than herself, minus her prosthetic hand, and would have beaten him at several points during the fight if Max hadn't been saved by some bit of luck or assistance from Nux.
- A subtle win for compassion and humanity in the midst of this brutal fight scene. Keep in mind that Furiosa attacked him first, and as such was almost certainly expecting to be killed when he grabbed the gun. When Max fires into the sand instead of her head, this is the exact moment where she realizes that he's not just another brute bent solely on survival, but still a good man who can be reasoned with and doesn't believe in unnecessary violence. You can almost see the wheels turning in Furiosa's head as she thinks "A guy this tough, and he's got standards? Huh... I can work with this."
- And a quick one for Max's ingenuity. He's holding Furiosa pinned to the ground as Nux loads the magazine into the gun, but it still needs to be cocked to fire. So Max racks the slide on the heel of his boot.
- Even more awesome, the boot technique Max used to rack the slide is a case of Truth in Television, being actually taught by some firearms instructors when teaching how to reload a gun single handed.
- The War Rig's first journey through the canyon, with Max and Furiosa fending off a horde of frequently-airborne Rock Riders. Not just for the action, which is phenomenal—sniping cyclists out of the sky, dodging flying bikes, a motorist grabbing Furiosa whilst sliding his bike under the Rig—but also for the dramatic shift in Max and Furiosa's relationship, as the mutual mistrust that had been slowly subsiding between them abruptly vanishes, and without so much as exchanging a word, they become a remarkably efficient fighting unit, completely in sync with one another.
- There's a special blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment when the Wives pull Furiosa back into the Rig's cabin and Max, who's driving, hands her a shotgun over his shoulder without even looking back. The awesomeness in terms of character is threefold:
- Max is smart enough to realize that the survival of everyone on the Rig depends on Furiosa being properly armed (especially with the only other available fighter having at least one hand at the wheel).
- Max is enough of a badass to feel that even though she was trying to kill him only hours ago, and despite being outnumbered five to one, Max is comfortable handing her a shotgun because he knows he can deal with her.
- After he hands it to her, Furiosa just stares at him for a second, and you can almost see the gears turning in her head as she realizes that this gesture of trust means Max is not just a tool or just an ally, but a friend.
- Just the shot of the War Rig lowering its sandshield to put out the fire. The rousing, triumphant music and the beauty of the cinematography means that a literal shot of a truck kicking up sand has never been so badass.
- There's a special blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment when the Wives pull Furiosa back into the Rig's cabin and Max, who's driving, hands her a shotgun over his shoulder without even looking back. The awesomeness in terms of character is threefold:
- Max's thumbs up to Splendid Angharad. It's the first explicit sign of human empathy he's shown since the start of the film, and he's acknowledging Angharad's rather awesome save of the War Rig. Mundane Made Awesome? You bet.
- Furiosa using Max as a rifle stand to shoot out the Bullet Farmer's spotlight with their last rifle round.
- Let's not forget that doing so ends up blinding the Bullet Farmer, forcing him to go Guns Akimbo as he shoots madly into fog and almost hits the group a few times.
- And that Max was smart enough to realize that Furiosa was the better shot with a sniper rifle, instead of stubbornly trying to do it himself.
- Max's Offscreen Moment of Awesome while the War Rig is bogged down and he decides to personally handle the Bullet Farmer, arming himself with only a kukri and a jerry can of gas. A few moments later, a massive explosion happens and he returns covered in blood whilst carrying a load of freshly-acquired munitions (plus a steering wheel for the Rig and a boot for Nux). One of the Wives notices the blood and asks about his wounds, to which Furiosa notes that the blood isn't his. The smile on her face confirms she's starting to realize Max is as much of a badass as she is - and he's on their side.
- Give one to Furiosa in this scene. Max walks back with blood splattered on his head, and the wives (and the audience) are thinking 'Oh shit, it's good that he survived, but that must have been a tough fight'. But Furiosa just calmly says "It's not his blood", and the wives (and the audience) all realize 'Holy shit, he is a badass', and then realize 'Furiosa saw what we couldn't, therefore she's also a badass'.
- Fridge Awesome kicks in when you realise that Max wouldn't be likely to get large splatters of other people's blood on his face, or steal so much ammunition, if he killed the Bullet Farmer by blowing him up. The conclusion? Max, on foot with just a knife, confronted a mad old man and his retinue who are packing a small tank and enough firepower to level a town, killed them all manually, stole as much ammo and supplies as he could carry, then blew up the rest to deny it to Joe. Holy shit.
