Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

This is my kind of revenge movie! We were probably all on tenterhooks as to how it would turn out, but George Miller once again delivers what he promised, with a few surprises thrown in for good measure. While making prequels, where we also know exactly where they're going, may seem pointless and unappealing to audiences, Furiosa will historically be one of those rare examples of getting it absolutely right. Its story works perfectly on its own, it's quite different from its predecessor, the action is exceptionally imaginative and choreographed, and the worldbuilding is again broad and unique. We get a glimpse into the workings of the post-apocalyptic world, the divisions of the factions, the logistics of how they work together. In short, the whole film works under the impression that it has a whole other unseen backstory of everything and everyone, something that many current "shallow" blockbusters are completely lacking. I'm crossing my fingers that it does what it can at the box office, because I'd very much hate to see this franchise head to Valhalla. Miller's still got it! (05/26/2024)

I thoroughly enjoyed Fury Road in the cinema nine years ago and, to be honest, I don't know if I've ever seen a more action-packed film. Furiosa raised great expectations in me precisely because of that cinematic experience and also because of the female lead. After watching it, I have to say that I was probably expecting a slightly different film, but I don't mean that in a negative way. Furiosa is again full of brisk action with imaginative choreography – this is especially dominated by the tanker chase scenes and the confrontation in the mine – and tries through a kind of "biblical plane" not to be just a pure action film. I was surprised to see Anya Taylor-Joy arrive on the scene relatively late, and I would fault the film for having too tidy an ending for my taste. Still, this is a high-quality audiovisual spectacle that would be a sin not to see on the big screen, where it certainly belongs. (06/06/2024)

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. (05/23/2024)

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. (05/26/2024)

An excellent flashback to Fury Road. It lacks Max Rockatansky, it lacks the frenetic pace, but the story is more substantial. Furiosa explains the laws of the imagined world. George Miller seems to realize that he skipped over a lot of things and presented them as fact without showing them. He describes a fragile symbiosis that is disrupted by Chris Hemsworth's Dementus, one of the best creations of his career. If it's true that the previous Mad Max was mostly about Furiosa then Furiosa is mostly about the foxy Dementus. He's the one who shows the world turning into an oil-soaked desert. Anya Taylor-Joy is good, but the little girl who plays her when she was young is even better. Weaker music and slightly worse visual effects. Still, very good. (05/25/2024)