'Mad Max: Fury Road': What Fans Think about Tom Hardy Playing the New Max?

"Mad Max: Fury Road" is set to hit the theatres this Friday, and fans are anxious to know how Tom Hardy will fare as the new max of 2015.

Fans were delighted to see Mel Gibson in the 7 May LA premiere of the movie. He had come there to support the newest creation of the movie franchise and hugged Tom Hardy to wish him all the best for the movie.

Tom Hardy seemed nervous, but he was totally thrilled to see the original "Max". He also mentioned that he has just "inherited the legacy" that director George Miller and Mel Gibson had built together, and worries whether he can keep up with the expectations of the "Mad Max" fans.

"When I got the part, it was good, but suddenly it struck me, 'Oh, sh-t, everybody loves Mel. And I'm the new kid, and they're going to hate me. So I suck already and I haven't even started'," said the 37-year-old actor.

But Hardy should not seem so vexed as the "Mad Max" team had earlier reported that the early snippets of the movie that were released had done very well with the audience. In fact, a self-professed "Mad Max" fan has written one of the lengthiest pieces of praise about the movie.

"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," wrote Randy on AFTimes.

Even the not-so-great fans of the action film seemed optimistic about the "Dark Knight Rises" star."Tom Hardy, The Max of our generation. He's a fantastic actor. I love this charismatic, gentle and hot man!" commented Kate Jones on US Magazine's website.

After the teaser of the movie was released last year, one of the Facebook posts by another fan read: "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."

So with such positive reactions from most of the die-hard "Mad Max" fans, it remains to be seen whether the movie gets similar reviews from the first-time watchers of this fourth instalment of the franchise.