In this prequel/spin-off to Mad Max: Fury Road, we look at the origins of the apocalyptic warrior/transporter Furiosa (played by Anya Taylor-Joy), who became more popular in the last film than it's lead, as she is taken from her village and struggles to survive the dangerous factions ruling the wasteland that used to be Australia.
This movie differs from the last one in that it focuses more on the fighting than prolonged vehicle pursuits, though don't worry, you do get a couple good chase scenes. What this film does definitely retain is both the over-the-top action and larger-than-life characters with their weird post-apocalyptic Australian lingo.
Like the last film, this looks great with solid effects and design work. Whereas Fury Road is famous for being mostly practical effects in the day of digital, here they have upped the digital effects, but if you're not a fan of that, I wouldn't worry too much. It seems to be more background work than vehicle and set work.
I was worried about this being a prequel, since we're being exposed to info. and characters we've already known, but this does a surprisingly good job of keeping things interesting across two-and-a-half hours. Whereas Fury Road was a road movie, this is more like a crime war movie as we see fighting and intrigue between the factions of the waste lands. The best part of this is the various larger-than-life villainous personalities. Even though we've seen the villainous warlord Immortan Joe (Offspring's Lachy Hulme, replacing the late Hugh Keays-Byrne) before, we get to see more of his strategic leader side, which makes for an interesting time.
When I saw this movie's main villain Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) in the trailer, I wasn't immediately sold on the character as he came off as being a more stereotypical looking post-apocalyptic villain than a lot of the other colorful baddies of MM. I'm really pleased to say that Dementus is THE best performance of Hemsworth's career. Whereas Immortan Joe is an authoritative type, he presents himself as a religious-type figure, Dementus is the opposite. He's sort of a free livin' sort of bike gang leader. He's got a childish energy to him and is someone who is clever but not as clever as they think they are.
If you saw Fury Road, you might be confused to see a new member of Immortan Joe's inner most circle that wasn't there. If you're confused by that, this character appears in the MM video game that takes place between this film and FR. (I give director co-writer George Miller credit for corporate multimedia synergy, but I can see how this can be frustrating to people who don't keep up with everything.)
Viewers beware that there is one scene in this that features an uncomfortable, adult topic that you wouldn't necessarily walk in expecting.
Yeah, Fury Road might give you a little more bang for your buck, but this is still an enthralling and great looking action piece.
