If you saw "Mad Max: Fury Road" (2015, reviewed at this site by me) and wanted to know the backstory of the heroine of that film, Furiosa, you should enjoy this. Here we first encounter Furiosa as a young child (played by Alyla Browne) and see the circumstances under which she wound up in the harem of Immortan Joe in the earlier film. Watching how that happened, my initial thought was that young Furiosa had herself to blame for her subsequent circumstances but on reflection, her actions at the beginning of this film were justified.
These early scenes with a young Furiosa I found to be really narratively engaging. There wasn't the kind of hectic action that you associate with Mad Max films (as in extended car chase scenes) and it didn't suffer from this in the slightest. In fact, if that storytelling strength continued on in this way, I would have scored the film at least 80%. At some point, however, the storytelling turned to things (i.e. Action) happening. No doubt for fans of the Mad Max franchise that is entirely as it should be.
Apart from the initial storytelling, another thing that pleased me were the echoes from the past that I saw. When Dementus (the leader of a huge gang) first appears (played by Chris Hemsworth), you could mistake him for the title character in a film about Jesus. In a later action scene, Dementus takes part in an event which closely resembles something quite famous in The Iliad. Then there's the whole absurdity of how he rides about on his 'chariot' like Ben-Hur or something. The last time that we see Dementus in this film, it struck me as something which could have been recounted in Classical antiquity. In any case, Furiosa will have to navigate such tyrants if she is to keep her promise to her mother to return from whence she came.
Maybe I could have scored this film 77.5% but I found myself getting lost and not seeing the bigger picture, so to speak. There was all this action happening but the strategy behind it wasn't conveyed easily to me. There was talk of there being 3 fortresses in the wasteland but I can't say that I remember what the first one was. Dementus spoke of wanting to have a meeting of warlords (himself, Immortan Joe, I think, and someone else, perhaps) by a certain time. It seemed to me as if that talk came to nothing. Sure, stuff happened, but why? What was the strategy behind it? Maybe these questions would be more easily answered in a setting outside of the cinema, where you could have the luxury of pausing and rewinding the film in order to more better follow what was happening. Or maybe there could have been better exposition through what the characters said.
Not having seen "Mad Max: Fury Road" since it was released in the cinema a few years ago, I can't say how the two films gel chronologically. Watching the end of this latest film, I had the impression that maybe it ends pretty much exactly where the previous film begins, as far as the time period goes.
Another thing which made me question how successfully the two films gel was some scenes between an older Furiosa (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) and a man. Now, this man made me wonder if he was who I thought that he might be. The closing credits confirmed his identity to me in any case*^. Given that, I now wonder if the scenes in this film will gel with the chronologically later film, as in does Furiosa actually recognise this man when she first meets him in the earlier film? If not, what would explain that? In my review of the earlier film, I lamented a casting choice made in it and here the ripples of that choice muddy the water, so to speak.
To explain my comment in the heading here about this being the most brutal and nightmarish of any in the Mad Max franchise, well, that's because some of the imagery here is worthy of the Apocalypse. Sometimes I caught a glimpse of something or thought that I heard someone say something horrific and I would question whether I actually saw or heard what I thought I did. 'Fortunately', such things would be revisited and you would realise that, yes, you did see and hear what you thought you did.
Random notes:
*^ N. B. I think I may have misinterpreted what happened and I think that was intentionally orchestrated by the director, George Miller. Rewatching the film might clarify my mistake. The day after I posted this review, I read a review here by arogers-72852 and they also mention how confusing the film can be but if they're right, they clarify the issue of the man that confused me and a name in the closing credits (their review gives more detail than I like to give, though). It's easy to miss details watching films in a cinema.
These early scenes with a young Furiosa I found to be really narratively engaging. There wasn't the kind of hectic action that you associate with Mad Max films (as in extended car chase scenes) and it didn't suffer from this in the slightest. In fact, if that storytelling strength continued on in this way, I would have scored the film at least 80%. At some point, however, the storytelling turned to things (i.e. Action) happening. No doubt for fans of the Mad Max franchise that is entirely as it should be.
