#39: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Release Date: May 24th, 2024
Format: Theater (Cinemark XD at The Pike Outlets in Long Beach, CA)
Written by: Nico Lathouris and George Miller
Directed by: George Miller
3.5 Stars
I’m not sure I have a profound take on George Miller’s Mad Max universe. Of the multi-film franchises - Rocky, Rambo, Terminator, Fast & Furious, Lord of the Rings, Avengers, Harry Potter, Star Wars - I think you would find diverse fan opinions about the range of quality of the films. You would find fans of earlier entries in the saga, or younger fans that believe the later films had certain technological advantages in regards to special effects and CGI that make those movies better.
But I feel there is a consensus with Mad Max: They are really good. All five of them. And I agree.
The world building is incredible, as is the tactile nature of the sets and props. Things click and crank and sputter and rumble. The landscape is dry and vast. The characters are uniquely adapted to survive the seemingly unsurvivable. They are tough, shrewd, willful.
Again, I’m saying things that people already know if they’ve seen these movies. The consensus on the quality and effectiveness comes from George Miller telling simple tales. Once you’ve absorbed the breathtaking visuals, it’s all very simple.
This society has gas. And this other society has water and vegetables. Maybe they should trade. Or maybe they will fight. Oh, and there’s also a biker gang that has ambitions to take over either society, or both, if they can.
It’s humanity from 50,000 years ago (well, maybe not the gas and motorcycles), as well as from today. Societies competing for resources, and the losers suffer.
Hard transition from the macro to the micro: I really enjoyed the performances in this movie, especially Anya Taylor-Joy’s. Her Furiosa is of the Wasteland; she is a relentless survivor. I was curious enough about her after seeing her performance to read her wiki page and I was shocked to learn that she came from incredible wealth: her father is a retired Argentine multimillionaire banker and her mother is a Spanish psychologist, born from international diplomats. Not exactly the recipe for an actress to realistically depict a character that can ride a dirtbike to the top of a 500-foot sand dune so she can snipe a member of the Biker Horde.
But her wiki also includes her talking about being caught between cultural identities. She was born in America, but grew up in England. Her parents mostly spoke Spanish. She speaks of menacing peers, and of not belonging to America or England or Spain or Argentina. She says she threw herself into dance as an escape. Sounds like a survivor to me.
But she also was “discovered” at 17 to be a model, and she’s now married to the son of an investment banker from Georgia (the southern US state of Georgia, not the country). He’s an “actor” and “musician.” Maybe her whole bio is some curated bullshit to hide her privilege.
Okay, I’ve got to stop reading this stuff. I liked the performance.
My original point remains. I like George Miller’s Mad Max universe.
