I’ll be honest, my hopes for this film were not very high. I didn’t really plan on going, but felt like it had been a while since I’d written a review. With no time to read a book while I’m abroad in Taiwan, seeing a film was the only option that remotely piqued my interest.
Watching Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga was more of a got-nothing-better-to-do kind of decision. I invited my friends to go, and most were uninterested. One said, “I don’t know why they even bother; it’s all the same story: explosions in the desert. Did you know that 10 per cent of material gets lost during the recycling process? It’s the same with these drawn-out film franchises that never come up with anything new.” As I sat in the theatre with only a small bucket of popcorn and a Coke to keep me company, I reflected on his words. His point landed during a trailer for another tornado movie, 90 per cent of which I’d definitely seen before. I prepared myself to be bored for the next two hours or so.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) was a long car chase with barely any plot, and you can’t even watch it as a stand alone, as Max is not explained in the slightest. We weren’t even given the decency of a few laughs with some humour in the script. Sure, I’ll watch anything with violence and a guy rocking out on a massive boom-daka-wagon — piercings and Frankenstein cars, I’m in. But I’m not going to say it’s great; I just like watching things go boom.
Furiosa was not that. While it has the Frankenstein trucks and its fair share of nipple piercings, that’s not where this film ends. Instead of the plotless hunt Fury Road gave, Furiosa was more of a sand pirate story, complete with maps, dune warfare, odd crews, a crazy pirate king, violence, thievery, and revenge. It has no good guys — it’s dirty, grimy, and bloody, but it also gives you characters with depth, a stand-alone story, and humour.
The one hang-up is that you need to watch Fury Road to understand the ending of Furiosa. If you do, I recommend watching Furiosa right after. This prequel has done something I haven’t seen before: it redeemed its subpar sequel. As much as I didn’t like Fury Road past the boom-booms, watching it again after Furiosa gave it a plot line, made me care about the characters, and made me enjoy it a lot more.
I’d also like to give props to whoever made the decision for Anya Taylor-Joy to play Furiosa. Without spoiling anything, Furiosa’s eyes are one of the main focuses of her character, and with eyes like Anya’s (and her ability to act through them) it was a perfect choice. As for Chris Hemsworth, if the credits didn’t have his name, I wouldn’t have recognized him. Granted, I’m bad with faces, but I’d like to think that his ability to tap into the character made him unrecognizable. His character, Dementus, quickly got my attention, and the interactions between him and Furiosa were… chef’s kiss.
I like to be right. It’s fun, fills my ego, and it makes me feel smart. But I love being wrong. I love being surprised. I love the unexpected. And you know what? I loved this film.
