Here's Why We're Excited for 'Mad Max: Fury Road'

The creator of Happy Feet Two is back — and this time, he’s really out of control! Yes, writer-director George Miller, who started the Mad Max series more than 35 years ago, will return to his penguin-free franchise with next summer’s Mad Max: Fury Road (you can watch the trailer here). The film, which is out May 15, stars Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron as desert-dwellers caught in the middle of a massive water-war, one that apparently involves cars blowing up every fifteen seconds or so. Here are a few reasons why we’re excited Miller has finally decided to go beyond Beyond Thunderdome:

1) The bad guys look craaaaaaaaazy.

Take the extras from Duran Duran’s “Wild Boys” video and combine them with the Misfits at their early-’80s skull-punk prime, and you might come up with Fury Road's wild-eyed, chalky-looking crazies, who cruise through the desert with spears and jeers. They also carry stand-alone steering wheels, which they presumably use to play the most violent, carnage-strewn game of Mario Kart ever made.

2) Every single vehicle in this film is contractually obliged to explode at some point.

"We are killing for oil," intones a stern-sounding voice at the beginning of the clip — and clearly, that oil shortage is partly due to the endless array of cars and trucks going up in flames during the trailer’s numerous high-speed chases. So many explosions! So many out-of-control tires! Vin Diesel just watched this trailer on his Nook (he got it for free) and texted “bro, maybe this is too much?” to himself.

3) Tom Hardy is hardly talkin’.

In fact, we never see him say a word on-screen (though we do hear him say “My world is fire and blood” at the clip’s beginning). That may be because he spends at least part of the movie wearing what looks like a homemade Bane mask. But the strong, silent type is fine with us: After all, it’s not like the original Road Warrior — played by Mel Gibson — was that chatty, and he seemed to do just fine (Mad Max, that is. Gibson would be better off wearing a Bane-mask for the rest of his life). But quiet-riot Hardy does get to do some cool post-apocalyptic pole-vaulting moves, so it’s all good.

4. Charlize Theron is a real road worrier.

None of our heroes smile in this trailer, but Theron seems especially glum: “Out here, everything hurts,” she says, shortly before we see her collapsing in the sand and indulging in a long, cleansing scream — the same moise we made shortly after walking out of the 10:10 showing of Reindeer Games at the Paramus Plaza Mall back in 2000.

5. Nicholas Hoult is showing some serious skin.

The X-Men star is a bald, chap-lipped lunatic in this one, though it’s unclear whose side he’s playing on. It’s a far cry from his mane-gig getup as the Beast — though, come to think of it, he can always use that costume for the inevitable spin-off, Mad Max: Furry Road.