“Ladies and gentlemen! Start your engines.”
Back in 2015 when Mad Max: Fury Road was released, it was a film that I don’t think anyone expected audiences to respond to as they did. It was 30 years since audiences had last been to the Australian Wasteland when they previously saw Max, then played by Mel Gibson, play the title hero in a dystopian trilogy that has a very loyal fan base. Fury Road managed to exceed expectations as it delivered on having over-the-top chases through the desert wasteland, spectacular stunts, a great score, and then there was the character of Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron, as a one-armed badass who managed to steal the film from Tom Hardy, who was now starring in the title role of Max. While I do love Fury Road, my major gripe was with the over-simplicity of the film. Basically it is nothing more than one large chase where our heroes spend 2/3 heading in one direction and then in the final portion decide to turn around and continue their chase. I have nothing against a great car chase; after all, I still think Vanishing Point is hands down the ultimate car film with the best chases put to celluloid, but considering George Miller had 30 years to brainstorm ideas and come up with a script, I would have hoped for a better story. Now we have Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, this time only nine years in the making. Expectations are pretty high, and with the summer box office looking pretty bleak, theater chains are in need of a hero, and it looks like Furiosa could fit the bill. Does the film succeed in being everything audiences could hope for and need, or is this just another dumpster-fire cash grab by the studios just churning out a sequel hoping it will stay in theaters longer than a few weeks before hitting VOD?
My first reaction to the film is that it delivers in being a visually stunning epic, and where he made up for the lack of story in Fury Road, he crammed it into every sand-filled moment of this 2 hour and 30 minute film. We haven’t been treated to this much storytelling in a Mad Max film since the first entry into the franchise, and if you are worried that more story may equal boring bits, you’d be surprised at how engaging every moment of Furiosa plays out. The first sign that this film was different from the rest was that this one is broken up into five chapters, each chapter functioning as its own act. This may unintentionally make the film feel weird with pacing because we’re conditioned with three-act story structure, but it works beautifully with this film, and it’s a reminder of how great of a storyteller George Miller can be. Let’s not forget he’s also given us the films Babe and Happy Feet and the underappreciated Three Thousand Years of Longing, so he’s not just a gearhead obsessed with testosterone-fueled pictures.
The film wastes no time as we see a young Furiosa being kidnapped from her home, which is simply called “the Green Place”. We watch as her mother pursues the riders into the desert and her attempts to pick them off one by one to retrieve her daughter, but also she wants to stop them before they can reach the rest of their gang to tell them about their home. I won’t say much more about this sequence but to say that this was a hell of a way to open this film, and I can’t imagine another film coming out this year with a better opening. This film had me hooked from the start, and any doubts I had were very quickly put to rest. This film just doesn’t understand mercy, it is brutal and unrelenting and has more sand than I ever care to see again in this lifetime.
Playing the young Furiosa is Alyla Browne, and this young actress is incredible. While she may not have a lot of dialog, what she conveys with her eyes and her body language is impressive, and you can believe that this little girl will grow up to be the badass she becomes in Fury Road. Now I should warn you, even though Anya Taylor-Joy may have top billing as Furiosa, it takes a long while before she comes on screen, I’d say definitely over an hour into the film before she appears on screen the first time. I’d be a little irked, but it definitely works, since for the story as we are watching a young Furiosa grow up in this violent wasteland, and we need to see how she becomes such a strong figure. The real star of the film, or at least who I feel steals this film, is Chris Hemsworth as Dementus, who is the leader of his group of raiders. He holds Furiosa captive and calls her his “daughter”, but that’s just a glimpse of how his mind works. For the longest time we’ve all known him as Thor, but I feel Dementus may be the role that will define his ability on screen. He’s twisted, he’s cruel, he’s charming, he’s self-obsessed, but damn, he’s a lot of fun to watch in this film. If the role wasn’t charismatic enough, Miller gives Dementus a badass motorcycle chariot to ride into battles with as though he’s a dystopian version of Ben Hur. Then we have Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme) and his ‘War Boys” who are running the Citadel which Dementus wants to seize control over, and we are introduced to two other fortresses, Gastown and Bullet Farm, which are other fortresses groups are looking to control.
Seeing Dementus and Immortan Joe feud is simply another layer of this richly textured film, and witnessing how Furiosa makes herself a wedge between the two is part of the fun about this film. Yes, we get plenty of action with mini-battles and chases through the wasteland, but I do have some gripes. How major they are is up to you to decide, but I can’t ignore these… Later in the film as Anya Taylor-Joy takes on the role of Furiosa, we see her develop a friendship with a guy called Praetorian Jack, played by Tom Burke. My issue isn’t with the performance, but with his presentation. He’s basically a generic version of Max, down to how he acts and dresses. I’m fine with her having a love interest, but did he really have to look so much like Max? It makes me question her actions in Fury Road … Still, this duo has great chemistry, and whether it’s the subtlety of their emotions for one another or just seeing them as a team kick ass , their part of the film is still a high point … Just saying, their time at the Bullet Farm, not even the best moment in the film, but still one of my favorite moments I’ve seen on screen in a while.
And then there is the most pointless shot of all …We get a single shot of Max with his interceptor, but it’s the exact shot we see in the very opening shot of Fury Road. That’s all we get; the way this shot teases the audience is the equivalent to cinematic foreplay that goes nowhere. I love this film; I love how we get answers to what happened to Furiosa’s arm and how she can handle herself around the trucks and use weapons. This is such a satisfying film; it makes me yearn for a film about Old Man Max and the true final act to his story. I know people can argue he’s just a mythic drifter like the Man With No Name, but I still would like to see Gibson have one more film in the wasteland.
This film shows that George Miller still has what it takes to make a great film. I know there are complaints about the use of CGI compared to the other films in the series. Yes, it’s obvious here, especially when you see shots of Fury Road in comparison, but still there are some pretty great stunts and chases, and man, the vehicles look beautiful in this film. The storytelling makes up for any slight gripes I may have. This is one I plan on seeing a couple more times before it leaves theaters, and it’s been the most fun I’ve had at the theater in a while. Come awards time I wouldn’t be surprised if this film rakes in a bunch of nominations. This is what the cinematic experience is about and streaming at home just can’t measure up to.