- There was still gunfire in the background during the explosion. It cuts off immediately after the explosion too so it couldn't have come from any backup. He likely killed at least one of the goons mano a mano, but the majority of them were probably blown up.
- Furiosa making repairs underneath the War Rig. While it's still driving at 60+ miles per hour. She announces this by saying "I'm going to go make some repairs." Like one might say "I'm going to go get lunch." It's just a thing she does all the time.
- Junkie XL's soundtrack counts as well. There's a reason why the film has a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and the soundtrack plays a huge role in fleshing it out.
- The flaming guitar man's amazing playing is accompanied by some badass drums and can be heard in the latter half of 'Blood Bag' in the film's soundtrack.
- "Brothers in Arms" also counts. Part of it is used in one of the trailers while the later half of the piece is inspiring stuff, worthy of being used during an awesome heroic sacrifice or by a riveting car chase (e.g. the chase between the War Rig and the Rock Riders) with a triumphant finish.
- Chapter Doof is quite a long piece and captures the film's essence with exhilarating and soothing moments spread throughout.
- "The Chase" contains the majestic horn section used during the flaming electric tornado scene and Nux's sacrifice scene.
- The Wives collectively, but especially Angharad, when Immortan Joe catches up to them. He has a clear shot at Furiosa...until the back door of the War Rig swings open, and Angharad hangs out, her sisters holding onto her, to serve as a human shield. She stares Joe down, and he can do nothing.
- Just the fact that the Wives never fall victim to Bystander Syndrome. Ever. They may have no combat experience, but if they can intervene in a fight, they will take the numbers advantage. And if they can't do that, spit in Immortan Joe's face. And even when they aren't dealing with people shooting each other and throwing explosives, they'll help with maintaining the War Rig and taking ammo inventory when they get a chance of quiet.
- The start of the climax. Max had spent the entire movie thus far just surviving, fighting when necessary, keeping his erstwhile "allies" at near gunpoint. And then, just before they ride off to certain death in the salt flats, he finally gets it in him to give the Wives a shot at the hope they've held onto and Furiosa a chance to redeem herself. By telling them to go back and cut through Joe's pursuit. What seals it is the brief moment he offers his hand to Furiosa; they shake hands and share a look of approval... Immortan Joe has noooo idea what's about to hit him.
- Everything that Furiosa does in the climax while suffering from a massive stab wound.
- Every car smash, every firebomb, every dip of the pole-grabbers during the final chase sequence. A virtuoso ballet of violence - just that two-second clip of Max swinging overhead on a pole while another rig epically explodes in the background would be a stand-out Awesome moment in another action movie - that leaves audiences wowed (and wondering how many stunt workers were horribly maimed in the process because damn). The answer, by the way, is none - there were no injuries worse than chapped lips.
- Nux has a sweet moment where he saves Max, who is in danger of falling to his death from the War Rig as only a mortally wounded Furiosa is barely holding onto him, by kicking him so hard Max is thrown upon the front of the People Eater's War Rig.
- Max beating the shit out of Rictus with one of his own bottles of moonshine during the final battle.
- The best point about this is how it toys with our expectations, and still comes out satisfying. Rictus absolutely towers over Max and we're totally expecting there to be a brutal boss battle with him, where Max only wins through skill and ingenuity, right? Nope. Max pretty much trounces him all the way through.
- The one surviving Vuvalini woman who, when Rictus has Max by the throat and his weapon raised, whips out her rifle and blasts Rictus right in the air tank.
- The gnarly death of Immortan Joe, as Furiosa jams a harpoon through his breathing apparatus and lets the chain get tangled in his own car's wheel, tearing off his face. A truly fitting end for a despicable villain.
- Her Pre-Mortem One-Liner just seals the deal: "Remember me?"
- Nux's Heroic Sacrifice. The Wives, Furiosa, and Max are escaping from the War Rig to the Gigahorse, but the pass needs to be blocked to prevent the rest of the war parties from following all the way back to the Citadel. Nux watches his friends pull ahead, locks gazes with Capable, says "Witness Me," and crashes the Rig so it blocks off everyone in pursuit, utterly destroying the Doof Wagon along with it. The man who sought all movie to lay down his life for the wrong reasons chooses now to do it for the right ones.
