No matter what, the Palme d'Or always carries weight. "Fury Road" winning the Cannes Palme d'Or has added even more anticipation for fans eagerly awaiting its release especially those outside North America. The Palme d'Or is still quite a dazzling halo.
The Cannes Film Festival had just ended when Duke rushed back to North America. The global release of "Fury Road" was imminent.
On May 22nd, crowds packed the front of the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The North American premiere of the already much-hyped "Fury Road" was being held there.
Previously, North American media and fans who had seen the film early couldn't praise it enough, with statements like "a cosmic-level word-of-mouth masterpiece" flooding in one after another.
Standing outside the red carpet at the Chinese Theatre, Norman Shiller saw Duke quickly walking across without stopping, clearly heading straight into the cinema. He had waited far too long for this movie!
Right in front of him, the promotional poster for "Fury Road" stood out prominently.
On the movie poster, bold desert-yellow font asked—"Are you crazy enough?"
"Maybe Duke really went crazy this time," Norman Shiller murmured as he looked at the poster.
Suddenly, someone next to him said, "I don't think Duke went crazy he just has enough passion and energy to make such a cool movie."
Standing in the noisy premiere scene, that person proactively extended his hand to Norman Shiller. "Hello, Shiller. I know you. You're the head of the Duke Rosenberg Fan Club in Los Angeles, right?"
Norman Shiller nodded and shook his hand. "Hi. I know you too Josson, right? You're a member of the Duke Rosenberg Fan Club in San Francisco."
The two exchanged a smile. Skipping the crowd at the main entrance, they headed toward the side entrance open to fans.
As they walked, Josson said, "I saw this movie at Cannes."
"Oh?" Norman Shiller immediately asked, "Now that the media is blowing it up like crazy, and it won the Palme d'Or it seems like none of Duke's past films got this kind of treatment?"
"I think the treatment given to 'Fury Road' still isn't enough."
Once inside the theater, they found suitable seats. After sitting down, Josson said to Norman Shiller, "This is by no means an ordinary commercial film. In an age when audiences are becoming increasingly numb, this movie can make your blood boil. If you haven't seen it yet…"
He pointed to the big screen. "Don't hesitate—see it with your own eyes."
"But…" Josson added, "I'm not sure you'll like the style. It's a bit special, and it's an R-rated film. The audience won't be as broad as Duke's previous works."
Norman Shiller had seen the trailer and roughly understood the style. After chatting a bit more with Josson, when the big screen lit up, he quickly shut his mouth and focused all his attention on the movie.
From the opening scene, the film was full of wonder, wildness, and dominance. It instantly gave him a soaring sensation!
Although his expectations had already been heightened by countless instant shares and media reviews, within just twenty minutes of watching, Norman Shiller was completely convinced the film far exceeded his already sky-high expectations!
This was totally a story about a bunch of lunatics chasing another bunch of lunatics—shot by a lunatic!
Yes. The plot was extremely simple he could summarize it in one sentence: a bunch of lunatics chasing another bunch of lunatics!
The film's setting was an endless desert, with yellow sand swirling in the wind. Among them was Tom Cruise, stubbled and wearing a condom on his head; a short-haired Charlize Theron with a missing arm, who also got stabbed twice; the big sister of the Victoria's Secret Angels, Alessandra Ambrosio, heavily pregnant, eventually undergoing a C-section; the little Green Goblin, James Franco, manic and constantly shouting about sacrificing for the lord and he really did in the end; and that big villain no idea who played him but what an amazing performance, though his face got ripped to shreds at the end…
There were all sorts of freaks… all kinds of wildly imaginative action scenes… violence! Madness!
And all kinds of modified cars whose names Norman Shiller didn't know they were constantly on the road, roaring and spewing furious red flames!
At the same time, another grand premiere was happening in Los Angeles. Over at the Chandler Hall, "The Adventures of Tintin" was nearing its end.
Gross could be called a Tintin comics fan. Watching the film on the big screen, he had a huge sense of puzzlement. The movie had no obvious flaws everything that needed to be done was done but he just found it a bit boring.
As a "Tintin fan," he had very high expectations for the movie beforehand. But after watching it, he found it dull…
He took his eyes off the screen and frowned in thought. After a while, he began to see some of the movie's shortcomings.
The progressive narrative with clear character orientation that Spielberg's films usually had was completely absent in "The Adventures of Tintin." Instead, the characters' objectives were confused. The model ship at the beginning of the film failed to further emphasize its mystery before losing narrative force and being replaced by a "treasure map" yet the characters' motivations regarding the "treasure map" were not clearly expressed. A family feud then appeared abruptly.