Apart from the initial storytelling, another thing that pleased me were the echoes from the past that I saw. When Dementus (the leader of a huge gang) first appears (played by Chris Hemsworth), you could mistake him for the title character in a film about Jesus. In a later action scene, Dementus takes part in an event which closely resembles something quite famous in The Iliad. Then there's the whole absurdity of how he rides about on his 'chariot' like Ben-Hur or something. The last time that we see Dementus in this film, it struck me as something which could have been recounted in Classical antiquity. In any case, Furiosa will have to navigate such tyrants if she is to keep her promise to her mother to return from whence she came.
Maybe I could have scored this film 77.5% but I found myself getting lost and not seeing the bigger picture, so to speak. There was all this action happening but the strategy behind it wasn't conveyed easily to me. There was talk of there being 3 fortresses in the wasteland but I can't say that I remember what the first one was. Dementus spoke of wanting to have a meeting of warlords (himself, Immortan Joe, I think, and someone else, perhaps) by a certain time. It seemed to me as if that talk came to nothing. Sure, stuff happened, but why? What was the strategy behind it? Maybe these questions would be more easily answered in a setting outside of the cinema, where you could have the luxury of pausing and rewinding the film in order to more better follow what was happening. Or maybe there could have been better exposition through what the characters said.
Not having seen "Mad Max: Fury Road" since it was released in the cinema a few years ago, I can't say how the two films gel chronologically. Watching the end of this latest film, I had the impression that maybe it ends pretty much exactly where the previous film begins, as far as the time period goes.
Another thing which made me question how successfully the two films gel was some scenes between an older Furiosa (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) and a man. Now, this man made me wonder if he was who I thought that he might be. The closing credits confirmed his identity to me in any case*^. Given that, I now wonder if the scenes in this film will gel with the chronologically later film, as in does Furiosa actually recognise this man when she first meets him in the earlier film? If not, what would explain that? In my review of the earlier film, I lamented a casting choice made in it and here the ripples of that choice muddy the water, so to speak.
To explain my comment in the heading here about this being the most brutal and nightmarish of any in the Mad Max franchise, well, that's because some of the imagery here is worthy of the Apocalypse. Sometimes I caught a glimpse of something or thought that I heard someone say something horrific and I would question whether I actually saw or heard what I thought I did. 'Fortunately', such things would be revisited and you would realise that, yes, you did see and hear what you thought you did.
Random notes:
- I got a laugh out of hearing the names of Immortan Joe's sons (maybe I forgot about them from the earlier film).
- Furiosa inexplicably develops an American (?) accent as she matures, for some reason.
- Bruce Spence is listed in the closing credits. I didn't spot him, I don't think. Fans of the franchise will know him for a different role in the greatest entry of this franchise.
- I did wonder where this film was shot. That's because the last one was shot overseas, as, tragically, the usual location was a lush green hue. It looks like that has been rectified.
- A few times I couldn't decipher the dialogue being spoken by characters. That includes that of Dementus, who perhaps became harder to understand the more intense the situation was. Speaking of this character, maybe you could say that an interview that I saw with George Miller and Chris Hemsworth (ABC TV's "7.30" programme, 02/05/2024. There's an extended interview online, as opposed to the shorter version that I saw on free-to-air TV) made watching this film more enticing for me. Hemsworth spoke of basing his accent on that of a relative, if I'm not mistaken...someone who had an old-style Australian accent. I did expect something more broader in the film but it was quite mild, when I could understand him.
- An interesting sort of Marxist appeal to the masses expressed by a character at one point.
- Scenes of petrol-guzzling antics when petrol is supposedly a rare commodity.
- One scene did seem to use a green screen. Even though it looked flawless, something about it made it seem not real to me. Other reviewers here have observed more CGI, apparently, but I didn't notice this enough to be bothered by it.
*^ N. B. I think I may have misinterpreted what happened and I think that was intentionally orchestrated by the director, George Miller. Rewatching the film might clarify my mistake. The day after I posted this review, I read a review here by arogers-72852 and they also mention how confusing the film can be but if they're right, they clarify the issue of the man that confused me and a name in the closing credits (their review gives more detail than I like to give, though). It's easy to miss details watching films in a cinema.
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