Preamble

Much like the recent Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney Plus show, Furiosa is one of those things that I never thought I needed. However, as its release date has loomed, I’ve come to realize it may have a story to tell. But is it any good? Well, you can find out after the jump. Have you seen Furiosa? Let me know in the comments below.

Review

Looking back at Mad Max: Fury Road, it’s easy to forget just how unique it was as a piece of franchise revisionism. In an era where nostalgia is indulged and legacy sequels have to initially feel safe, Fury Road was like an adrenalized shot in the arm to a unique set of post-apocalyptic movies. However, it went one step forward with its female perspective (via the character of Furiosa). Her hard-edged femineity was a jumping-off point for director George Miller to distil and explore his most potent points about futuristic male cults and dehumanization (via people being used as resources for a cause and the will of a single person).

Despite relying on a sense of myth that permeated previous entries, Furiosa often feels at odds with itself. The film depicts 15-20 years in the life of Furiosa (Anya Taylor Joy) who is kidnapped as a child, witnesses the death of her mother, Mary Jabassa (Charlee Fraser), and finds herself at odds with warlord, Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) and cult leader, Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme).

In contrast to other Mad Max films that often feel like continuous plots that are always in motion in real-time, Furiosa has an episodic approach. The movie is structured with a series of titles that make up about five sections. Given the large time span, it makes sense conceptually. However, in execution, it makes a lot of the film feel thin. Ostensibly, the movie is about Furiosa’s rise to prominence as an Imperator.

However, the film has many other pit stops along the way that lead to interesting avenues, but are not explored. For instance, Dementus becomes the source of satire as his shaggy-dog styled leadership is meant to be contrasted with Immortan Joe’s firm and powerful cult. However, despite initial encounters between the pair, this is not explored as we don’t see how the leader runs Gastown. We’re only told after a certain amount of time. This is a shame as Hemsworth’s performance matches the zany nature of villains in prior films, with his portrayal of a buffoonish strongman that has delusions of empathy.

As for some of the parts that involve Furiosa, they feel sketchily developed. There’s a middle section where the character teams up with a Max-esque character, but it is confined to a couple sections as their training together is mentioned and passed over quickly. Taylor Joy’s performance as a hardened and almost monosyllabic being who has to survive is impressive, particularly in the piercing nature of her eye movements and facial expressions. But a lot of the time, it does feel one note. Miller and Joy’s collaboration does soar in the tail end where Furiosa is at her most mythical and vengeful. This comes from low-angle shots that depict the character with a newfound furiosity and otherworldliness.

Elsewhere, the filmmaking is impressive in its sense of scale and various additional techniques. There’s a great subversion of a static shot from Fury Road as a character drives their motorbike up a sweeping desert dune. And there’s a wonderous instance of stop motion whereby we see a character’s hair grow and start to form shoots and leaves. This extends to a coda that tells of a supposed fairy tale-esque fate for one of the characters. In these instances, Furiosa attempts to match the mythic grandeur of The Road Warrior, which painted Max in heightened terms.

However, the film always feels like it’s wrestling between the personal, mythic and satire. The movie thinks it can coast on all three on some level, but ends up feeling like it partially services each element. In this way, Furiosa felt like a bit of a slog, with some arresting moments and images. But it never stirred the emotions like Fury Road or had the effortlessly euphoric action set pieces as some other entries.