One of my biggest unpopular movie opinions is that I'm just not that crazy about Mad Max: Fury Road. I admire it as an action vehicle but as a movie overall it just really leaves me wanting. I've thought this for years but it only really got confirmed to me once it rewatched it the day before I finally saw this movie. The fact that this movie was supposed to be so different from Fury Road was quite appealing to me going in since I don't totally gel with that movie and overall I'm amazed by how much I enjoyed it given my somewhat mixed feelings on the predecessor.
I think where this film succeeds for me compared to Fury Road is that it does takes its time more. There's considerably more world building and moments to breathe between the action scenes. In Fury Road this was very much absent by design but I loved the fact that Miller took a different approach here. I really liked the gradually pace this film took and how it fleshed out this surprisingly interesting world. The one thing I can't deny about Fury Road is how incredible the action scenes are and that's no different here. I think the big difference for me is that there's more build up to them and as such I thought there were more stakes going into them. They're long and jaw dropping in scale and it really does give me an urge to finally watch the original films.
The performances and character work are also top notch and I really appreciate the fact that those are things George Miller doesn't skimp on in his action movies. Anya Taylor-Joy is basically perfect as Furiosa and obviously she's going to be compared with Charlize Theron but ultimately I think both of their portrayals compliment each other very well. While her arc does follow a template we've seen before I ultimately thought it worked very well and I was always interested what action she was going to take next. A big credit for that has to go to Chris Hemsworth who is outstanding and this is easily the best performance I've ever seen him give. He's not the deepest villain I've ever seen but's he's very memorable and Hemsworth gives such an entertaining performance that I just always wanted to see more of him on screen. Tom Burke was also great in a role that I thought was surprisingly wholesome but also quite mysterious in all the right ways.
The story itself though is definitely where the film falters the most for me though. It's split up into very distinctive chapters and in many ways I liked that about it but it also hurt the pacing somewhat. It felt as if the film had to keep re-starting with every new chapter and for as jaw dropping as the action scenes are their length became a bit tiring since the story is so bare bones. I also think the actual ending could've been stronger given that it very much leads directly into Fury Road and the transformation of the Furiosa here into the one in that film didn't feel entirety earned to me.
I had no idea what to expect going into Furiosa but I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It feels like such a natural expansion of the world set up by Fury Road and the character work is surprisingly very strong. It definitely has its weaker aspects but as someone who's not the biggest fan of the predecessor I really appreciated how this movie gave me more than I could've possibly expected.
I think where this film succeeds for me compared to Fury Road is that it does takes its time more. There's considerably more world building and moments to breathe between the action scenes. In Fury Road this was very much absent by design but I loved the fact that Miller took a different approach here. I really liked the gradually pace this film took and how it fleshed out this surprisingly interesting world. The one thing I can't deny about Fury Road is how incredible the action scenes are and that's no different here. I think the big difference for me is that there's more build up to them and as such I thought there were more stakes going into them. They're long and jaw dropping in scale and it really does give me an urge to finally watch the original films.
The performances and character work are also top notch and I really appreciate the fact that those are things George Miller doesn't skimp on in his action movies. Anya Taylor-Joy is basically perfect as Furiosa and obviously she's going to be compared with Charlize Theron but ultimately I think both of their portrayals compliment each other very well. While her arc does follow a template we've seen before I ultimately thought it worked very well and I was always interested what action she was going to take next. A big credit for that has to go to Chris Hemsworth who is outstanding and this is easily the best performance I've ever seen him give. He's not the deepest villain I've ever seen but's he's very memorable and Hemsworth gives such an entertaining performance that I just always wanted to see more of him on screen. Tom Burke was also great in a role that I thought was surprisingly wholesome but also quite mysterious in all the right ways.
The story itself though is definitely where the film falters the most for me though. It's split up into very distinctive chapters and in many ways I liked that about it but it also hurt the pacing somewhat. It felt as if the film had to keep re-starting with every new chapter and for as jaw dropping as the action scenes are their length became a bit tiring since the story is so bare bones. I also think the actual ending could've been stronger given that it very much leads directly into Fury Road and the transformation of the Furiosa here into the one in that film didn't feel entirety earned to me.
I had no idea what to expect going into Furiosa but I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It feels like such a natural expansion of the world set up by Fury Road and the character work is surprisingly very strong. It definitely has its weaker aspects but as someone who's not the biggest fan of the predecessor I really appreciated how this movie gave me more than I could've possibly expected.