I can’t recall much about Mad Max: Fury Road. Lots of sand, lots of action, lots of fun. I liked it. This apparently is the origin of the Furiosa character, hence the title. I’ll be honest, I don’t think you really need to have much if any prior knowledge of this world. We’re quickly lead into the post-apocalyptic nightmare. No power grid, no money, societal collapse, chaos. A young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) is captured by bandits and torn from utopia in the desert. Cue a fairly lengthy if not enjoyable chase which sets the tone for Furiosa’s life. Utopia may be “a place of abundance”, but it’s also got badass role models… like her mother. This is a slightly predictable and protracted revenge plot. The bandits lead by a self righteous bloke in a cloak called Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) pillage the desert, killing as they scavenge for food, water and ammunition. All while Furiosa watches, learns, waits. It looks spectacular, but boy does it take a while to find its foothold. Dementus is just bloody annoying, even as he’s slightly redeemed momentarily by even nastier bastards on the scene like Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme). It’s essentially a pyramid of evil, a cast of increasingly insane men (always men) with ridiculous names, hell-bent on power. As Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) grows up, now hiding who and what she is, she grows stronger, smarter. Still watching, learning in the midst of an insanely patriarchal society obsessed with testosterone fuelled mechanics. It’s an petrolheads dream! This to be fair is true to the 80s film’s origins. Open desert, big rigs and motorbikes fighting it out for basic life essentials. This is where we meet Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke), the driver of Immortan Joe’s latest war rig, an ornate tanker at the centre of a stunning high-speed battle scene, with people flying all over the screen, explosions, crazy camera sweeps and an endless supply of skinhead dudes covered in white paint, it’s like a particularly hellish stage of the Dakar rally. It’s here, half way through, that it gets interesting. I can’t help but feel it’s because here Furiosa takes centre stage. All the baddies have been laboriously introduced. We’ve the lay of the land, now it’s time for Furiosa to rewrite the rules. Dialog is thin and Taylor-Joy feels a little underused, but this is an action film after all and it’s got that by the greasy bucketload. Still the narrative is more about being patient, than trying to decode anything particularly nuanced. It’s switch your brain off stuff, with holes in it big enough to drive a turbo charged armoured monster truck through. More fool you though if you’re watching for the plot. It looks incredible, the wide open world of black and orange, sear your eyeballs there’s no denying it, but let’s just say the chase is better than the catch.
5/10
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