It has become somewhat standard for films to release alternate, extended or directors cuts on Blu-Ray. While some of these cuts only add a few jokes that probably should have remained on the cutting room floor (I’m looking at you “Ghostbusters“) or otherwise throwaway moments, some directors use home video to rework problematic films. Michael Mann, in fact, just released his third cut of “Ali ” earlier this week. Additionally, despite “Alexander” – The Ultimate Cut coming out in 2014 (Oliver Stone’s fourth attempt at a re-edit), I believe I’ll be dead before Stone is happy with that film.
Meanwhile, one film that was universally loved upon release, “Mad Max: Fury Road” saw the release of the “Black and Chrome” edition during the holidays. This edition doesn’t so much change the content of the film as the form in which it’s delivered, though I suppose you can argue the two go hand in hand. George Miller has already gone on record stating his preference for the black-and-white cut, and now you can watch the film in its monochromatic glory on Blu-Ray or VOD to see what he is talking about.
Having seen the “Black and Chrome” edition, I honestly don’t understand why Miller prefers the cut but who am I to argue with him. At the very least, it’s an interesting experiment in how we visually perceive black and white films in a modern era. Remember that Miller is not the first to color-strip his films for home video. Frank Darabont’s “The Mist” and his first episode of “The Walking Dead“ experimented with the use of black and white as a method of re-editing. For me, watching “The Mist” in b&w shifted the entire film to something akin to a 1950s creature feature. While ‘Mad Max’ does not have the same effect, it only adds to this interesting experiment, as Miller states, “something about black and white, the way it distills it, makes it a little bit more abstract. Something about losing some of the information of color makes it somehow more iconic.”
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Black and Chrome edition is available to purchase here. Check out four clips below followed by a side-by-side comparison with the color version.
I’m one of six people in the world who shrugged the film off after seeing it but I’d give the Black and Chrome version another chance. I think George Miller was right. The colors are just indulgent for an already over-the-top movie. Say, come to think of it, why don’t we get a Black and Chrome version of Batman Forever?