Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Let me start off by saying this, if you enjoyed the last movie, you'll probably get a good time out of this one. That being said, it's night and day when you compare the two. I'm a huge fan of the last one, the spectacle and action make it one of the best films of all time imo, and it's clear they tried to recreate that with this movie, but for me it falls flat. Most, if not all, action sequences are all CGI, it's good CGI, but you can absolutely tell it's CG. There are lots of times in the movie where it straight up just looks out of a video game. I get where this comes from, the shots they go for are definitely a bit more ambitious, but it's lacking the chunky and gritty realism of the last film. The action can seem floaty and overly ragdolly at times because of this. Regardless, this isn't my biggest complaint with the movie, my biggest is the story. There are times when things just happen for no good reason at all, in an effort to avoid spoilers, I won't list them, but they are painstakingly obvious. For example, an integral character gets killed and it seems to be of zero consequence to one of the characters, even though the movie spends some time trying this half baked romance. I also just couldn't get into Anya Taylor-Joy as furiousa, maybe it's just a me thing, but she just doesn't really fit the gritty role she's meant to play. Chis Hemsworth is a standout performance though, although I do think, again, the writing for his character is a bit garbage. Regardless, this is a fun movie, lots of cool action shots, and pretty good if you have no preconceptions and expectations stemming from the last movie.

Furiosa would be easier to watch if Fury Road never happened. After the incredible cinematography magic that genius John Seale weaved, Furiosa felt just like some lacklustre adaptation of a far superior source material.

Only thing I found charming was the overall 80's feel, resembling the style of a Road Warrior, and some scenes feel like they were recreated straight from the original trilogy. While action sequences are, as expected, top notch, the epic sense of awe and sheer crazy excitement that ludicrous stunts and choreography brought us in Fury Road was lacking. Editing was sometimes atrocious. Even in the best action or "poignant" scenes this movie had to offer, I never felt that I'm watching it from the edge of my seat, nor did I get emotionally involved with any of characters.

Speaking of which, acting was fairly wooden, lines declamatory delivered, the script overall seemed recycled and overly done, bordering on boring. Storytelling was chaotic, rushed and dragged at the same time. Sometimes the unnecessary narrator helped things to move along, unfortunately in a bad way.

But the major flaw was that there was no hero's journey for any of characters. Furiosa is the same person at the beginning as she is at the end of a movie, same as Dementus. Remember Nux and his journey? There is nothing like it in Furiosa. Furthermore, Furiosa endures every hardship with the same fierce look in her eyes - we never see pain, never fear, never doubt. She shrugs any injury off, like a terminator. It was hard to get emotionally involved with her character. Unfortunately, she came across as a classic girl boss, amazing in everything she does from the start to the finish, as a kid, and as an adult. Relationship between Furiosa and Praetorian Jack is so robotic and unemotional it's painful to watch. Dementus's monologue at the end was a snoozefest. All in all, I witnessed it, and found it mediocre.

It would be folly to try and outdo Fury Road and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is smart enough to not even attempt that. It's a completely different film in its structure which allows it to be a prequel that tells a complete story on its own whilst still enhancing Fury Road with its world building. The fact that George Miller is still telling stories in the wasteland at this scale is a real gift.

Alyla Brown gets a lot more screen time than child versions of pre-established characters usually get and with next to no dialogue she is superb at communicating everything without words. Carrying that on for the second half, Anya Taylor-Joy does a phenomenal job and was right to fight to keep the scream in. If you need someone to act exclusively with their eyes, she is as perfect as they come.

Chris Hemsworth is clearly relishing the opportunity to play a properly mad villain with Dementus and has so many chill inducing moments. This is easily the best he's been so far, completely unhinged with just enough depth to explain everything he does. He's a complicated figure who always seeks power but is never able to truly hold onto it.

George Miller truly is a genius when it comes to exploring this franchise. Getting to see a fully realised Gas Town and Bullet Farm allows this world to cohere like never before and the action crafted here is so epic with gorgeous imagery that refuses to slow down. Just like John Seale achieved last time, Simon Duggans's cinematography can keep the action clean no matter what's thrown at it.

It makes sense that the only way Tom Holkenborg could come close to his best work on Fury Road was to return to the wasteland and his score here continues to compliment the kineticism of the action so well. The only downside is the CGI which looks pretty bad at various points and stands out further because of how well Fury Road implemented it.

Pretty good movie. Enough action and with enough speed for the most part. Fun to see the three major settlements back from the 2015 mad max saga.

In the begin I did worry a little bit about the green screen effect what I did notice but that feeling faded away over time.

There is however one big negative and that was the last 20/30minutes. Slow paced, little bit boring and dragged on.. I was kinda waiting for the movie to just end. Its a shame because it makes you leave the theaters with a bad taste for a pretty good movie.

Actors were decent, script decent, action decent, green screen decent (but could been better), story line decent (except ending).

All by all 7out of 10.

I feel many go into Furiosa expecting a Mad max movie, and at its core it is so much different. With its predecessor being Fury road, Furiosa had a very high bar to achieve. However, these 2 movies are so different, while they may seem similar they are completely different action movies. Furiosa takes on a much more different aesthetic with the use of slightly more darker and less vibrant colors, a much different protagonist, and a more complex story. The use of cgi is pretty disappointing, if you have a keen eye you can pretty easily the digital doubles and green screen. Anya Taylor-Joy gives an absolutely amazing performance. Dare I say she is better than Charlize Theron in Fury Road? Absolutely! Chris Hemsworth was also great and hilarious. Furiosa, while it may have many flaws, is one of the best action movies to come out in recent times, and I hope it gets the recognition it deserves. Furiosa is in no ways perfect, but do I love it? Yes.