I saw FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA at the cinema, on a really big screen with Dolby Atmos sound (not IMAX, but still really good) and I have some spoiler-free thoughts about it.
First up – it is a GOOD MOVIE. Absolutely spectacular in places. However, it’s got some odd pacing and plotting issues that slightly detracted from it. For starters, this is a 5-act story (a bit like the recent KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES) so the arc of the story is a bit longer and up-n-down than a classic 3-act structure. The opening 30 minutes with young Furiosa (a superb performance by Alyla Browne) is utterly gripping and really are George Miller at his best. But after that it wobbles a bit. It picks up around the halfway mark with an amazing road battle which features some incredibly well-choreographed action sequences. However, they do highlight one overall problem I had with the film compared to FURY ROAD. And that’s the very obvious use of CG and greenscreen throughout. The joy of FURY ROAD was that the vast majority of the action sequences just felt incredibly real and visceral. Sure, there was CG used – but it was pretty much invisible. For FURIOSA, George Miller’s either become more tolerant of the CG look of the average Hollywood Blockbuster, or he didn’t have the budget to do more stuff for real. It’s not George-Lucas-Starwars-Prequels bad, but it feels like a loss for a franchise which is known for its earthy, grubby sense of reality.
The cast is solid. I wasn’t sold on the casting of Anya Taylor-Joy for Furiosa when it was first announced. She’s kind of got that slight, elven space-pixie look which never yelled “brutal action hero” to me. But stone the crows – she’s great! By the end I got at least some sense of Charlise Theron’s original performance in her. Playing against her is a wonderfully demented performance by Chris Hemsworth, playing the principal antagonist (appropriately) called “Dementus”. Hah – just like in Fury Road, reading the credits and seeing the hilariously memorable names they have for the characters in this insane world is a joy.
So, despite my slight disappointment at the CGI-fication of this universe, I’d still heartily recommend this movie, especially in a good cinema. I do wonder what it would have looked like if the same story had been made in the 80s, pre-CGI. Sure, it wouldn’t have had the same scope and scale. But essentially in terms of telling a gripping story, it might have been better. MAD MAX 2 / THE ROAD WARRIOR is still my favourite film in the series, which I can now rank as:
1. THE ROAD WARRIOR / MAD MAX 2
2. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
3. FURIOUSA: A MAD MAX SAGA
4. MAD MAX
5. MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME
If they do another movie in this (somewhat inconsistent) universe, I hope they go a bit more back to basics. The world-building is nice, but it shouldn’t get in the way of the action. Given the somewhat lacklustre box office performance of this latest instalment, I suspect a reboot of sorts is probably gonna happen some time later. If they do, I hope they keep it Australian though!
