In reality, taking into account the box office data, one more reason should be added. ‘Furiosa: From the Mad Max Saga’ has started with quite disappointing results. Unless word-of-mouth works and it ends up making a comeback, the film may become a financial failure. This would not only jeopardize the continuation of the saga, but could affect the financing of future blockbusters of this caliber, with these artistic ambitions. That is why the main reason to go see ‘Furiosa’ would be this: if the predictions are confirmed, seeing shows like this in a movie theater will be increasingly difficult.
These are the other reasons:
1. It is not repeated, it is not ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ (2015). The ‘Mad Max’ reboot is possibly the best action movie of the 21st century (and one of the best of all time). Its impact since it premiered in Cannes was brutal, a cinematic hurricane that even earned 10 Oscar nominations, something unthinkable for a saga that was born as pure exploitation. In ‘Furiosa’, veteran George Miller (almost 80 years old) returns to familiar territory, but does so by taking several detours. He doesn’t just repeat the formula, but he gives it a couple of twists and turns. Since comparisons were going to be inevitable, it was better to take a swerve, both aesthetically and narratively. Seeing the result, it has been a success.
2. Furiosa is a character on par with the greats of the genre. In ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ she stole the spotlight from Max himself. And in this prequel/spin-off what we intuited is confirmed: Imperator Furiosa is a character with enormous potential to become a legend of action and science fiction cinema. He just needed to have his own mythology. Miller narrates his origin in the best way: reformulating the universal plot of the forging of a hero / heroine and adapting it both to the ‘Mad Max’ universe and to new contemporary sensibilities.
3. The action scenes are still furiously good. It is true that they do not stand up to comparison with those of ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ – but what action sequence does? – and that the excess of digital dulls them a bit, the CGI is not as well integrated. However, any blockbuster director would kill to film something remotely similar to the extraordinary prologue of ‘Furiosa’. We didn’t even talk about the spectacular attack on the tanker truck. A complete waste of choreographic talent and mastery of staging available to very few.
4. The iconography is as imaginative as ever. A motorized chariot, trucks with double engines, a man with the history of the world tattooed on his body, corpse worm breeders, an octopus… Apocalyptic punk imagery has always been one of the strong points of the ‘Mad Max’ saga. And in ‘Furiosa’ it is no less so. Settings, characters (the costume design is again by the multi-Oscar winner Jenny Beavan) and all kinds of tuned vehicles continue to be a riot of visual creativity and aesthetic madness.
5. Two and a half hours that go by “like a cucumber.” “Is it over yet?” was the first thing I thought when the credits rolled. Accustomed to seeing blockbusters more inflated than Chris Hemsworth’s biceps (by the way, Pataky plays two small roles), ‘Furiosa’ is the complete opposite: she doesn’t have a second to spare. The film is narrated wonderfully, always knowing when to step on the accelerator and when to step on the brake. An epic story divided into five chapters where there is everything: Shakespearean drama, hyperbolic action, post-apocalyptic epic, touches of humor (the comic villain Dementus) and a satirical speech about populist and stupid leadership. The ending may be a little anticlimactic and with an excess of explanatory chatter, but… who cares?
