Hold onto your hats because, if our first look at the next long-overdue instalment of Australia's legendary Outback chase movie trilogy is any indication, 'Mad Max: Fury Road' is going to be epic.
The first trailer for the fourth movie in the iconic Mad Max series – and the first since 1985 – was shown on July 28 at San Diego's Comic-Con festival, attracting widespread acclaim for its wild action sequences.
Indeed, the film's director, Australian George Miller, himself describes it as “one long, extended chase”.
While there's no sign of Mel Gibson, with actors Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron playing the starring roles this time round, Aussie celebrity Megan Gale gets a guernsey and even makes the trailer, covered in road grime and holding a gun.
The role of Gale, who last worked with Miller when the 38-year-old played Wonder Woman in the ill-fated 2008 film Justice League of America, is not yet known.
Once again the Mad Max conflict surrounds the scarcity of resources, but unlike the first three Max Max movies -- which were inspired by the 1973 oil crisis, the Fury Road battle is over water.
Hardy stars as ‘Mad’ Max Rockantansky in the post-apocalyptic action movie, while Theron plays rebel imperator Furiosa.
“The film is set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken and everyone is crazed fighting for the necessities of life," says the film/s synopsis.
“Within this world of fire and blood exist two rebels on the run who just might be able to restore order.
"There’s Max, a man of action and a man of few words, who seeks peace of mind following the loss of his wife and child in the aftermath of the chaos.
“And [there’s] Furiosa, a woman of action and a woman who believes her path to survival may be achieved if she can make it across the desert back to her childhood homeland.”
As before, however, gob-smacking action sequences featuring plenty of carnage are what the critics are raving about.
"The 'Mad Max: Fury Road' footage that played at San Diego Comic-Con was easily the craziest thing I’ve seen in four years of attending the show," reported Josh Wigler for MTV News after viewing an extended trailer at Comic-Con.
"It couldn’t have lasted more than four or five minutes, but it felt like it went on for an eternity. My jaw was on the ground the entire time it played. My heart was thumping out of my chest with each explosion, with each bone-crunching punch, with each death-stare delivered by Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron.
"There aren’t enough words to do the insanity justice -- it’s the kind of madness you have to see to believe.
"The trailer isn’t the full footage that was shown at Hall H, but it’s enough of a taste to get you pumped up for George Miller’s long overdue return to the “Mad Max” franchise.
"The massive fire and electric storm seen at around the 1:55 mark lasted for about two straight, unflinching minutes during the Comic-Con presentation, and it just got more and more horrifying (and goddamn amazing) with each and every passing second.
"If the entire movie is as kinetic as that one scene ... then movie theaters will want to keep paramedics on standby; there are going to be a lot of unhinged jaws when 'Fury Road' rolls out next summer."
Due in cinemas on May 15, 2015, 'Mad Max: Fury Road' has been a long time coming. Development began more than a decade ago in 2003 and filming started in 2012, but production was plagued by setbacks, including finding suitable backdrops around Broken Hill, which was in the middle of a desert bloom that detracted from the post-apocalyptic ‘feeling’.
Multiple Australian motocross champion and four-time winner of the legendary Mr Motocross title, Stephen Gall, was a motorcycle stunt coordinator on the movie.