On May 23, the post-apocalyptic action film «Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga» was released in cinemas. This is a spin-off prequel to one of the greatest action blockbusters of at least the 21st century «Mad Max: Fury Road» (2015) and the fifth film in George Miller’s gritty, anarchic franchise. In this review, we will tell you what the Australian director offers this time and how Anya Taylor-Joy, who replaced Charlize Theron, feels in the title role.
Pluses:
extremely exciting action scenes and a sufficient number of them; Anya Taylor-Joy did a great job with the role after the goddess Charlize Theron; overall, a good addition to the series' mythology;
Minuses:
noticeably uneven pacing of the narrative and, accordingly, annoying sags; the degenerate antagonist played by Chris Hemsworth may not appeal to everyone; certain plot conventions;
«Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga»
Genre post-apocalyptic action movie
Director George Miller
Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Lachy Hulme, Nathan Jones, Angus Sampson, Charlie Fraser, John Howard
Premiere movie theaters
Year of issue 2024
Website IMDb
The post-apocalyptic Australia is once again in turmoil. In the middle of the sun-scorched barren wasteland, a special place called Themyscira is a paradise where a young girl named Furiosa lives. But one day, dirty bikers kidnap her and take her to their muscular leader, Dementus, who learns about the Green Lands and tries to ask the girl for directions. The girl’s mother also falls under the villain’s disfavor, trying to get her unfortunate child back.
The turning point in this tragic story is when Dementus and his gang discover the Citadel — a city already familiar to the audience, where another dictator, Immortan Joe, has taken up residence. So while the two bad guys are figuring out their relationship, the protagonist will not only have time to grow up, but also get a mentor to help her carry out the longed-for act of revenge on the one who ruined her life.
Not that it can be called a trend, but 2024 has become a fertile time for stories set in harsh post-apocalyptic wastelands. As soon as the passions for «Fallout» as the next story in the setting of a ruined world drowned in total anarchy rushes to the screens. We recently devoted an entire issue to this fascinating topic article.
Nine years ago, George Miller gave the world one of the best examples of pure action cinema, uncluttered by unnecessary meaningful sentences or dialogues. At the same time, the Australian director and his team set the bar so high that it seemed impossible to surpass it. And it really is: «Furiosa» is noticeably inferior to its outstanding predecessor, at least in terms of narrative pacing and the level of tension in certain scenes.
However, if you don’t have too much of a preconception of «Fury Road» before watching it, and treat it more like a blank slate, it will do you good. «Furiosa» — is actually a good action movie, quite in the spirit of Miller’s franchise. It looks much better than the typical sterile blockbusters and is a great alternative to the soulless comic books of recent years.
As for the action — here Miller still has everything in perfect order. Every scene on the screen is a full bag of impressions, and every chase is literally breathtaking. Yes, you won’t find the effect of novelty by daylight, but it still looks damn exciting. And for the penetrating look of Anya Taylor-Joy, which the director beautifully highlights with the help of a play of light and shadow in one of the scenes, this movie can be forgiven a lot.
But, and this again distinguishes «Furiosa» from «Fury Road», the plot does not offer continuous action and is spread out over long stretches, which suggests a sagging and negatively affects the narrative pace.
This happens for two reasons. First — Miller is simply obliged to make forced pauses and explain some things because in prequels, i.e. backstories, this is usually what they do. The second, and it follows from the first, is that in «Furiosa» the chase becomes only a recognizable attribute of the story, while the whole «Fury Road» was a chase, within which a minimalist story unfolded.
We shouldn’t omit the fact of some plot conventions: the only one who really seems immortal here is the main character, and her disguise as a young man is ridiculous.
Anya Taylor-Joy is worthily taking over the baton from Charlize Theron tough warrior she is a bit of a sparse talker, like Schwarzenegger in «Terminator», and walks around with a severed arm, again, like Schwarzenegger in «Terminator 2». But the actress appears on the screen only after the first hour of the movie, and before that, young Alyla Brown takes over for her. With the help of artificial intelligence at each stage of growing up, he takes on more and more of his older colleague’s facial features.
The following stands out among others Chris Hemsworth with a fake nose, whose Dementus resembles Thor on hard drugs, as if the man had finally melted after Thanos’ snap (he even had room in his wardrobe for a superhero red cape).
In addition to Hemsworth’s persistent desire to drag his wife Elsa Pataky into cameo roles in almost every one of his films (here the Spanish beauty has two at once), and on the contrary, an attentive viewer will notice a really worthwhile cameo. Also from «Fury Road», the tireless inseminator Immortan Joe (played by Lachy Hulme, who replaced the deceased Hugh Keays-Byrne), the dumb ass Rictus Erectus and several other minor characters have migrated here.
«Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga» — a good movie, which, however, no longer produces such a strong effect as the previous part of the cult franchise. «Fury Road» — is still George Miller’s unattainable opus magnum. But you will definitely need seat belts while watching it, and the movie looks amazing at these maximum speeds.