As a result, the characters' motivations always seemed vague as they drove the plot forward.
Another issue was that the characters were fragmented into blocky scenes. This lack of continuity meant that character development couldn't happen through narrative actions. What he saw were fragmented farces. Among these chaotic segments, aside from showcasing the 3D technology's viewing experience, there was no contribution to character depth or the formation of new narrative drivers.
This made the so-called "adventure" that should have a narrative chain and flow utterly invalid.
Flat character portrayals and ineffective character setups also reflect the film's hollowness. Tintin, the protagonist, doesn't give off any sense of adventure—he's merely a dumb kid with a lot of luck. This makes the so-called "adventure story," which should have had a narrative chain and fluid feel, entirely unconvincing.
He was very disappointed in this film and felt it was a total waste of dollars.
At an IMAX cinema in Central, Hong Kong, Wang Xiaobei's eyes were wide open. With the unfolding of the plot, his emotions kept rising. He didn't regret at all the impulsive decision to fly to Hong Kong after reading Guan Yadi's blog.
Because this film was fucking worth it!
This was totally a wild, flashy, badass, explosive heavy-metal film!
Although the plot was very simple, the various tiny details stuffed in made it overwhelming in the best way. First, the color scheme the dry desert yellow completed the entire tone, supplemented by the blue of the desert sky, the iron gray unique to damaged motorcycles, the flamboyant red clothing of the guitar player and his flame-throwing electric guitar, the fierce orange-red lightning in the desert storm, and the cool moonlight blue of the desert night was simply rich yet perfectly harmonious!
The action scenes were very clear and didn't overwhelm or confuse the viewer despite their fast pace. Then there were all kinds of little accessories typical of a post-apocalyptic world Tom Cruise's muzzle in the beginning, various metal skull logos on the fortress motorcycles, Theron's mechanical arm, vintage-styled and finely textured guns, and the variety of weapons used in the chase scenes. Also, the Victoria's Secret models wore clothes that were both flowing and figure-flattering. Most importantly, the film's background score really elevated it, creating a strong sense of immersion. Add in the flamboyant red guitar guy swinging on cables while jamming—the thrill practically exploded out of the screen!
Especially that flame-throwing electric guitar guy hanging on the rig he absolutely represents the "I'll die if I don't show off" crowd. That final close-up of the wrecked guitar totally proved that old saying "Show off, get struck by lightning!"
When the film ended, Wang Xiaobei, like the rest of the audience, stood up and clapped wildly. The movie was way more exciting than how Guan Yadi described it!
After watching Fury Road, he finally understood why so many people said Fast & Furious 4 felt like a bunch of eunuchs pulling each other's hair girly and laughable—because Duke Rosenberg had completely gone berserk!
Hormones were raging everywhere, with all kinds of flashy fights and chases. And that final black screen with blood-red subtitles… It ran counter to today's mainstream high-tech, flashy "sci-fi"—there were no satellites, electronics, spaceships, aliens, or super weapons only primitive action moves, and both sides drove modded vehicles, brawling and bashing.
This return-to-roots, brain-blasting, cool and exhilarating sci-fi epic flowed with a kind of raw and wild cinematic blood.
Fury Road absolutely deserves a spot in the ranks of world film history. These scenes, characters, action, and roles—holy crap… it was sick as hell!
With that in mind, Wang Xiaobei rushed back to the hotel, opened his laptop, and went on Guan Yadi's blog. There were already tons of comments about Fury Road. He typed furiously.
"I'm that guy who got triggered by Guan Yadi and flew to Hong Kong to watch Fury Road. Bad influence, man!"
"But I'm glad I came to Hong Kong, because what I saw was absolutely a god-tier movie of cosmic proportions. I was watching it on my knees inside my heart!"
"Fury Road had a simple but complete story, and every character was spot on. Getting the characters right in a simple story is extremely hard, so the story deserves a kneel."
"The cinematography was insanely cool and nearly perfect. Duke's go-to guy John Schwartzman shot it, a seasoned scenery freak definitely deserves a kneel. The art design was also off-the-charts cool, and every detail made me scream internally WTF! How did they even think this stuff up? Everyone's gonna love that guitar guy, and Theron's mechanical arm and short hair were absolutely killer too."
"And the action choreography—utterly badass. Some scenes were historic-level—any doubts I had before, I silently knelt after watching. The music and sound design? Again, totally badass. Textbook-level stuff. I could loop the soundtrack for a whole month. The actors were all amazing—Theron's portrayal of the female lead deserves a place in film history. The VS models in flowing white against the yellow desert? Beautiful as hell. For fans of this genre, it's totally worth watching three times!"
..
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