[Review] Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (6/10)

 

Title - Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Production - Warner Bros., Kennedy Miller Mitchell
Starring - Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Alyla Browne, George Shevtsov, Lachy Hulme, John Howard, Angus Sampson, Elsa Pataky, Charlee Fraser
Writer - George Miller, Nick Lathouris
Director - George Miller
Release - 22 May 2024

George Miller can't seem to tell a long-form story. Why Mad Max: Fury Road worked so beautifully was because of how linear and contained the story was. It was happening sequence by sequence in real time.

In Furiosa here, there were multiple time jumps; some short some long. That contributed to the start-stop momentum throughout the movie and the story somehow suffered under the direction of Miller. The previous movie had fluidity from beginning to end. 

But also, the previous movie had a more realistic looking landscape; a more believable environment; and a more kick-ass action set pieces. 

I don't quite know how it got so wrong this time with the budget. Either Miller had overused the budget because of the extra few set pieces for different "towns" as compared to just the one Citadel previously; or the budget is smaller - which I don't believe. Or, the production opted for the easier way out; which was to shoot in front of the green screen.

Chris Hemsworth, Anya Taylor-Joy and Tom Burke all looked great in this world. Especially Hemsworth who brought his character to life with such a distinct personality. His intention while chasing down Taylor-Joy and Burke towards the end of the movie was, however, not clear. 

As with many plot points in this movie. Either they were not clearly spelled out or just got in the weird dialogue. Which was another thing. The previous movie had much less dialogue as all the story was told through action. Here, too much exposition got in the way again of the fluidity again.

While young Alyla Browne did a great job portraying a younger version of Taylor-Joy, that era dragged on for too long and was not very entertaining. Charlee Fraser playing her mother had a much better turn here than in her previous movie, Anyone But You. Though I found her frail-looking figure too far away from being able to carry a sniper rifle or lift a bike, let alone exchanging the tyre on her own and running. Should have exchanged that role with Elsa Pataky who would have looked much more believable.

But with a Mad Max movie, what we want to see are car chases and action sequences. Fury Road showed us what we didn't know we needed. But also set an incredible high standard. Furiosa was not able to deliver a satisfactory follow-up in this department as well.