FURIOSA

Second viewing in one hour

Thank God for AMC A-List lol

I really really loved this, it really surprised me because I think I like it even better than Fury Road, love the increased set of characters, love how grotesque and nasty it got (I'm gaining confidence that mainstream culture isn't going to soften too much). Praying Miller can make more of these, really astonishing that he's kicking it so hard

The 150-min length made me pause.

Fortunately it’s backloaded with action, the only time I felt any drag was in the first hour. By the end I wanted more.

the first half hour is one of my favorite sequences in the entire franchise.

after two viewings, I'd rank Furiosa as follows:

Fury Road > 2 > Furiosa > 1 > 3

the only real drawback in this movie is that part of the reason so many of the sequences in Fury Road were so exciting, besides the fantastic staging/practical effects, was that you were palpably rooting for Furiosa's escape and the vanquishing of Immortan Joe, so like, the moments that are purely Immortan Joe-Dementus warring don't have the same impact as the battle scenes where you're seeing the formation of Imperator Furiosa as a byproduct of these battles, such as the sequence where the second in command gets offed and she basically takes over due to sheer survival instinct, then tries to hijack the war machine.

likewise, the typical drawback of any prequel, when you know who bites it and who doesn't sheerly based on who was and wasn't in Fury Road, it blunts impact of battle sequences a little bit. that and you're kind of locked in, design wise, so it's probably the first Mad Max film that didn't really have any significant advancement in the costuming design, vehicular design, tribe makeups, etc.

however....I still enjoyed it a ton, esp on second viewing. particularly, as stated upthread, Dementus's dialogue. he's a remarkably brutal warlord, colossally terrible leader - the only difference between him and Immortan Joe is that Joe knows how to weaponize his brutality to gain subservience whereas Dementus can't conceal the loathing he has for his own soldiers, including killing them intentionally in battle to gain a tactical advantage, which causes him to lose his second-in-command. it does kinda seem funny to me that the first War Machine seems significantly more advanced than the one in Fury Road, with the bobbyknocker and the arms that can lift vehicles off of the ground. maybe they didn't have the leftover parts for that.

1 being 4th seems criminally wrong considering how much I love the original Mad Max but that's more a compliment than anything

Kinda made me cringe everytime Ana spoke, taking me straight outa that homely Australian blanket that I had been tucked into by the surrounding dialogue

tbf she had to kinda match the way Charlize spoke

No I totally get it. Good write up too

Keep wondering if nipples guy is going to become a meme

this was great obviously. didn’t have quite the same relentless pace as fury road but i felt more invested in furiosa’s story more than any of the previous maxes, despite knowing what was going to happen. hemsworth was fun as a madman, was great to see our old friends immortan joe and rictus erectus again (was rictus’s brother scrotus in the first as well? been a while since i watched), and the doof warrior, all too briefly

The organic mechanic too!

and the guy who becomes the head of gastown following the downfall in this movie!

I appreciated Dementus’s attempts to quirk up his brand. I’m the Red Dementus, that’s why my beard has this red dye in it.
You don’t want to see the Dark Dementus!

one day you too can become a history man

Haha i loved that moment. And shes just like nah history man i’m good thanks

The feral bugged out eyes Furiosa gets when she pushes her vehicle to a ridiculous speed at the end is great

Thought it was fabulous, unsurprisingly, given Fury Road is in my top few favourite films easily. Less frenetically iconic than Fury Road (fewer hyperspeed moments, colours less saturated and unnatural), more space for the characters to breathe. But still so many gasping wtf moments of just outrageous visual genius. Plotwise it was as ‘thin’ as Fury Road, but it was emotionally very different, maybe richer. Furiosa is the most well-drawn character in any of the films apart from maybe the first, but she’s also the only one since the first to now have any kind of backstory. Both very similar and very different to Fury Road. Would like to see on the big screen again.

Lady and gentlemans

Seeing this in a little while, 10:15 showing. Leaving off my 2nd cup of coffee so my bladder doesn't dictate terms during the movie.

Scrotus. Rictus.

why be a history man when you can make history, man

Let's just do it and be history, man

Just rewatched the original film from 79. So many of the ingredients are there from the off: there’s even a scene where they pole-vault onto an oil truck to steal petrol, which is completely forgotten about. He’s just remade the same film five times, adding new stuff as he goes. Amazing.

Yeah I watched it last night and caught the pole swing too, which I hadn't previously remembered.

Also the scene in the woods to Max's wife and kid on the road is practically a horror film.

Cool, weird, brutal movie. I wouldn't say I came out of it as totally dazzled and elated as after Fury Road. This one had a lot going on, but also didn't have quite the same gripping momentum for me. My favourite stuff was probably in the first two chapters, actually, before we get to the Citadel and it merges more fully into the world of Fury Road. Furiosa's mom needs a movie now.

In terms of violence and brutality, is this on par with fury road or is it beyond it?

