Following up Mad Max: Fury Road was an unenviable task. I won’t lie. There are certainly moments in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga that flirts with the greatness of that film. However, these moments are often fleeting and followed by long frustrating stretches. If Fury Road was a breathlessly paced affair, then Furiosa has a tendency to hold its breath. A lot.
This is a prequel following Charlize Theron’s character, Furiosa. We see how she grew up and came to be in Immortan Joe’s army. And more importantly, how she lost her arm.
This is all well and fine, but Furiosa is sorely lacking the dynamic center that makes a Mad Max movie work. Namely, uh… Mad Max. Theron had no trouble carrying her share of Fury Road, and one could only imagine how much better this could’ve been with her in the driver’s seat. Sadly, we are saddled with Anya Taylor-Joy, who just isn’t quite up to the task as she seems much to waifish to be an action heroine.
The biggest issue though is with the movie’s structure. The story is told in five acts, only three of which were really necessary. There are also some time jumps that are oddly placed. Because of that, it’s missing the urgency of the other pictures. I mean, it’s hard to put the pedal to the metal when the narrative is starting and sputtering. Maybe Taylor-Joy could’ve made a better impression if she didn’t show up till about the fifty-minute mark.
I don’t want to seem like I’m too down on Furiosa because when it cooks, it sizzles. The first act finds director George Miller digging into western iconography as several moments have the feel of a John Ford movie. The big “War Rig” sequence harkens back to the Road Warrior days, and he gives us some memorable touches along the way (like the parachute dudes). The finale is solid too, but it’s much too uneven and overlong (it’s over two and a half hours) to really gel as a whole. Ultimately it just feels more like a collection of footnotes leading up to Fury Road than an honest prequel.
Chris Hemsworth is funny as Dementus, the villain. With his beak nose and squawking delivery, he seems like a post-nuke version of the Cocoa Puffs bird. His motorcycle chariot is by far the most unique and bizarre touch in the film. My favorite new character was “Octoboss”, although like most henchmen, he only has a few cool moments to shine before being dispatched.
It’s Hemsworth who gets the best line when he says, “When things go bonkers, you got to adapt!”
I thought Joy was pretty good in this.
ReplyDelete