Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Looking back, I actually ranked Fury Road the same score. I will say that I am most likely in the rare space that if they were to go head to head, I think that I will lean Furiosa. The thing about Furiosa and Fury Road is that they are very different movies, mostly in their storytelling. It is easy to get lost in the wild action, but I was more invested in the background of Furiosa than the journey of Fury Road. Now, I will say that I told Z and E that I could watch the action sequences for give or take 3 more hours with no issue, I do think the movie flirted with going a bit too long. The surprising limited time of Anya Taylor-Joy and the size of Chris Hemsworth’s nose may have you skeptical, but you have to get over it because the movie is fantastic. Overall, I know that Dune 2 exists, but I do think this is most likely going to be the movie with the best action sequences of the year
-J
When you’re highly anticipating a movie and it sucks, that is a low, horrific feeling. However; when you’re really worried about a movie, and it totally proves you wrong, that feeling is up there with… cancelled plans? Black Cat Ice Cream? I don’t know why I ever doubted George Miller, but the trailer just really was off-putting. It looked like they were just grabbing two Hollywood darlings, Hemsworth and Taylor-Joy, slap a ridiculous prosthetic nose on Thor, and going to ride their coattails. But the reality was, they were used somewhat sparingly in this, despite being the leads (SPOILER ALERT: you don’t even see Anya until the second half of the movie). And Chris’ unbelievable nose fades away to into his intoxicating performance as Dementus. Some roles you can tell, the actor just has a blast with, and my guy is having the time of his life with this one. Anya was really impressive as Furiosa too, commanding each scene she’s in and making a truly convincing younger version of Charlize Theron. Obviously it being a prequel to Fury Road, one could probably expect some potential rehashing of the previous movie’s plot points and mechanics, and that was the case here, ala the War Rig runs, but where they did re-tread that same ground, Miller added completely new elements into the mix that let him get away it. The action was a spectacle, as we could expect, and really just incredibly impressive all the stunts they pulled off in this. The pacing wasn’t quite right at times, as they broke this up into chapters that felt somewhat clunky, and the re-treading I mentioned puts this slightly below Fury Road in score, but the context this gives to that movie, the action and stunts, and the performances from Chris and Anya made this a excellent addition to the franchise and another commendable effort from George Miller.
-Z
