Summary

• The Black & Chrome version of Mad Max: Fury Road transforms the viewing experience, emphasizing the starkness of the landscape.
• Removing color from the film doesn't detract from the experience but rather highlights different elements and creates a fresh perspective.
• Other modern movies like The Mist, Logan, and Parasite have also released black & white versions, showing the impact of color on storytelling.

Mad Max: Fury Road's Black & Chrome version presents George Miller's action epic in black and white, which transforms the viewing experience. Mad Max: Fury Road almost went before cameras with original lead Mel Gibson in 2003 before being cancelled, and it was stuck in development hell for many years. It finally hit screens in 2015 and proved to be worth the wait and then some. The film's blistering action and instantly iconic characters marked it as an instant classic, and one of the best films of the 2010s.

During promotion for the sequel, George Miller was already talking up the Mad Max: Fury Road Black & Chrome version, which was a cut entirely in black and white. Miller had wanted to do this as far back as Mad Max 2 when he saw an early rough cut in black and white and felt it added a primal element to the film. While releasing a different cut wasn't feasible back in the 1980s, Miller finally got his chance with Mad Max: Fury Road, especially when the movie proved to be a solid hit.

What's Different About Mad Max: Fury Road Black & Chrome

None Of The Shots Change, But The Tone Feels Incredibly Different

Mad Max: Fury Road Black & Chrome does exactly what it says on the tin, bringing viewers a monochromic new vision of the film's post-apocalyptic landscape. In contrast to the original version's bright, poppy colors that emphasized the bright yellows of the endless desert, Black & Chrome helps bring out the starkness of the landscape. Sequences like the sandstorm or Furiosa's devastated scream are given a new power, while the skeletal warpaint of the War Boys made even more pronounced.

It's amazing that removing color in Mad Max: Fury Road doesn't take away from the viewing experience.

Color plays a hugely important role in the cinematography of Mad Max: Fury Road. For example, the over-prominence of yellows, oranges, and browns of the desert make the rare glimpses of green when plants are seen all the more vivid. Furiosa's blue warpaint stands in stark contrast to the already monochromatic War Boys, and Immortan Joe's hueless pale flesh makes him seem almost inhuman. With all this in mind, it's amazing that removing color in Mad Max: Fury Road doesn't take away from the viewing experience.

Instead of making Fury Road any worse or better, Mad Max: Fury Road Black & Chrome instead makes for a fresh viewing experience. With the attention-grabbing palette removed from the equation, other equally masterful elements of George Miller's movie come to the foreground. This is especially true for many of the more intimate dialogue-driven moments, which can sometimes feel lost amid the high-octane action sequences (of which Fury Road has many).

It's strange how draining out the color can transform a movie, but Mad Max: Fury Road Black & Chrome feels like a different film despite featuring exactly the same footage. That said, some fans still prefer the theatrical cut of Max's fourth adventure for its eye-popping color, but thankfully, both versions are out there to choose from. George Miller also mentioned wanting to release a dialogue-free, score-only version, but this has yet to appear.

Other Movies With Special Black & White Versions

Several Films Have Alternate Noir Cuts

While Mad Max: Fury Road Black & Chrome is an intriguing viewing experience, it's also not unique. There are several modern movies that have been re-released with the color removed, and the black and white versions of recent films almost always make them feel totally different from the regular cuts. Three prominent examples from the last two decades are 2007's The Mist, 2017's Logan, and 2019's Parasite.

In the case of Frank Darabont's The Mist, the black and white version transforms the tale from a modern horror into a homage to the noir B-Movies of yesteryear. Viewing The Mist in black and white also makes the surreal feeling of the movie itself much more pronounced, especially since most of the monsters that keep the townsfolk trapped in a mall are only glimpsed through the thick titular fog. It must also be said that, since The Mist released almost two decades ago, the CGI definitely looks a lot less dated in the black and white cut.

As for Parasite, the dark South Korean thriller directed by Bong Joon-ho, the noir version somehow manages to exaggerate many of the core themes in the film. Pinpointing exactly how is a little trickier, as on the surface, Parasite isn't a movie that would necessarily stand out as a prime candidate for an alternate black and white version. However, 2020's Parasite: Black-and-White Edition still manages to be just as varied a viewing experience from the original as Mad Max: Fury Road Black & Chrome.

Like Logan Noir and Parasite: Black-and-White Edition, Mad Max: Fury Road Black & Chrome is one of several monochromatic re-releases that prove a key truth of filmmaking

Finally, there is 2017's Logan Noir, which is one of the most widely known black and white recuts of a modern movie. Logan Noir stands out for many of the same reasons Logan does, as it's a movie about superheroes that isn't a superhero movie. It's a dark, gritty character study with more emotional moments than any film about an X-Man ought to have, which is a key reason it was so successful.

Logan Noir simply serves to exaggerate these qualities. However, while what it does isn't overly complex, that doesn't mean it's not effective, as there are many fans who still attest that Logan Noir is the better version. All in all, like Logan Noir and Parasite: Black-and-White Edition, Mad Max: Fury Road Black & Chrome is one of several monochromatic re-releases that prove a key truth of filmmaking: color is important to cinematography, but sometimes its absence can be incredibly effective.