Earlier this week, the Hollywood Theatre screened Mad Max Fury Road: Black & Chrome, George Miller’s black-and-white version of his perfect film. With its lurid oranges and teals swapped out for high-contrast blacks and whites, Black & Chrome leans toward Cormac McCarthy—a little less Fury Road and a little more The Road, it somehow feels even more exhilarating, urgent, and allegorical than Miller’s original theatrical version. Not for nothing did an audience member shout “TRUMP!” when Immortan Joe first heaved into frame.
Fury Road’s been in my head a lot the past week or two, sharing space with 2006’s Children of Men, Alfonso Cuarón’s weary portrait of the final days of a wheezing empire, where brute force is policy and refugees are corralled in pens.
As 2017 shudders on, we may find that science fiction is our only relevant genre.
The second season of The Expanse, Syfy’s adaptation of James S.A. Corey’s sprawling book series, premieres tonight—and if it’s anything like the first season, it’ll be pretty remarkable.