A DYNAMIC new lead and an epic-scale chase will be at the center of the new “Mad Max” reboot, as Australian director George Miller reignites his explosive action thriller franchise as the fight for survival in the wasteland rages on.

    “Mad Max: Fury Road,” the fourth installment of the “Mad Max” franchise that began in 1979 with Mel Gibson in the lead role, saw a post-apocalypse dystopian Australia where police officer Max Rockatansky battles hardened criminals in the outback.

    Time Warner Inc.-owned Warner Bros’ “Fury Road,” due in theaters next year, is set 45 years in a post-apocalyptic future, and Miller said the whole film is a “105-minute chase scene through the wasteland.”

    The film has been about 15 years in the making, and Miller said that initially he was working with Gibson, but after 9/11, the project was scrapped. By the time the director picked it up again, Gibson was past the age he wanted Max to be.

    British actor Tom Hardy picks up the mantle of Max, and Miller said he embodies many of the qualities he first felt with Gibson.

    Not much is known about the plot, but fans at San Diego’s annual Comic Con were treated to exclusive footage Saturday, which showed leading characters including Max and Nux, played by Nicholas Hoult, in action and explosion-filled clips.

    Much of the first three films centered on the battle for energy resources and fuel, a conversation that was just beginning to gain traction at the time. Three decades later, Miller said, the same issues remain pertinent.

    Max, who becomes a lone, hardened warrior on his journey, will find himself once again caught up in other people’s journeys and problems in “Fury Road.”

    Joining Hardy is actress Charlize Theron, who plays Imperator Furiosa, a character that Miller described as an “equal” to Max, and who leads a slew of female actresses in the film franchise that was previously male-dominated.

    (SD-Agencies)