Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, a solid movie review, but less deep and exciting than Fury Road

The story of Mad Max is a strange one, starting almost quietly in 1979 with little-known protagonist Mel Gibson. George Miller He had to wait 30 years in oblivion before dedicating himself definitively and resoundingly with Mad Max: Fury Road. A practically perfect film, with a basic plot, imaginative design, excellent cast, and a tremendous technical and sound component. How can we continue Max’s saga at this point?

It was Miller’s idea to stop, look back, and think of a film that could do both Giving greater depth to the post-apocalyptic Australia in the seriesand to tell the story of the true hero of the film that won 6 Oscars in 2016: Furiosa.

it took Nine years to put the project togetherFind the right crew and film two and a half hours of chases, explosions and violence. 148 minutes in which Furiosa transforms from an innocent child, as innocent as anyone born in this dystopian future, to become one of the main allies of Immortan Joe, the fearsome leader of the castle that we have come to know and fear in Path of Fury.

In this case, it’s not him who’ll be trying to put a spanner in the protagonist’s (studded) wheels, but Dementus, the ambitious leader of a biker horde, played by Chris Hemsworth. From here will begin an angry back and forth conflict between the two that will lead to the status quo of the previous film which, for those who don’t know, is actually the direct sequel to Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

Anya Taylor-Joy’s eyes

George Miller clearly likes his Mad Max protagonist to talk a little. Similar to what Tom Hardy did in Fury Road as well Anya Taylor-Joy Furiosa is a taciturn, shy, and sulky heroinevery different from the more open and sympathetic heroine we have known.

So we needed an actress who could communicate more with her face, or rather with her eyes, who with her words and choice fell on Anya Taylor-Joy, who also made headlines for the series “The Chess Queen”, where she really charmed everyone with her gorgeous look. A good choice, as her eyes are enough to express anger, contempt, pain, and hope.

But what was interesting about Chris Hemsworth was his physique, and not the famous beauty of the former God of Thunder, as well The comic line that appears in Ghostbusters is unfortunate 2016. His Dementus persona is complex, charismatic, intelligent and quirky. Capable of extreme cruelty, but also of unexpected sweetness, of great intrigue, but also of choices as crazy as his name. He’s a good antagonist to anchor the chases, action scenes and fights in this first film in the Mad Max saga, and it’s a shame that all the tension and trickery clash with the fact that we know all too well how it’s all going to end. Only those lucky enough to see Fury’s path past Furiosa would be able, at least for a few moments, to fear that Dementus’ threats would have any effect.

Since we already know how it’s going to end, the whole story of poor Furiosa loses some impact, although there is no shortage of important moments, as well as some rather gruesome passages.

The most beautiful post-apocalyptic Australia ever

Self From a story standpoint, this sequel pays off a bit for being a prequelSorry for the pun, from a setting standpoint Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga works perfectly. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve seen Fury Road or not, discovering some of the locations of the logos mentioned in that movie will come as a pleasant surprise to Mad Max fans old and new. What George Miller does perfectly is connect the dots of his world, what we in English call world building, and put The foundations for a more complex mythology, consisting of historical events (the Forty Days’ War), mythical places, and well-expressed power relationships.

Why is Immortan Joe revered? What connects you to Gastown? Where is the bullet farm located? Miller provides an answer to all these things, creating a world that is as distorted as it is wonderful, full of wonderful scenery, but above all, really appropriate scenographic ideas and means of transportation, which sometimes seem to wink at the flying vehicles of Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, while remaining firmly attached to the world of gore. And fire in Mad Max.

New ones appear Heart-pounding chases, perfectly choreographed and absolutely stunning Which, in an attempt to respect the rules of Fury Road, perhaps loses an ounce of the heart and guts that made the first chapter so memorable (i.e. the sequel… well, you get it). Does this mean these scenes are boring? did you get hurt? Or is it not worth going to the cinema to watch the movie?

Absolutely not, on the contrary, in a room equipped with a good sound system and a high-quality screen, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will literally take you out of your chair, dropping you onto the barren path that connects the castle with Gastown and the Bullet Farm. . Except that it does so sporadically, perhaps also due to the slightly excessive duration or the somewhat anti-climatic ending, where the epic scenes are sped up to give more space to the dialogues. But these are really small flaws in the fantastic new piece of the Mad Max saga.