By Akshay Prabhakaran
Stepping out of the movie, my friend said that he liked Furiosa more than Fury Road. We both took a moment, I was thinking, “Really? More?” and before I could ask him, he said, “No, I think Fury Road was better”. If you liked Mad Max: Fury Road and are wondering if you should watch Furiosa, WATCH FURIOSA, you’re sure to like it.
That said, Furiosa is the entertaining back story that you probably didn’t ask for. This movie tries really hard to help build context for characters and worlds while explaining scenes in Fury Road so much, that it might have forgotten to be a good stand-alone movie. George Miller couldn’t really make Iron Man, Captain America and Thor before making his Avengers film. So, he made Fury Road (a la Avengers) and then made Furiosa. Unlike the Tony Stark-Robert Downey Jr problem of actors embodying the character, Furiosa is the character you connect with and is co-opted by Alyla Browne, Anya Taylor-Joy and Charlize Theron equally. It’s hard to see the transition between the three across two movies and that is amazing work from casting, make-up to CGI.
Possibly an unintended consequence, the most interesting character is Chris Hemsworth’s (fake distracting nose not withstanding). We’ve had baddies recently vary from the cold- eccentric- calculating to the unpredictable- insane- tragic, Chris Hemsworth’s Dementus is a good- crazy bad guy who is bad at being a bad guy. I say unintended because his point seems to be to help us understand the mind and development of Furiosa, unfortunately/fortunately the stupidity of the masses (myself included) is content with the Dementus who lived. The acting in this movie is top-notch from every character.
One issue for Mad Max fans is the absence of Mad Max from this movie. It’s an issue because if you watch any other Mad Max movie, the frame of reference to watch the movie is Mad Max. That said, this movie is Furiosa, unfortunately, you can’t watch the movie just from Furiosa’s perspective because it is also a Mad Max Saga, the world building and explanations are essential parts of the movie.
A lot of the criticism is because it is a 2.5-hour movie, had this been a limited 5-part series on a streaming platform, it would have been the best weekend binge. The only problem would have been missing out on the visualization. This movie is a visual orchestra, from its action sequence to the music this movie is stunning to experience in a movie theater. Even though the movie is a little confusing in intent, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is an amazing experience.
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