WHAT A WAY TO GET AROUND IN THE POST-APOCALYPTIC YEAR 2060: Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) directs the driver of his Rube Goldberg means of transportation. He will soon meet up with Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron, not shown) and help her in her quest to rescue a group of sex slaves from their captor Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne, not shown). (Photo by Jasin Boland—© 2012 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.)

Fury Road restarts the legendary Mad Max series which has been dormant for several decades. This fourth movie was again produced, written, and directed by Oscar-winner George Miller (Happy Feet) who chose Tom Hardy to replace Mel Gibson in the title role of Max Rockatansky — the former highway patrol officer who has become an intrepid road warrior who dispenses grisly vigilante justice.

Set in 2060 A.D., this post-apocalyptic adventure unfolds in the grim dystopia that is left after a series of global calamities that led to a breakdown of civilization. At the point of departure, we find Max haunted by his tragic past and hunted by desperate scavengers as he drifts around the vast wasteland in a rusty, rattling, off-road car.

The stoic gunslinger’s resolve to go it alone changes when he crosses paths with Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), a fearless female fleeing across the desert with a group of sex slaves hidden in her big rig. She’s just freed them from Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), a ruthless tyrant who wants his breeders back, especially Splendid (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), since she’s pregnant and may be carrying his first male heir.

The enraged warlord has dispatched a caravan of bloodthirsty goons who will stop at nothing to retrieve his so-called “wives.”

Fortunately, Max agrees to join forces with Furiosa when he learns of their plight. They plan to drive across the desert to “The Green Place,” a Shangri-La rumored to be teeming with water, vegetation, and other scarce natural resources. But to get there our hero and heroine must negotiate a gauntlet of evil adversaries driving dune buggies that are fitted with a variety of deadly military hardware.

An edge-of-your-seat high body-count movie that is riveting from start to finish despite the lack of any plot development.

Excellent (****). Rated R for disturbing images and relentless, intense violence. Running time: 120 minutes. Distributor: Warner Brothers.