Rotten Tomatoes gave it a score of, if I recall correctly, 98%, so I guess their critics are too "sophisticated" to bothered by depraved gore and figurative darkness and just appreciate the movie for its artistic merit.
And it does have a lot of artistic merit. For example, a couple of the actors/characters they picked and designed for the leaders of the Citadel were aesthetically perfect and striking/mesmerizing. And they seemed to put a lot of effort into designing the many, many ways in which ad hoc machines shredded and otherwise destroyed dozens of antagonists in rapid succession.
Another thing the movie had going for it, speaking purely of aesthetics, was that the main character was as cute as you can possibly get: she was played by Anya Taylor-Joy.
And speaking of actors and characters, Chris Hemsworth's portrayal of Dr. Dementus (the main antagonist of the film) was really good. I mean, the character was totally original and nothing like anything else Hemsworth has ever played and fit well into the movie. In fact, I literally didn't even recognize that it was Chris Hemsworth throughout the whole film; I only found out after it was over when my mom mentioned it.
One other character I appreciated from this movie was Praetorian Jack, the truck driver. He was very cool in how smoothly and nonchalantly he handled all the various life-threatening intrusions onto his truck by the opposing gang. Though it wasn't as pat as you would expect from most movies: at the risk of including a spoiler, he did end up losing the truck in the end.
But, to go back to the aesthetic qualities of the Citadel leaders, what really mesmerized me the most about this movie was the getup of Immortan Joe, the main leader. I mean, it was such a perfect depiction of sickness, especially sickness in power, and the artificial sustaining of an improper life. Everything from his fierily protruding white hair to his pale face with stark darkness around his eyes to his mouth-covering machinery to, especially, his abdomen cover with perfect contours and organic patterns of off-white and pus yellow coloration, worked together to create a penetrating ensemble. Oh, and his artificially boomy voice fit into that well, too.
But regarding the degree of overall disturbingness of this movie, I've never seen another one that compares. The most bleak movie I'd seen before this one was Pi (which I hated, not only because it was bleak and black-and-white, but because the plot was super thin and the ideas contained therein were trite and irrational, but mostly because it was bleak af), and that move didn't even come close to making me worry about my own mental health.
One redeeming thing that can be said about this movie, though, is that it had a positive ending (because of course it would), and what happens to the antagonist at the end is...interesting, to say the least.
Another overall feature of this movie, which may be for better or for worse, is that it was fairly unrealistic for a variety of reasons. I suppose it has something of a fantasy-film streak, if I'm using that term right.
Regarding the quality of the overall plot/story, I thought it was okay, minus the extremely bleak aspects.
So, in the end, if I could go back and choose knowing what I know now, would I choose to have ever seen this movie, or not? And what rating would I give it? To be honest, I'm not sure. I suppose all impressive experiences have value. Or at least most of them. And as for the rating, uhhh...I'm thinking either a 1 or a 2 (scale unknown). 1 because it was so harsh on my mind and I hated it, but 2 because it had a fair amount of artistic/aesthetic merit, which adds to my overall life experience.
Should you go and see this movie? Tbh, I guess probably; most people probably aren't as squeamish as I am.
