‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’: How Can One Franchise Keep Up the Dusty and Metal Momentum?

May 22, 2024

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You’re driving me Furiosa! (CREDIT: Warner Bros. Pictures/Screenshot)

Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Alyla Browne, Tom Burke, Lachy Hulme, Nathan Jones, Josh Helman, John Howard, Charlee Fraser, Angus Sampson, Quaden Bayles, Daniel Webber, Jacob Tomuri, Elsa Pataky

Director: George Miller

Running Time: 148 Minutes

Rating: R for The Bloody Violence and Grisly Gruesomeness of the Desert

Release Date: May 24, 2024 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Imperator Furiosa was the breakout character of Mad Max: Fury Road, and now she’s got her very own prequel! Yes indeed, it’s time once again to return to the sandy, fiery post-apocalypse of the Australian Outback. Originally brought to life inimitably by Charlize Theron nearly a decade ago, the mantle of Furiosa now falls to Alyla Browne as a tween and Anya Taylor-Joy in young adult form. She grows up in one of the few areas in this wasteland where vegetation grows plentifully, but then she’s kidnapped into a life of servitude and forced to watch the execution of her mother (Charlee Fraser). She initially winds up in the clutches of the vulture-nosed warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) before getting passed over to big baddie Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), who’s happy to have her as one of his many brides. But her mechanical skills, slippery resourcefulness, lust for vengeance, and an unquenchable desire to return home ensures that her life won’t be quite so simple or quite so repressed

What Made an Impression?: Predictable, But Also Not Predictable: Mad Max is one of those franchises where continuity really doesn’t matter. Every single entry has been directed (or co-directed) and co-written by George Miller, but he’s never exactly felt bound by what he himself has established. Fury Road, for example, played more like a reboot rather than a legacy sequel (understandably so, considering its recasting of the lead role and the fact that it came out 30 years after the previous entry). So it’s a little surprising then that Furiosa plays similarly to Rogue One‘s place in the Star Wars timeline, insofar as it barrels right towards the point where Fury Road kicks off. But that’s not to say that Miller is doing anything obvious. It may be true this time that the continuity is more linear than usual, but the depth of imagination is still staggering. Miller doesn’t give us what we think we want, because he’s speaking an entirely different language than anybody else on the planet.
How’d He Do Dat?: I’m not sure if I’m fully enthralled by Furiosa’s world. Similarly, I admired Fury Road more than I adored it, and my initial reaction to this distaff follow-up is pretty similar. (Though I wouldn’t be surprised if I gradually start feeling a bit zestier). But I can say without reservation that I am absolutely in awe of George Miller’s nutty band of merry stunt workers. With all sorts of sand bikes, monster trucks, and precision-strike firearms, it’s hard to believe that everyone survived the production. (I pray that no terrible exposés emerge to reveal otherwise!) Fury Road already flame-threw the action adventure genre to levels never witnessed before, and Furiosa somehow manages to be even more relentless. It’s nonstop set piece after set piece, each one of them thoroughly thrilling, witty, and reality-altering. This is cinema, baby!

Furiosa is Recommended If You Like: Stunts, Stunts, Stunts, Stunts, and also Stunts

Grade: 4 out of 5 Prosthetic Arms

This Is a Movie Review: ’12 Strong’ Declassifies Post-9/11 Afghanistan But Doesn’t Have the Wherewithal to Ask the Tough Questions

January 17, 2018

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CREDIT: David James/HS Film, LLC/Warner Bros.

This post was originally published on News Cult in January 2018.

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Navid Negahban, Michael Peña, Trevante Rhodes, Geoff Stults, William Fichtner, Rob Riggle, Elsa Pataky

Director: Nicolai Fuglsig

Running Time: 129 Minutes

Rating: R for Typical War Violence and Expletives, Though Far From the Genre’s Most Explicit

Release Date: January 19, 2018

12 Strong dramatizes a U.S. military operation immediately following the September 11 attacks, in which Task Force Dagger struck back against the Taliban in the mountains of Afghanistan. A mission that could have lasted years is instead completed in a matter of weeks. Thus, the film ends on a moment of triumph. But that is a note that rings hollow, as nearly two decades in, the war on terror is still going on, with no clear end in sight.

To be fair, the dispersed, insidious, leaderless nature of terrorism makes it profoundly difficult to stamp out entirely, and it is accordingly just as difficult to convey the entire meaning of this conflict in a single work of art. 12 Strong does not purport to capture that entirety, nor should we fault it for failing to do so. But it does deserve to be taken to task for bringing up some existential conundrums and declining to thoroughly investigate them. An Afghani ally tells the men of Task Force Dagger, “You will be cowards if you leave, and you will be our enemies if you stay.” And that is really the crux of this issue. But instead of grabbling with that dilemma, 12 Strong leaves it hanging.

At its heart, though, 12 Strong just wants to be a celebration of heroism. And on that score, it is more committed, but not especially capable. It was filmed in New Mexico, and you can feel just how much it is not actually on a real Afghani battlefield. A cheap, careless aesthetic is not exactly the best way to honor these guys. I am sure budgetary constraints made things difficult, but that could have been counteracted with the same ingenuity that Task Force Dagger displayed, but alas, the final product is a bunch of grey dullness with occasional flashes of personality (that personality coming from the fact that these soldiers were forced to ride horses, which most of them are not trained to do, thus resulting in a few solid laughs).

12 Strong is Recommended If You Like: Saving Private Ryan but with straight-to-video production values

Grade: 2 out of 5 Horse Soldiers