Mostly Engaging & It Has Its Reasons to Be What It Is
In totality, I like this film and its meaningful impact, even if it didn't find a way to suspend my disbelief throughout its unconventionality. It's about many things, including trauma, oppression, and vengeance. Perhaps the lack of nuance or depth in the most vile characters is a deliberate choice to dehumanize abusive figures. Dementus does speak, but only to justify his own inhumane actions and to make himself out as a savior. So, he's the perfect symbolic target for just deserts to fall upon. That wouldn't be much of a new story, though, and so that does justify some of the extraordinary means taken in the film's composition.
The initial tradeoff is that the villainy isn't entirely realistic, and any revenge upon Dementus seems hollowed out, empty. Nonetheless, the outrageousness of the scenes, and one in particular, kept rolling about in my mind. That, too, seems intentional. It's incidental to the plot, but there's a moment of screentime where Furiosa is tangled up with what's going on underground below the citadel. What the hags are doing under there and their attitude about it can't easily be forgotten. So, while the story comes through unevenly on screen, there seems to be some method to the madness-worming a way into our minds.
I was annoyed a bit with some things-the logistical absurdity of the society, awkward shifts to narration-but it's a fantastical show with captivating action, at times. For how different it is, I was willing to humor it all and watch. The most engaging, anticipatory scenes were often followed by narration or implied outcomes. In particular, the scenes where Furiosa is in search of a vehicle pulled me in. The scenes that follow deliberately avoid pandering to audience expectations, to send a message about what retribution might mean (and not mean) for survivors. That doesn't come off preachy, or didn't to me, but did detract from the tension built in those prior scenes. The value in such moves has me saying it is what it is because I prefer the awkward execution to even emptier cliché.
The initial tradeoff is that the villainy isn't entirely realistic, and any revenge upon Dementus seems hollowed out, empty. Nonetheless, the outrageousness of the scenes, and one in particular, kept rolling about in my mind. That, too, seems intentional. It's incidental to the plot, but there's a moment of screentime where Furiosa is tangled up with what's going on underground below the citadel. What the hags are doing under there and their attitude about it can't easily be forgotten. So, while the story comes through unevenly on screen, there seems to be some method to the madness-worming a way into our minds.
I was annoyed a bit with some things-the logistical absurdity of the society, awkward shifts to narration-but it's a fantastical show with captivating action, at times. For how different it is, I was willing to humor it all and watch. The most engaging, anticipatory scenes were often followed by narration or implied outcomes. In particular, the scenes where Furiosa is in search of a vehicle pulled me in. The scenes that follow deliberately avoid pandering to audience expectations, to send a message about what retribution might mean (and not mean) for survivors. That doesn't come off preachy, or didn't to me, but did detract from the tension built in those prior scenes. The value in such moves has me saying it is what it is because I prefer the awkward execution to even emptier cliché.
- aimanwm
- Aug 29, 2024