With production kicking off in the summer of 2012, George Miller‘s Mad Max: Fury Road will finally be hitting theaters nearly three years later, following a lengthy post-production, one complete with reshoots. While we have yet to see any glimpses of the final product, outside of some snaps of Tom Hardy on set, Warner Bros. screened the film for the first time in Burbank last night and the first impressions of the post-apocalyptic actioner have landed, along with a new synopsis.

Despite the wait for this one to get into theaters, it looks like it’ll be worth our while, with mostly positive impressions coming in. However, note that the cut (currently around two hours) was a work-in-progress with more effects and sound design to be completed, as well as 3D. So, check out the impressions below (with more at the source for the first one) for the fourth film in the franchise and return if any new ones arrive.

Randy at AFTimes:

This IS the kind of Mad Max II/The Road Warrior on steroids, go-big-or-go-home, bug-nuts crazy, toss-you-in-the-deep-end mythology and put-it-all-out-there-in-case-we-never-make-another-one Mad Max Fury Road. This movie feels like thirty years of Miller holding in passion for a world that he built so long ago, exploding on the screen. You, remember the third act of The Road Warrior, the bad-ass truck chase that is still hailed as a masterpiece of filmmaking? You do? Good. Because that’s what this whole movie pretty much is-and it works! A chase that goes long and deep into the heart of Miller’s post-apocalyptic world, trying to get out of the Wasteland. It opens up and hardly slows down.

Went to a preview screening tonight of Mad Max: Fury Road… Due out in a few months and you are in for a treat… — Adam Lamar (@Antiochian2010) May 1, 2014

Kevin West on Facebook:

Just came from a year in advance screening of “Mad Max Fury Road”. Weird to not see Gibson as Max but Tom Hardy holds it down just fine. Great action sequences and amazing post apocalyptic vehicles and costuming with awesome makeup.

Update: See another, from a reader at Collider:

“Just saw a Mad Max advance screening. I can’t say much about it but let’s just hope they do tons of re-shoots before it’s released next year, or start again from scratch. Also Tom Hardy can’t stop doing the Bane voice. So annoying.”

New Synopsis:

“MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is the fourth film of George Miller‘s Road Warrior/Mad Max franchise co-written and directed by Miller. The post-apocalyptic action film is set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and most everyone is crazed fighting for the necessities of life. Within this world of fire and blood exist two rebels on the run who just might be able to restore order… There’s Max (played by TOM HARDY from The Dark Knight Rises), 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… Furiosa (played by CHARLIZE THERON from Prometheus), 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.”

Also starring Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, Riley Keough, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Hugh Keays-Byrne, and Nathan Jones, Mad Max: Fury Road arrives on May 15th, 2015.

What do you think of the first impressions?