In the week or so I spent catching up and rewatching the previous Mad Max films, a rather unrelated film scene popped into my head.
In 1941, there was a film released called Hellzapoppin’. While I have not seen the film, I have seen what is arguably the film’s most popular scene when the characters do a dance called “The Lindy Hop”. When you watch it on YouTube, you will most likely have trouble concluding that these talented people are not being sped up on film: they are just that bleepin’ fast.
That same kind of high energy is what has made George Miller’s Mad Max films so memorable, along with the fact that you don’t necessarily need to watch them in order to find out what is happening in later films. After the success of Fury Road (arguably one of the best action films of the 21st century, if not the best), Miller has returned to tell the origin of Furiosa (played by Charlize Theron in Fury Road.)
While some of the plot may be a bit confusing at first, the story is still somewhat straightforward as we see a young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) is kidnapped from her home, The Green Place. Tragedy strikes as she is now under the care of the villainous Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), complete with his own chariot of motorcycles.
Even when we eventually get to the citadel run by Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme, taking over the role from the late Hugh Keays-Byrne), we still get more of a young Furiosa before seeing her grown up (Anya Taylor-Joy, whose face was used to digitally enhance her younger version).
We see how Furiosa works her way up as a mechanic and a warrior, with the help of another new character, Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke). The names of these characters personify cool (my favorite from the franchise, according to Wiki, would have to be Mudguts.)
It is a bit unfair that this movie has to live up to Fury Road, which, to be blunt, is a better movie. That should not make you think this is a bad movie. The problem is there are a lot of pacing issues that make the film seem to be slower than it needs to at times, not at all helped by the fact that this is the longest film of the franchise so far.
That said, there are still a fair amount of “OMG” moments worth the price of admission alone, especially if you saw it on IMAX like I did (my second IMAX viewing so far this year after Dune: Part Two: sand is truly glorious on IMAX.)
Parents, as is always the case with this franchise, this film earns it’s R rating. There is no nudity and (surprisingly, from what I gathered), little swearing. The action and violence, however, makes up for all of that. High school and above.
While Hemsworth is the more known star (and is giving a very unique performance as a bad guy we know we should disdain despite how oddly charming he is), the film is more proof of the talent of Anya Taylor Joy (who I knew was something special since she was in The Witch). With other projects such as the underseen Emma (2020) and the much more distinctly seen The Queen’s Gambit, my ATJ stock is still going strong.
If you have not already, you will soon find out it is impossible to not remember her.
Overall:
Nothing else to say 