Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Not to repeat himself, George Miller went about it differently this time and decided to focus on what he didn't have time for last time, and we get to know the characters and the world better. But that doesn't mean there's no action. There is action, and what kind of action. The first act alone puts most recent action movies to shame, and it's still just getting started. In short, Furiosa is an excellent film, with a great Anya Taylor-Joy, who actually enters the scene perhaps somewhere in the middle, and a perfect villain played by Chris Hemsworth. I absolutely love it when actors use make-up to help them become someone else entirely, and Hemsworth has done just that to perfection. He's erratic, insane (how else), but he's also hilarious and, in his own way, ridiculous as he speeds through the desert on his post-apocalyptic tricycle. He clearly enjoyed the filming, and I enjoyed the result. (25/05/2024)

George Miller took a nine-year hiatus after Fury Road dabbling in a less exciting romantic fantasy, before returning to deliver one of the best action films in recent years. Furiosa is an absolute blast, albeit different from its predecessor. It tells the epic tale of Furiosa’s relentless quest for revenge in one of the most brutal cinematic worlds ever created. The film oscillates between sheer brutality and absurdity, keeping the audience entertained despite the mind-boggling moments that seem to defy imagination. At times, it felt like watching a Tarantino flick on steroids, especially during the meticulously planned revenge in the second half. Chris Hemsworth shines in his role, clearly having a blast. Anya Taylor-Joy and her younger counterpart Alyla Browne are also fantastic, but it was Tom Burke who unexpectedly stood out to me in this harsh world. Each actor contributes to a story that is gritty, thrilling, and occasionally illogical, yet not as shocking as Fury Road. I have a feeling this will be one of the standout films of 2024. (04/06/2024)

George Miller is a god and serves up another excellent post-apocalyptic blast. If Fury Road was a 10, this is a very solid 9! Another great visually lavish cinematic experience, of which there won't be many this year, so don't hesitate any longer and head on over! It tells the revenge story of a young Furiosa in an attractive post-apocalyptic world. All the factions and how they work is very fun and interesting (I liked the costumes and the visuals of all the characters, they were properly insane). It's got an intense and adrenaline-packed pace, and even though the first big action scene comes somewhere before the halfway point, it's decently suspenseful and engaging until then, there's simply no danger of boredom. Anya Taylor Joy is excellent as always, and here she doesn’t even have to speak properly, her look was enough to express all the emotions perfectly. Thor a.k.a. Dementus gives the best performance of his career, he really enjoys the madman perfectly. Visually it's again very intense, the music is beautifully ear-splitting, the action scenes surprise with more and more crazy ideas, and you enjoy every shot and moment. There’s even one delightful small cameo, and the ending with the living tree was awesome! Furiosa with Dune 2 and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is clearly the king of this year's blockbusters. There are plenty of epic moments that will make me very happy to watch Furiosa again. 9/10. (22/05/2024)

Mad Max is an Australian cultural treasure that should have only stayed at three or four episodes. For the first hour, it felt like a sequence of mini-stories, with the disgustingly overacting Chris Hemsworth twitching like a pigeon eating grain and his performance actually making it into a kind of interlocking semi-comedy sketches that I really don't want to see in the Mad Max saga. He was the weakest link in the film. The other one was the overuse of obvious green-screen and over-stylized colors. Back then, years ago, with the first two episodes, I admired the punk spirit that came out of them. A punkness that was related to the low budget, when everything was handmade, so to speak, when the wastelanders were played by real bikers, the cops by real cops, the props were invented in the breaks during filming, and it exuded a wildness and realness that George Miller partially revived in the equally wild Fury Road. This is rather closer Thunderdome, which was also over-stylized and implausible in its depiction of the post-apocalyptic world. I didn't believe it. Mad Max doesn't benefit from a swollen budget because then Miller can't keep it up and in trying to cram in as much as possible, it's like that dog and cat fairy tale where they cooked a cake with so many ingredients that it made them puke (the quarry scene is too over the top). As time goes on, you find that you don't really care much about Furiosa's fate because, unlike Mel Gibson, she's not a pivotal defining character for you, you don't experience it with her, and you pray all the while that there's as little Hemsworth as possible. In fact, the only thing worth singling out is the ten-minute attack on the tanker, because you can feel the punk genuineness of it, where the stuntmen have honestly worked their magic along with those who came up with the choreography. And that's not enough for me, George. Too little. (18/07/2024)

George Miller couldn't keep up the fiendish pace a second time. Furiosa is more vivid in plot and tries to be more emotional, but it loses its punch and drive. It's as if Fury Road is a unique movement from the best watch manufactory, where every component is perfectly thought out and crafted in detail, versus a top of the line mass-produced Aussie watch that will work well too and just won't shatter, but the top craftsmanship isn't there anymore. Furiosa copies the best action moments from the first film, but otherwise it doesn't have much to offer. Anya Taylor-Joy is awesome, it’s a shame that we have to wait so long for her. The overwhelming amount of eye-popping digital effects is very disappointing, and they're often blown out of proportion, which is a solid bummer compared to the first one. (27/06/2024)