About two weeks ago I went to see Furiosa, the most recent movie in the Mad Max franchise. Furiosa is a prequel to Fury Road, which came out in 2015 and is widely regarded as a fantastic movie with many critics even placing it on their lists of best movies of the 2010s. Naturally, expectations were very high for Furiosa. On the whole, I would say I liked the movie, but I don’t think it measures up to Fury Road.
Fury Road was particularly remarkable for how lean the storytelling was. The main elements of the story are incredibly simple. Nearly all the movie is simply a long action chase sequence as the heroes attempt to escape from the villains. Furiosa, on the other hand, is much less focused. The movie takes place over a much longer timeframe, often jumping forward in time by large amounts. On top of that, character motivations are less clear, and it is sometimes difficult to understand why a character is doing what they are doing. While on the whole the story is good, it is a big change of pace from its predecessor. Of course, opinions differ. While I thought it was pretty good, a friend of mine actually left the theater because he disliked the way the story was told.
Of course, Furiosa is primarily an action movie, and on the whole it’s good. It relies far more on practical effects than most modern action movies. Many people would say, including myself, that practical effects are much more timeless than digital ones. I can go back to an action movie from the 80s and still appreciate the effects. The second movie in the Mad Max franchise, The Road Warrior, is a great example of this. The movie was made in the early 80s, yet it still looks fantastic. On the other hand, if I were to go back to most action movies from the 2000s, the effects usually don’t seem as good anymore. Early digital effects often have an uncanny valley feeling, where they just don’t look quite realistic enough.
George Miller has a reputation for preparing a very large amount of background material for his films. Although Fury Road had a very simple story, supposedly he prepared a large amount of extra material describing the world and history of the movie. It’s an interesting style, and it definitely feels like the world is alive beyond just what is on the screen.
Another smaller disappointment is that Furiosa just doesn’t have as many striking images as Fury Road. Anyone who has seen that movie will remember the guy chained to the front of the truck playing a guitar that is also a flamethrower. It’s such a ridiculous sight that perfectly sums up the feel of the world so well that it sticks in your memory. Furiosa just doesn’t have an equally amazing image.
On the whole, though, it’s a solid, fun movie. However, it also shows the changing movie culture. Several news stories mentioned that in spite of positive reviews it performed poorly at the box office. In fact, that’s how I found out it came out. The days of big summer movies seem to be coming to an end as people more and more prefer to watch movies at home on streaming services. I think this is disappointing, because watching a beautiful movie on a large screen is an experience that shouldn’t be lost.
Joe
Vocabulary
prequel (noun) - a story that is released later but takes place before another story
measure up (phrasal verb) - to be as good as
timeless (adjective) - something that is good even after much time has passed
uncanny valley (noun) - when something doesn’t look completely realistic and creates an uneasy feeling
in spite of (phrase) - even though, in contrast
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