On par? One scene definitely makes is beyond on the grossness scale. The better half was hiding her eyes (and I was tempted myself...... those particular things make me gag).

beyond xp

The drawing and quartering by motorbike kinda already puts it over the line, but there also weren't really any elements of torture in Fury Road, whereas Dementus tortures Furiosa's mother the unnamed gang leader, Furiosa herself, and Praetorian Jack, and Furiosa tortures Dementus.

Not to mention the 40-day war carnage scene was a little out of character for the series as almost every film has a decent death toll, but none of the skirmishes ever seem to go beyond a one day scuffle that leaves individual bodies on the road, whereas this war literally results in piles of bodies/mass graves and actual images of decomping bodies.

Body count probably a huge record for the series, and also the bobbyknocker

I feel like OG Mad Max is second most brutal.

You have Nightrider getting cooked, Goose's mangled, burnt hand, civilians murdered or tortured for funsies, the Johnny Boy kill, not to mention wife and kid roadkilled

The finalists for the part of Max were Hardy, Armie Hammer, and Jeremy Renner, with Michael Fassbender, Joel Kinnaman, Heath Ledger, Eric Bana, and even Eminem (who did not wish to leave the United States) all having been considered at various stages of the film's extended development.

I’m a little surprised this is more-or-less bombing at the box office, but I guess I shouldn’t be. Fury Road was a hit but not a giant one by contemporary standards, and not having the words “Mad Max” in the title probably hurts some. Plus also Anya Taylor-Joy isn’t by herself a big draw. I hope that doesn’t do in Miller’s chances to make another one.

the discourse around this aspect is very very annoying tbh

It’s part of the broader movies-are-dying discourse. Maybe they are!

R rating, prequel, one which more or less assumes that you've seen and enjoyed a movie from 9 years ago which wasn't itself a smash hit. It's kind of amazing that it even got made at this budget.

I’m pissed that WB didn’t strike 70mm prints of this

that was fine, in many respects it was very good – the politics and rhetorical flourishes of warlord culture are great, the imminent social danger in Gas Town, the scenes at the Bullet Farm - all comprise a really cogent and vivid science fiction vision. but compared to Fury Road, which is pretty much a single action bungee cord of a movie, the action here feels more like (great) set pieces, and the pace never really clicked into gear for me. co-ordination of action, stage management, editing all still fantastic. Really hope he gets to do a third.

I'm about to watch the morning showing. Stay tuned!

Was talking about box office with an former ilxor and we both arrived at the conclusion that shit just isnt kept in theaters long enough to make box office. Fury Road ONLY made 400 mil and that’s because it was in theaters for like 18 months. If they pull Furiosa after this week and put it on streamers they’ve shot their own dicks off

Yep. Word of mouth doesn’t exist any more.

yeah, this conversation about "underperforming" movies like this, Challengers and The Fall Guy reads like an industry circle jerk.

Yep. Word of mouth doesn’t exist any more.

― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand),

oh I don't know. I suspect Civil War and Challeners have hung on -- the AMC multiplex where I'm watching Furiosa has all-day screenings for Challengers -- because of word of mouth.

The action direction is good, but I tended to like the simpler action sequences the most (the opening chase is so great). The most intriguing moments for me are the ones where we escape the vast open of the wasteland and see the creative and freaky stuff happening in the gaps. Guy reproducing Hylas and the Nymphs. Old lady promising peace in the depths under the Citadel. I love that kind of detail.

For me the real treat was watching young/grown Furiosa process the world around her with only her eyes and sussing out what she's feeling.

There's one great, subtle moment when the rig is attacked and Furiosa's just done the bobbyknocker and she curls her lip a bit, having enjoyed the adrenaline rush, only to be brought back to Earth by seeing the dead War Pup.

in the Green Place she probably received ample survivalist training from the other Vulvalini, but since nobody really ever stumbled upon their encampment, never was exposed to the nihilistic butchery that was present elsewhere in the world and is slowly traumatized over and over again

that was fine, in many respects it was very good – the politics and rhetorical flourishes of warlord culture are great, the imminent social danger in Gas Town, the scenes at the Bullet Farm - all comprise a really cogent and vivid science fiction vision. but compared to Fury Road, which is pretty much a single action bungee cord of a movie, the action here feels more like (great) set pieces, and the pace never really clicked into gear for me. co-ordination of action, stage management, editing all still fantastic. Really hope he gets to do a third.

― Fizzles, Monday, May 27, 2024 8:48 AM (one hour ago)

^^ pretty much sums it up for me

i love a movie that’s slow and deliberate and operating on a tremendous scale and i honestly had to pee the whole time but i felt like i couldn’t miss any of the images the movie was offering up. george miller’s phantom menace (you know i mean this as a compliment). really felt this one in my heart instead of my nerves

also there were very young children at my screening and they all fucking loved it

we love every furious we see

Lol my mother said "there's another F&F movie already?" When I told her I was seeing Furiosa.

She thought I said Furiouser

Lol