When director George Miller finally returned to the Wastelands with Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) after 30 years, he presented us not only with a masterclass of filmic action, but also gifted us with one of the more intriguing characters ever to come out of the Wastelands: Furiosa.
Portrayed by Charlize Theron, Furiosa was a fierce battle-hardened warrior of the Fury Road with a near-singular determination to reach The Green Place, a home she had been taken from as a child. Nine years later, we get her story on screen. Reportedly, the screenplay was ready before Fury Road was made, serving as a back-story fo the character then.
That marks quite the departure from the last few Mad Max movies that usually take place over a few days (yes, the first movie spreads over more than that too). We follow Furiosa from a child (Alyla Browne) to young adult (Anya Taylor Joy), going from Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) to Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme, brilliantly evoking the late Hugh Keays-Byrne), ultimately setting her on the collision with Max.
We see and learn the world through her eyes. We get a much deeper look into the two other towns merely hinted at in Fury Road, GasTown, and the Bullet Farm. Much of the action around those place are due to the actions of Dementus and his warlord tendencies. In that, Hemsworth is clearly relishing and dominating the role, partly hidden beneath some subtle prosthetics, that costume, and that vocal choice.
Both Alyla Browne and Taylor-Joy do remarkably well in pretty much standing toe-to-toe with Hemsworth, with Taylor-Joy doing more heavy lifting for much of the movie. That’s considering she doesn’t take over as Furiosa until about an hour into the movie, and has very minimal dialogue. As a movie that’s part of the Mad Max world, it seems in line to have the main character’s actions speak louder.
And the action here remains impressively in line with the rest of the saga, One particularly extended set-piece may seem familiar, but the intensity of the design and choreography sets it apart from its predecessor, and that’s amid the other bits of organised chaos throughout the movie. It also adds to the near two and a half hours movie length
Despite that, it feels like there is a lot of story that got left out. It felt like there was more than enough material for some kind of mini-series, particularly where Dementus is concerned. The story here is split into chapters, and each chapter still feels truncated at times. A lot must have happened within that third act bit where the narrator sets the scene.
Still, kudos and props to director George Miller for delivering an engaging movie where you don’t feel the time and still leave you wanting oh-so-much-more. The technical prowess on display, from the production designs of the world, the costumes, the mechanics, the cinematography, to the music; everything resonates with visual and cinematic flair. It is a very different movie from what has come before, so if you’re expecting another non-stop adrenaline rush of Fury Road, you may be a disappointed.
I don’t know if there has ever been a consistent theme to the Mad Max Saga. The movies, particularly since The Road Warrior (1981), are pretty much “Tales from The Wastelands” with a focus on the denizens who have encountered the wanderer simply known as Max who simply wanders off by the end of each story. No rule to say one of those tales can’t focus on other characters. And we do have quite the bunch of characters to spend some time with.
In any case, this is movie making at its finest delivering quite the cinematic experience.
Rating: 💥💥💥💥 /5
Directed by George Miller
Written by George Miller & Nick Lathouris
Stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Alyla Browne, Tom Burke, Lachy Hulme, Angus Sampson, Nathan Jones, Josh Helman, Goran D Klet, George Shhevtsov, Elsa Pataky
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