George Miller is a madman in a mad world, and we’re all just living in it.
In an era where big-budget blockbuster entertainment franchises are dominated by corporate monopolies and an insatiable thirst for monetization, with the dreaded ‘I.P.’ or ‘content’ reigning supreme, George Miller stands as a lone road warrior. While other creators of iconic film franchises have either sold off their work to enjoy retirement (George Lucas with “Star Wars”) or had it taken away in favor of younger, more malleable hands (Ridley Scott with “Alien”), Miller has been the shepherd of the “Mad Max” films since their inception in 1979. Remarkably, it feels like Miller now has even greater creative freedom with the films than ever before. With “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” Miller has delivered an idiosyncratic and iconoclastic work that stands out in today’s cinematic landscape.
TOP FIVE THINGS ABOUT “FURIOSA”
5. A Fully Realized World
The post-apocalyptic world of the “Mad Max” films has always had a uniquely tactile and meticulously designed feel. The work of production designer Colin Gibson and costume designer Jenny Beavan on the multi-Academy-Award-winning “Mad Max: Fury Road” elevated the series to an entirely different level. Nearly a decade later, Miller has reunited these key figures to delve even deeper with “Furiosa.” The onscreen visual world of “Furiosa” is a feast for the senses, with every corner of the frame filled with intricately designed works of art that each contribute to the story and world in unique ways. The audio world is equally rich, with Tom Holkenborg’s bombastic score tapping into the adrenaline-fueled insanity of his “Fury Road” score while exploring deeper nuances. This, combined with Miller’s trademark Sergio Leone-esque sound design, creates a cinematic experience firing on all cylinders from the moment its tires hit the gravel.
4. Reverse Engineering Brilliance
The screenplay for “Furiosa,” written by George Miller and Nico Lathouris, ingeniously builds upon and recontextualizes “Fury Road” in profound ways. Unlike many prequels or origin stories that reduce characters to their most basic elements, “Furiosa” takes a thoughtful and intellectual approach to exploring the roots of a character audiences know. It sets several strands of development into motion that ultimately pay off and complicate the character arcs seen in “Fury Road.” This makes “Furiosa” compelling in its own right and enhances the viewing experience of “Fury Road” on subsequent watches.
3. A Cinematic Beast All its Own
While “Furiosa” is undoubtedly connected to “Fury Road,” it differs significantly in its approach. “Fury Road” was an adrenaline-soaked, fast-paced film, utilizing blisteringly-paced editing and silent film-era techniques. In contrast, “Furiosa” consists of longer, sustained shots, including an entire action sequence shot objectively from afar in a single shot. This narrative and visual shift gives “Furiosa” a grander scale and scope, exploring the nuances and politics of the Wasteland in ways “Fury Road” did not. If “Fury Road” was a punk track played with speed and precision, “Furiosa” is an acoustic folk ballad, telling a fundamentally different story with more room for resonance.
2. The Lead Performers
Both lead performers deliver remarkable performances, each carrying significant narrative and thematic weight. Anya Taylor-Joy, taking over the role of Furiosa from Charlize Theron, delivers a stoic, reserved, and emotionally measured performance, blending elements of Theron’s portrayal with her own distinct mark on the character. Chris Hemsworth, as Dementus, provides a delightfully unhinged performance, full of lunacy-driven physicality and bold line deliveries. His portrayal adds a compelling antagonistic presence to the film.
1. George Miller is a God
No one stages action quite like George Miller, whose set pieces are as emotionally cathartic as they are viscerally thrilling. In “Furiosa,” Miller carves out a monolithic journey for the titular character, with each interaction pushing, changing, or reinforcing prior lessons. This creates a deeply satisfying and affecting cinematic experience.
RGM GRADE
(A)
By the time “Furiosa” reaches its swelling final moments, Miller has delivered a tremendously moving work that feels like a cumulative epilogue to the revenge-action-thriller genre he helped re-popularize, and an ode to growing newfound beauty out of old destruction. It is a transcendent work, and no one else could pull off such an insane balancing act of cinema-of-attraction spectacle and intellectual enlightenment.
