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

May 22, 2024

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

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

There’s ‘Three Thousand of Years Longing’ in George Miller’s Latest Movie, and You Feel All Three Thousand of Them

August 23, 2022

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , 1 Comment

Look at all that longing! (CREDIT: Elise Lockwood/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures)

Starring: Tilda Swinton, Idris Elba

Director: George Miller

Running Time: 108 Minutes

Rating: R for Getting It On With a Magical Creature

Release Date: August 26, 2022 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: What if Aladdin starred Idris Elba instead of Robin Williams and Tilda Swinton instead of Steve from Full House. And also, what if it took place almost entirely in a hotel room? That’s pretty much Three Thousand Years of Longing in a nutshell. Alithea Binnie (Swinton) is a professor attending a conference in Istanbul, where she’s treated to the discovery of a djinn who had previously been trapped for millennia. And so, he is obliged to grant her – you guessed it! – that classic trio of wishes. But here’s the catch: Alithea’s not exactly the kind of person who would like to suddenly change her life by conjuring what’s in her heart of hearts. So it looks like we’re going to be her for a while. In the meantime, the djinn takes it upon himself to tell Alithea his life story.

What Made an Impression?: Three Thousand Years of Longing is basically just Pure Intoxication, thoroughly distilled. Who could possibly resist being an audience of one to a magical creature played by Idris Elba? As it turns out, Alithea Binnie almost can resist that. Almost. She’s always been a little different than everyone else, and she’s perfectly happy being her own independent self who doesn’t have to rely on anybody. (Which is to say, Tilda Swinton is the perfect person to play her.) But there’s something about somebody opening up to you so full and nakedly by revealing their life story. Let’s call it intimacy. And the power of that intimacy is multiplied about a thousandfold when that story spans millennia.

I’m not going to get too much into the details of the events of the Djinn’s life, mainly because they didn’t make much of an impression on me one way or the other. But that’s not a problem, because with the Djinn telling it, I’m enraptured even if the details mean nothing to me. This movie is a testament to the power of storytelling, specifically its ability to make you fall in love. That’s how Alithea falls in love with the Djinn, it’s how I fell in love with Three Thousand Years of Longing, and it’s how I imagine its spell will be cast on many more viewers to come.

Three Thousand Years of Longing is Recommended If You Like: Cracking open a good book, Gathering around the fire, Waking up only to fall back into a deep slumber

Grade: 4 out of 5 Stories