- Rictus tearing off one of the War Rig's superchargers and hoisting it over his head to crush Nux with. The former War Boy's face is just: "oh, hell, yes...!" Partly a tearjerker too, as Nux's reaction is one of near-religious awe because he realizes: "This is it. This is how I will die historic on the Fury Road."
- There's another layer here that needs to be called to attention. Superchargers are known to reach some dangerously high temperatures when they're in use, to the point that it's not safe to even touch them.note Rictus ripped that supercharger out of the War Rig with his bare hands. It wasn't just anger that caused him to let loose that maddened, beastlike war-cry; he was fighting through all kinds of agony just from making skin contact with that thing.
- There's also the fact that he was standing directly over the burning hood of the War Rig, entirely unfazed by the flames scorching his lower half. An engine-fueled fire was cooking him all the way up to his balls, and he still didn't give a fuck.
- And doubling as a Heartwarming Moment, previous to this scene, war boys always shout "Witness me!" at the top of their lungs, trying to make their death seen by everyone. But Nux whispers it, with his eyes locked on Capable's, who witnesses his death, and his sacrifice, and reaches out to symbolically take his soul into her.
- Max giving blood. It Makes Sense in Context.
- The youngest and most frightened of the wives, Cheedo the Fragile, tricks Rictus into getting off of Joe's car by having him jump onto the War Rig to grab her. When he puts her down, she's in the perfect position to help an injured Furiosa climb up onto the Gigahorse, and Rictus is cornered by the Vuvalini and Max. Especially awesome since Cheedo had earlier tried to run back to Rictus and the Warboys due to genuine Stockholm Syndrome, and is able to show her newfound strength by tricking Rictus like this - using her previous fear as a disguise.
- An understated moment comes from the Wives' caretaker, Miss Giddy. When Joe realizes his Wives have fled and storms into their vault, she's waiting for him with a shotgun. If Joe had been just a little less quick on the uptake, Miss Giddy would have put him down right then and there.Miss Giddy: You cannot own a human being!
- To be fair, that counts as a moment for Joe himself. Walking straight up to someone pointing a shotgun at you and knocking it aside without so much as flinching is awesome no matter who does it.
- Nux eats a bug. An Australian bug, probably with giant fangs and venom glands the size of testicles. Talk about a Death Seeker...
- It's not just an Australian bug, it's a post-apocalyptic, probably irradiated, Australian bug!
- When the creepy pole-cat mook stabs Furiosa, Keeper of the Seeds comes out of an injured stupor to stab him in the eye with a bullet and Cheedo grabs him and throws the mook off the rig. Cheedo's act is a sign that she's come very far from the scared little girl she was.
- Keep in mind, Keeper is in her seventies and just took a chainsaw wound to the neck five minutes earlier, and, she has enough strength to take him out, not with a knife, not with a gun, not with a pistol, but with a measly little bullet.
- Said creepy pole-cat mook, nicknamed "Baby Doll" due to the creepy doll's head on the back of his mask, gets something of a CMOA all on his own. In a movie where most henchmen are dispatched by the main characters in seconds, if not milliseconds, this one bastard, survives being impaled and knocked off the truck, and manages to return, spear Max in the face with a crossbow bolt, and mortally wound Furiosa. Evil? Probably. Creepy? Absolutely. But you cannot say that guy lacked persistence.
- Keep in mind, Keeper is in her seventies and just took a chainsaw wound to the neck five minutes earlier, and, she has enough strength to take him out, not with a knife, not with a gun, not with a pistol, but with a measly little bullet.
- If there is a more awesome way to kill someone than smashing them off a monster truck with a flamethrowing electric guitar to the face, it hasn't yet been invented.
- Our babies will not be warlords. Stolen and kept as breeding stock by the most powerful man with an army of brainwashed war boys, with no fighting prowess at all and no way to protect themselves, the wives still had the guts to not only escape with the help of Furiosa, but to leave a taunting message for Joe. Joe might have kidnapped them, but he never owned them.
- The film winning a whopping SIX Oscars, more than any other 2015 film, a fact that easily gets overlooked because they were all in the technical categories.
Comics
- Nux's backstory in the comics where he, a toddler, tries to climb onto the lifting ramp. One of the guards notices and makes a game of scaring him to a fatal fall. But as he holds on, the other war boys take notice and start cheering for him to the point where the guard sees Nux's potential and sweeps him on board.
