Just saw the movie.
Never, ever take it for granted, getting to spend another two and a half hours in George Miller's wonderful mind like this.
In so many ways, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is the total anthesis to the madcap structure of Mad Max: Fury Road – if anything, the film in the series that Furiosa most directly echoes is the original Mad Max. This is a long, sprawling, episodic mythological epic (with a more than healthy dose of Ozploitation DNA exuding out from its core, of course) with starts and stops and multiple points of reset and reorientation, rather than a constantly moving race to the finish line. Where Fury Road was the chase scene from Stagecoach extended to two hours to utterly brilliant effect (Fury Road is, after all, a perfect movie), Furiosa aims more for "The Odyssey" by way of Sergio Leone. The film is anchored by hauntingly tender, vulnerable central performances from Alyla Browne and Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa (the hand-off from one actress to the other here is incredible, and I am now dying to revisit Fury Road [Furiosa's own "Chapter 6," if you will] and see the handoff to Charlize Theron's own magnificent founding turn as the character in its new light), a career-best performance from Chris Hemsworth as the ravaging warlord Dementus, who has a presence on screen that stands in total contrast to what Taylor-Joy is doing as Furiosa, and rounded off by Tom Burke's Praetorian Jack, a character that I had no idea what to expect from but found myself completely enamored by the tenderness on display from him. All of these performances, and so many more – Pissboy is my new best friend – populate the Wasteland, which we've come to see grow and expand over the last 45 years into what it is here, with all of its feudal intricacies and warring factions and oddball personalities (Octoboss!!!) proving here that they can take on so many unique forms beyond the formula that we've come to expect in the previous Mad Max sequels, and each new chapter here is essentially a reinvention in form and style from the one that preceded it. I've seen a few people call this the the messier, more raw, personal B-side to Fury Road's A-side offerings, and I would be inclined to agree with that assessment. Furiosa wears its whole beating heart on its sleeve, exposed for the entire world but not content to just let you see it. The film demands that you poke and prod at that heart until it bleeds as you hitch yourself to this ride with Furiosa on her seemingly eternal quest for vengeance, before it can give way into the hope and redemption that will redefine her odyssey come Fury Road.
George Miller, man. What a gift he is.
