Charlize Theron breaks out the big guns and kicks some serious butt in Mad Max: Fury Road, the fourth film in the franchise and the first to be released in almost 30 years. Meanwhile....Max, you look different. And Nicholas Hoult...what is...going on...
Tom Hardy takes over Mel Gibson's title role as Max Rockatansky in the new sequel, Mad Max: Fury Road, whose teaser trailer was released this week.
The cult sci-fi film series is set in dystopian Australia, which is overcome by gangs, and focuses on a former highway patrol cop who becomes a nomadic warrior (think Kevin Costner in the 1995 post-apocalyptic cult film Waterworld...in a desert) after the murders of his wife and son.
In Mad Max: Fury Road, Max meets a group of refugees, led by Imperator Furiosa, played by Theron, who shaved her head to play the role.
"Out here, everything hurts," Theron's character says. "You want to get through this? Do as I say."
The group is on the run after escaping from a Citadel ruled by the evil warlord Immortan Joe, portrayed by Hugh Keays-Byrne (who played Toecutter in the original Mad Max film, which came out in 1979). Hoult plays a scary looking bald dude with chapped, scarred lips, named Nux.
Set to the furious "Dies Irae" ("Day of Wrath") section of 19th century opera composer Giuseppe Verdi's iconic "Requiem," the trailer shows some action-packed, explosive road battle scenes that include souped-up desert vehicles (porcupine car?) and Theron's character showcasing some killer driving, shooting and combat skills (nice head-butt!). Among the cool special effects: massive dust storms.
Immortan Joe sports a mask that brings to mind both Hardy's character Bane from The Dark Knight Rises and Twisty the clown in FX's American Horror Story: Freak Show. Which is fitting, since "freak show" is a good way to describe the surviving population of the Mad Max world.
George Miller, who directed the three previous Mad Max movies, the last of which was released in 1985, also helmed the fourth film. Mad Max: Fury Road also stars models Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Abbey Lee, Zoë Kravitz, Riley Keough and Insidious star Angus Sampson.
The movie was filmed in Australia, Theron's home country of South Africa as well as in Namibia in Africa and is set for release on May 15, 2015.
A previous sneak peek video of Mad Max: Fury Road was released during 2014 San Diego Comic-Con in July. Watch it below.