Rent Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: George Miller & Nick Lathouris
Directed by: George Miller
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
The origin story of renegade warrior Furiosa before her encounter with Mad Max.
Verdict
Sequels, or prequels, often disappoint. This doesn't. It's an adrenaline pumping thrill ride from the very beginning. It possesses a confidence in the craft and story telling that insist upon your full attention. It doesn't try to recreate Fury Road, and it's a different type of movie that happens to be set in the same world. It's a relentless chase for vengeance that frequently becomes an actual chase. This manages to add depth to Furiosa without feeling like a gimmick or needless addition. Few movies do I want to watch again immediately, but this is one of them.
Watch It.
Review
The prequel to 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road, which was a new entry in a franchise that began in 1979 and had been on a thirty five year hiatus. Fury Road really was Furiosa's story with Mad Max lending help.
This starts with Furiosa as a child and quickly becomes a pursuit as scavengers kidnap her while a woman from her village pursues. It's a great sequence, helped by the focus and subdued nature. It doesn't need dialog or exposition. We know why the woman is following Furiosa, desperate to save her. The simplicity only make it more intense.
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| Anya Taylor-Joy plays Furiosa |
Fury Road was great, but I didn't expect this movie to be a worthy equal. It's less a sequel and more another movie inside this universe. We get a glimpse of this world and the people in it, just enough to have an understanding. Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) grows up in Immorten Joe's kingdom, hiding in plain sight but never forgetting her goal of returning home. She works her way through various menial jobs before proving herself and getting to drive the war rig. The first drive for the war rig is such an amazing sequence. This truck never stops amidst multiple attacks while Furiosa crawls all over and under the truck making repairs.
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| The War Rig |
So many movies rely on dialog to convey the story or plot points, but this tells the story through action. It doesn't feel the need to explain everything, relying on the audience to understand the context. There's a design and craft to this movie from the images and sequences to how this creates scene transitions.
While vital to the area, neighboring Gastown is unstable. It's ruler Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) has mismanaged it, leading to revolt. Furiosa and Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke) end up in the middle of a Dementus attack during a supply run. Once again Furiosa is subject to Dementus's whim as he again takes everything she cares about. She manages to get away, but I wondered how exactly. More than that, it's what that escape means as well as the cost to Furiosa.
While I wondered about the length, this feels so much shorter than it actually is. Furiosa's goal is simple. This is a revenge movie, but it has such style and an understanding of how to tell a visual story. The scenes interspersed in the credits serve to bridge the gap between this and Fury Road. It also makes me view the events of Fury Road differently. There is so much more to Furiosa than I realized. While that was a Mad Max titled movie, it really was Furiosa's tale. This movie too, still bears Max's name despite the character absent from this adventure. I would guess it's more marketing than a creative choice.
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