“Now the question is, whether you have it in you if it can be made epic,” asserts a fearless Chris Hems worth. It’s the sort of challenge that you would expect to encounter towards the end of George Miller’s apocalyptic epic western prequel to “Mad Max: Fury Road,” aptly named “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” and it’s equally directed to none other than Miller himself. For this film is out to give you more: more thrilling high-speeds pursuits, more hair raising aerial acrobatics, more profound emotional grappling and perhaps even more insatiable urge to extend what the frame can accommodate and include Christian themes along with the dark sorcery of King Arthur to tell an interesting story that should still astonish us however well aware we might be about the depressing settings it is leading up to. It is indisputably one of the most exceptional sequels to a film that would ever be produced.
Divided into five chapters where the intensity grows in every sequence, the movie starts Furiosa (Ayla Browne) Penning an fruit off a tree as a young child in her innocent homeland dubbed “The Green Place.” A biker group comes looking for food. And though Furiosa tries to destroy their motorcycles doughtily, she ends up being taken which leads to her mother (Charlee Fraser) going out to the harsh desert land to fetch her.
The audience’s attention shifts again as a violent chase scene takes place where Furiosa’s mother chases a sandstorm while trying to rescue her kidnapped daughter at the hideout of Dements. The latter is played by Chris Harmsworth, and it’s apparent he is playing the antagonist for Furiosa, whom he will feud with for nearly a decade. Revenge and homesickness will be the main agendas between the two.
Any further referencing other plot points and key events, of course, would not only give away too much of the film, but would also suggest that the narrative beats are essential. They are not. This does not mean that Furiosa is incoherent. Rather, in the true Miller style, it is an emotional tale about how a kind girl growing up was turned into a battle hardened woman. The narrative arc works perfectly as we meet the first of many Warlords, as Miller introduces the viewer to the structures of the wasteland, starting from Gas Town and up to the fortress of Immortan Joe where every second a younger version of Lachey Hulme is portrayed. Other cast members return, such as the Sons of Immortan Joe, Scotus and Rictus, and there are some easter eggs from the previous film for the fans of Fury Road to enjoy too.
Some may feel let down immediately, but they shouldn’t: Since Ayla Browne is the adolescent Furiosa which is quite captivating and rather reminds me of a young Jodie Foster, with an uncanny intelligence combined with a youthful, unyielding arrogance. The foundation she builds is so flawless, that by the time we flash forward to Taylor Joy’s version of the character, I had to wait a couple of beats to notice that there was anyone else other than Taylor Joy playing the character.
So confident is Miller’s ability to gauge an audience’s reaction that he includes a lengthy scene in which Furiosa traverses the wasteland with Jack on her oil run, allowing the audience and character to make an instant impact as she stalks in for a close up. Even though Burke and Taylor Joy have very brief on screen appearances, within these moments, they establish a deep connection as two displaced individuals still hoping for Utopia and who are willing to travel to the edge of the earth just to see Furiosa’s map of the stars.
It’s fair enough if he feels like the outside of the sphere figure, he’s not. Harmsworth is burdened with a horrible wig and a distracting plastic nose so it’s easy to assume that he could do that upwards for quite a while.
On the other hand, whenever he does appear, it is quite possible that he is the best thing in “Furiosa”. It is not just that he gets the best and most easily memorable lines although there are such instances too. He has never been as imposing as he is now, first as a cool headed savior swindler, then as a bombastic statesman, and finally as a naked emperor. This dementia of arrogance, disregard, and frigid calculative precision is the very character that Harmsworth has masterfully embodied for a long time, and in this instant, his return is surely one to remember.
Undoubtedly, some elements are stronger for me in the case of “Fury Road” than in “Furiosa”. The latter has much more CGI and other such effects, and so I do not feel as much of the adrenaline rush that Miller evoked through his unapologetic devotion to practical effects. Additionally, it seems to me that ‘Fury Road’ functions at a more nuanced thematic level which is not that easy, considering the narrative’s visual expression in this case can be described as rather aggressive. ‘Furiosa’ takes that a step further; each and every sentence comes with a tagline indicating the significance of the scene where it is shot.
And yet, these minor irritations are quite simple to overlook since one is left in awe at the considerable risk taking Miller is attempting, but also due to the fact that one cannot help but catch the interest that he has for this world, these characters, and this particular type of storytelling that is large in scale and impact. There is also a character named piss boy, so this truly is a film with something for everyone.
Nobody does scale like Miller does. The editing by Margaret Sixer and Eliot Knap man is impressive as they manage to cut back and forth quickly enough to establish a relationship between the characters, and later, that same quick cut editing sequence gets used in showcasing the VK scenes which are at present extremely gruesome. It was not about showing, but rather immersing in a way that was not overly gratuitous. The opening dozen minutes or so, each major set piece is gauged shot and sound wise for the story, so nothing comes off as needless and the writing is punctuated with a camera that knows what kill shot we want and where to place all the smashing plus the sand dunes as the truck rumbles across them.
Much will be created pertaining to the ‘Furiosa’ on a thematic viewpoint for instance how it inverts the Biblical apple scene in order to provide a fitting conclusion to the move, or how it chooses to comment to our current ecological, military, and regressive political situation with a special focus to the reasons we go to war and the impotence of the leaders who take us to such wars.
Nevertheless, what we have here is also quite simply a fun, summer blockbuster, with an imaginative and playful storytelling style. Miller takes no interest in tacky drama, story templates, or any art geared for the television. “Furiosa” wants to rip your head off. And it does. To Valhalla and all the places that are further still.
For more movies like Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga visit 123Movies.