Director George Miller is back with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – a prequel to end all prequels.
Let us be honest… Nothing was ever going to best Mad Max: Fury Road.
Fury Road is considered one of the best films of the 21st Century. That is an impossible mountain to climb for any director. However, when the director is Dr. George Miller rather than climbing that same mountain, he decides to climb another. That is to make a Prequel to end all Prequels.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is the setup for Mad Max: Fury Road payoff. Where Fury Road is essentially a single chase, Furiosa is an intricate story of survival and revenge. Miller has made the missing piece of the puzzle which is Fury Road. Without audiences even realizing it, the director and his cast and crew, created a prequel so fully realized it created a vacuum where there was none. The magic trick in Furiosa is that it fits so perfectly next to Fury Road – splendidly straight down the middle.
As was the key to Fury Road’s success was its unparalleled action so is Furiosa. Rather than a sustained chase, Furiosa had given us a plethora of expertly staged action sequences. From the opening moment, a frantic chase to save a young Furiosa (played by the amazing Alyla Browne), the film grips the audience’s neck – not letting go until its haunting finale images lead us into Fury Road. Miller and Company have constructed action scene after action that inform the various characters of the film. This is perfectly illustrated in the exhilarating 15-minute mid-film chase scene that is as impressive as anything Miller had done in his entire career.
What makes the Mad Max series so enduring is Miller’s resistance to making the same type of film with each entry. Furiosa is no different, with a film that’s more akin to Once Upon a Time in the West and the films of Sergio Leone than anything that’s come before. A tale of intricately plotted tale of revenge as Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) takes her time to take her vengeance on Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) the leader of the biker horde that killed her mother.
Furiosa is as much about the character work and world-building as it is about its action. The other areas of wastelands and their inhabitants were only discussed and viewed from afar in Fury Road. The prequel dives into not just the citizens of Gastown and the Bullet Farm but takes us to those corners of the world. Each along with the various nooks and crannies that make up the wastelands are fully realized in a way that only Miller and Company could. There’s a level of detail and purpose to everything that leaves nothing to discuss or needs to be explained.
As impress as the world building is the work by its stars is equally impressive. Though many will be enamored with Hemsworth’s over-the-top villainy as Dementus, it’s Taylor-Joy’s work as a younger Furiosa that shines. Taylor-Joy’s performance isn’t a photocopy of Charlize Theron’s in Fury Road. Rather the actor’s Furiosa is the young angry unfocused version of the cool calm collected purposeful Furiosa that Theron played. How Taylor-Joy tracks that evolution as an actor is a bit of brilliance as a performer. It’s brilliant because the actor has to track it and show it in the midst of formative character-building action scenes. No small feat when you match the film against any ordinary action film or even a small character-based chamber drama, which her work could stand against either or with ease.
Many will talk of Chris Hemsworth’s work as Dementus. This is well and good as the actor under heavy make-up gives the performance of his career. Pitching his voice and changing his looks have freed the man who would be Thor. As envisioned by Miller and Hemsworth, is the sort of wild card villain borne out of anger and chaos. There isn’t a moment where the actor winks allowing for the darkest of scenes to play perfectly against the dog-eat-dog world of the wasteland.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga like the very best of the series is unlike anything that’s come before it. An instant classic in its own way. Very different but wholly a part of the entire series. Hopefully, it does not take an audience half a decade, as it did with Mad Max: Fury Road, to come to this conclusion.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is only in theaters May 24th
Director George Miller is back with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – a prequel to end all prequels.
Let us be honest… Nothing was ever going to best Mad Max: Fury Road.
Fury Road is considered one of the best films of the 21st Century. That is an impossible mountain to climb for any director. However, when the director is Dr. George Miller rather than climbing that same mountain, he decides to climb another. That is to make a Prequel to end all Prequels.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is the setup for Mad Max: Fury Road payoff. Where Fury Road is essentially a single chase, Furiosa is an intricate story of survival and revenge. Miller has made the missing piece of the puzzle which is Fury Road. Without audiences even realizing it, the director and his cast and crew, created a prequel so fully realized it created a vacuum where there was none. The magic trick in Furiosa is that it fits so perfectly next to Fury Road – splendidly straight down the middle.
As was the key to Fury Road’s success was its unparalleled action so is Furiosa. Rather than a sustained chase, Furiosa had given us a plethora of expertly staged action sequences. From the opening moment, a frantic chase to save a young Furiosa (played by the amazing Alyla Browne), the film grips the audience’s neck – not letting go until its haunting finale images lead us into Fury Road. Miller and Company have constructed action scene after action that inform the various characters of the film. This is perfectly illustrated in the exhilarating 15-minute mid-film chase scene that is as impressive as anything Miller had done in his entire career.
What makes the Mad Max series so enduring is Miller’s resistance to making the same type of film with each entry. Furiosa is no different, with a film that’s more akin to Once Upon a Time in the West and the films of Sergio Leone than anything that’s come before. A tale of intricately plotted tale of revenge as Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) takes her time to take her vengeance on Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) the leader of the biker horde that killed her mother.
Furiosa is as much about the character work and world-building as it is about its action. The other areas of wastelands and their inhabitants were only discussed and viewed from afar in Fury Road. The prequel dives into not just the citizens of Gastown and the Bullet Farm but takes us to those corners of the world. Each along with the various nooks and crannies that make up the wastelands are fully realized in a way that only Miller and Company could. There’s a level of detail and purpose to everything that leaves nothing to discuss or needs to be explained.
As impress as the world building is the work by its stars is equally impressive. Though many will be enamored with Hemsworth’s over-the-top villainy as Dementus, it’s Taylor-Joy’s work as a younger Furiosa that shines. Taylor-Joy’s performance isn’t a photocopy of Charlize Theron’s in Fury Road. Rather the actor’s Furiosa is the young angry unfocused version of the cool calm collected purposeful Furiosa that Theron played. How Taylor-Joy tracks that evolution as an actor is a bit of brilliance as a performer. It’s brilliant because the actor has to track it and show it in the midst of formative character-building action scenes. No small feat when you match the film against any ordinary action film or even a small character-based chamber drama, which her work could stand against either or with ease.
Many will talk of Chris Hemsworth’s work as Dementus. This is well and good as the actor under heavy make-up gives the performance of his career. Pitching his voice and changing his looks have freed the man who would be Thor. As envisioned by Miller and Hemsworth, is the sort of wild card villain borne out of anger and chaos. There isn’t a moment where the actor winks allowing for the darkest of scenes to play perfectly against the dog-eat-dog world of the wasteland.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga like the very best of the series is unlike anything that’s come before it. An instant classic in its own way. Very different but wholly a part of the entire series. Hopefully, it does not take an audience half a decade, as it did with Mad Max: Fury Road, to come to this conclusion.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is only in theaters May 24th
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