Went to my 4th and final theatrical viewing last night. It's landed high on my list of best films ever.
What I really appreciated this time around were small moments of character transition. When Furiosa barely makes it back into the rig as they start to flee the canyon, and Max goes from keeping a gun trained on her to handing her one. They lock eyes for about a second, and you can see the implied question in her eyes - do you trust me? - and Max's affirmative in reply. It's wordless, effortless character work to progress their relationship from antagonists to partners.
Another is when Furiosa is reuniting with the Many Mothers, and she tells them her own mother died, on the third day of her captivity. The Mothers perform a gesture, clutching up to the sky and pulling it to their heart, upon hearing the news. Furiosa does the same, slowly, first with sadness, then with a small smile. Without any dialogue, we know this is the gesture used to mark someone's death, and that it was not part of the culture in the citadel, and Furiosa is remembering it from her childhood in that moment. She's sad, but it's also reminding her that she's home. It's a brilliant bit of acting.
Nearly every scene in Fury Road is jam packed with this kind of nuanced, wordless story telling. Entire character arcs unfold with little to no exposition, but they work because of the detail put into every moment. That this kind of detail also extends to the action makes the film incredibly rich on rewatches. (Favorite detail this time: After the sandstorm, Max finds and opens a shotgun, to check if it's loaded. Before he closes it, he brushes the sand off the back of the shells, so it won't interfere with their firing. Details, man. Details.)
