As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland, they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.
What We Thought:
I know I will be in the minority who admit that Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga did nothing for them and I’m fine with that. I think Mad Max: Fury Road is one of the most overrated films of the past 20 years. I saw it once at a screening and have never considered watching it again. I heard Furiosa (a prequel to Fury Road) was going to be different, but ultimately it’s just another loud, chaotic film with over the top action set pieces which you either (claim) to like or don’t. For the most part I don’t.
I grew up on the good Mel Gibson Mad Max trilogy. My biggest issue with Fury Road was that Mad Max didn’t even need to be in it. So knowing Furiosa was a prequel for the Charlize Theron character from Fury Road and that Mad Max wasn’t going to be involved I was hoping to like Furiosa more than Fury Road. My expectations for it were much different, but ultimately the action sequences are the same as Fury Road. A friend ran to the bathroom at one point and when he got back I said to him I’d tell him what he missed, but I didn’t even know what was going on. Director George Miller uses the same type of action sequences as the previous film with big trucks, motorcycles, the silver faced guys and lots of explosions. Usually I’m into mindless violence, but for some reason these films grow tiresome on me. It’s all shot beautifully, but it’s too long and drawn out. Fanboys will call Miller a madman for the chaos on screen and the overly used “See it on the biggest screen possible” will be thrown around social media.
The one positive is overall the story and characters are a bit more developed which is good. We get a backstory on how Furiosa is taken and the life she leads up until Fury Road. Anya Taylor-Joy replaces Theron as the younger version, but even she isn’t in it for most of if not the entire first act. The film is well over 2 hours long and the first act (if not more) has an even younger Furiosa as we are introduced to Chris Hemsworth’s Dementus character and how his gang meets The Immortan Joe (from Fury Road). Everyone butts heads and deals are made, but as time goes on they all want to fight each other. Eventually Taylor-Joy enters the film as the character gets older and she gains more jobs, skills and popularity under The Immortan Joe and on Fury Road.
Tiresome is the best word to describe these movies. Furiosa: A Mad Max Sage feels like a retread of Mad Max: Fury Road despite Chris Hemsworth seeming to be in a much different movie than everyone else. I know all Mad Max movies are known for bizarre characters, but Hemsworth is really over the top comedically here. Anya Taylor-Joy is fine when she finally gets in the film, but so much of it feels exactly like Fury Road I have no interest in seeing it again. The warboys do the same things in both movies and you sit there waiting to see how the prequel will connect to the previous film, an example is Furiosa losing her hand. People who loved Fury Road will probably love this, but neither film does it for me.
The Nerds Templar 