Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

[The Nth Doctor]

I decided to rewatch Fury Road right after I got home from seeing Furiosa to see how everything fit together, both story wise and thematically. I just finished both and...wow, I'm exhausted! A good exhausted.

I prefer Fury Road over "Furiosa but I think that's partially due to the fact the former is a much tighter story over the latter.

I loved seeing Furiosa's background, her long journey towards "beyond vengeance" (and how she succeeded), and how all of her struggles and sacrifices makes Theron's wailing in Fury Road resonate so much more deeply.

That said, I think that first hour is a bit unwieldly (especially since Furiosa kind of disappears from her own film...unintentionally ironic, that) and I think the film could've been better served if it was more tightly edited.

To be clear, I love a long film that earns its run time and I don't think there's any real fat in Furiosa, but I also think it didn't have the same kind punch as Fury Road, if that makes sense. Plus I think the themes in Fury Road pop more than in Furiosa, which I feel like spent more time servicing Fury Road than itself.

 

[wayoung]

Was about what I expected. Very well done, good movie, but not the experience Fury Road was. Which, I mean, fair, that's hard to match.

 

[Phily B]

Was about what I expected. Very well done, good movie, but not the experience Fury Road was. Which, I mean, fair, that's hard to match.

I think there's an argument that Fury Road is the greatest action movie of all time, so I'm glad they didn't just try to one up it.

Personally, the best thing Furiosa gave me was the opportunity to see Fury Road on the big screen again!

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

I think there's an argument that Fury Road is the greatest action movie of all time, so I'm glad they didn't just try to one up it.

It's a growing viewpoint I happen to share. It's even better than BATTLE ROYALE and ALIENS. To think I actually once believed George Miller could never improve on THE ROAD WARRIOR.

 

[CaptainWacky]

I liked it a lot. I agree that there's not much point in saying "not as good as Fury Road" because not many things are. I think it was the right move to make this play out pretty differently and be more of an epic saga. It was also quite hard to watch at times with the cruely but always in a way that was appropriate to the story being told. And the long action scene in the middle on the War Rig was great and exhilarating. I loved how it started with Furiosa hiding under the rig and ended with her co-piloting it with Jack, showing her status change over one long action setpiece.

Love the final confrontation between Furiosa and Dementus, Taylor-Joy and Hemsworth were great in that scene. Liking Dementus more and more as a villain the more I think about him.

I did find some of the visuals distractingly disappointing, but mainly at the start (that opening chase scene was a bit worrying.) The clips of Fury Road at the end did kind of show how superior that movie was in terms of how it looked. But there was a lot of good looking stuff here.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

I liked it a lot. I agree that there's not much point in saying "not as good as Fury Road" because not many things are.

And from my current thinking, only seven flicks are better than ROAD: OZ, PSYCHO, GODFATHER, ALIEN, EXORCIST, 12 ANGRY MEN and RIGHT STUFF.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

VOD has been moved up by more than a month. Tentatively scheduled to hit streaming June 25th.

 

[JD]

Does that include Max or is that only for buying/renting on sites like Amazon?

 

[Set Harth]

I suspect the latter.

 

[Saul]

Watched it tonight. I really enjoyed it but I think the film should have distanced itself more from Fury Road. Reminding the audience how awesome Fury Road was at the end is probably not the best way to send cinema goers home.

Seeing it bomb reminds me of this time last year when The Flash bombed. Shame for these movies not to get the audiences they deserve.

There's something this franchise needs to do, and it seems determined to not do it.

Bring back Mel Gibson?

 

[Set Harth]

 

[Starkers]

Seriously what was the last Mel Gibson film to make big money? And Fury Road didn't have Mel either.

I'm something of an outlier because I'm not the biggest fan of Fury Road. It grows on me but the opening set piece just leaves we cold. I don't know who anyone is or why I should care what happens to them. I appreciate that's not an opinion shared by many people, and as I say once the film settles down and we're introduced to the characters I enjoy it more.

In many ways I liked Furiosa more, perhaps because the story and the character evolved, is still crazy that the star of the movie doesn't show up for an hour!

I honestly didn't realise that was Hemsworth at first, I kept waiting for him to show up What was with the nose?

Good film and it definitely deserves to be seen on as big a screen as possible, but it's too long and baggy, so while I enjoyed it Mad Max 2 remains the high watermark of the series for me.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Bring back Mel Gibson?

Absolutely not.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

VOD has been moved up by more than a month. Tentatively scheduled to hit streaming June 25th.

That'll show 'em!

Seriously, that sounds like a lousy plan to prevent future flops. I guess they're trying to piggyback on the theatrical marketing to get people to pay to watch but I think long term it might be better to not train people that the movie will be streaming a week or three after it's out of theaters. (Mind you, I prefer it to be available sooner out of selfish interest but I feel that must not be helping to add value to theatrical releases)

 

[wayoung]

It's a big part of the reason why the box office is a disaster. Why pay to watch a movie in theaters when it's available at home in a few weeks? And Furiosa wasn't filmed for IMAX so it didn't get the "You have to see this on the biggest screen possible!" push that helped Dune.

 

[Unicron]

I saw it today and enjoyed it overall. It's interesting that Chris Hemsworth's wife, Elsa Pataky, had two separate roles in the movie. Dementus himself is rather hammy, compared to some of his other roles, and I don't mean that in a bad way.

Anya Taylor-Joy has commented in a few interviews that she learned how to do stunt driving for the movie, but doesn't know how to drive regularly and still needs a license.

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[Saul]

That'll show 'em!

Seriously, that sounds like a lousy plan to prevent future flops. I guess they're trying to piggyback on the theatrical marketing to get people to pay to watch but I think long term it might be better to not train people that the movie will be streaming a week or three after it's out of theaters.

That and the fact that it offers a clean copy to be pirated on streaming sites. Also kills the opportunity for repeat viewings from those who want to check the film out again. Where is the sense in it all?

It's a big part of the reason why the box office is a disaster. Why pay to watch a movie in theaters when it's available at home in a few weeks? And Furiosa wasn't filmed for IMAX so it didn't get the "You have to see this on the biggest screen possible!" push that helped Dune.

This too. Why wasn't it filmed for IMAX? I really liked the film, but it promotes itself as a lesser film than Fury Road.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Saw this last night. I’m in that small minority who liked but didn’t love FR first time out. The action was great but I never really bought Hardy as Max, for some reason. He is a great actor and always watchable but I never really felt that I was watching the same guy from the original films. I’m usually fine with recasting but for some reason this one was unusually distracting,

I saw it again online some time ago and probably enjoyed it more, now I was reconciled to Hardy) and the fact of Miller viewing it as mythology makes sense also).

Anyway, I really enjoyed this. It may not have added an awful lot to the mythos but was hugely entertaining, with Taylor-Joy filling Theron’s boots and prosthetic finely. Speaking of prosthetics, Hemsworth’s fake nose made me think of Val Kilmer’s numerous disguises in The Saint but he was clearly having a ball and that was infectious for the audience.

Is it just me or was Tom Burke’s Praetorian Jack a better Mad Max than Hardy? Yeah, I went there.

Great fun. Shame that like the also-enjoyable Fall Guy it seems to be underperforming. I’d love to see more wasteland shenanigans.

 

[Starkers]

Is it just me or was Tom Burke’s Praetorian Jack a better Mad Max than Hardy? Yeah, I went there.

I would agree, there was definitely something of Max to Burke's character.

 

[Captaindemotion]

I would agree, there was definitely something of Max to Burke's character.

Also - was that meant to be Max who rescued her near the end?