Directed by: George Miller
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Written by Taylor Baker
55/100
George Miller the acclaimed director of the children’s films “Babe: Pig in the City” and “Happy Feet” and more recognizable fare like “Mad Max,” “Mad Max 2,” and “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” returns to IMAX screens with his “Fury Road” prequel, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.” The role made famous by Charlize Theron in 2016’s “Fury Road” is shared by Alyla Browne and Anya Taylor-Joy each portraying Furiosa at different ages in the story of the ascendancy of the Imperator.
The film spans Furiosa’s last moments before being stolen from the Green Place as a child, the loss of her arm and the building of its mechanical replacement, and how she earns the title of Imperator. Though both Taylor-Joy and Browne play the character well, the length of time Browne spends on screen has a detrimental effect on the believability of Taylor-Joy’s later performance. When Furiosa plays the selective mute stoic as Browne it’s believable, there seems to be an effective childish hurt in the eyes of Browne. Being stolen from her home, watching her mother murdered, and being controlled by her murderer all play convincingly. Taylor-Joy fails to continue to convey this pain mutely. She fits the role physically but her performance doesn’t feel like a complete character continuation of the younger Browne.
For “Furiosa” Miller utilized more obvious visual effects than in “Fury Road.” The horizon lines, fire, Wasteland chase sequences, and battle scenes are painfully obvious visual effects. Watching Miller rely more overtly on more green screen like visual effects for a “Mad Max” entry is akin to watching a master oil painter switch from oil paints to watercolors or a sculptor swapping out marble for Play-Doh. Within a film like “3000 Years of Longing,” Miller was able to frame his visual effect sequences within the narrative as convincing flourishes that embellished the story to a strong effect. The attempt to display bright desert light around massive explosions, using crane hooks to lift vehicles in a siege sequence, and dust clouds obscuring vehicles and figures at a distance requires a drunken viewer with a good attitude or a force of will to take the effects realistically. While “Fury Road” did rely heavily on effects it often accentuated practical set pieces, vehicles, and characters or replaced sky lines evenly along the horizon and dune or mountain peak lines. In “Furiosa” the medium to long-distance shots just beyond the immediate characters’ figure have an uncanny visual effect that in the best case distracts and at worst undercuts the foreground of the scene.
Chris Hemsworth plays Dementus, an aspiring warlord who wants to run the Wasteland. With plans of taking power centers like The Citadel, Gastown, and The Bullet Farm. After one of his scouting parties returns with a young Furiosa the pair set off with Dementus’ army behind him on a two-hour-long odyssey with Furiosa seeking vengeance on Dementus and Dementus seeking power and reverence. Hemsworth plays his character well, with some specific mannerisms and flourishes calling Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow to mind. He goes big, he acts physically, and he owns the sequences he is central in, despite often being on the losing side of what we see on screen. Cleverly, Miller frames many of his wins just before or after the camera finds him in the film.
Despite its issues, Miller’s passion shines through. Watching the old master try painting with a different brush on his Wasteland canvas is intriguing, even when it’s an eyesore. Whether you walk into the film a skeptical viewer or a devout war boy shouting “Witness me!” you’ll leave with little doubt that of the spectacle films being made today, few filmmakers are more adept at bringing them to life, and even fewer have as rich a vision.
“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” Trailer
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