Elsa Pataky

‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ – Oh What a Glorious Epic!

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

There is a quote near the beginning of “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” which still haunts me long after I first witnessed George Miller’s thrilling and gloriously epic prequel.

“As the world falls around us, how must we brave its cruelties?”

This particular quote struck me hard as I do not need to live in a post-apocalyptic to understand it. The world is a deeply unfair place, but this fact hits Furiosa more than most as we watch her as a child who is forced to grow up a lot sooner than any youth should, even if it is in a radioactive hellhole.

“Furiosa” is a prequel to “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and we come to meet young Furiosa (played at the film’s start by Alyla Browne) at a time where her life is disrupted in a devastating fashion. While living in the Green Place of Many Mothers, she is kidnapped by members of the Biker Horde, and they present her to their leader, the warlord Demetrius (Chris Hemsworth). From there, she is forced to witness horrible atrocities and survive the awful violence which threatens to be perpetrated on her and others in what comes to be known as the Wasteland.

Now whereas “Fury Road” was an all-out chase movie, this one has a bigger story to tell as it looks at the origins of Furiosa and of the events which turned her into a real bad ass. She is given a full character arc as she is forced to improvise ways to escape a painful and helpless servitude and prevent anyone from discovering the “land of abundance” where she came from. When she comes to the moment where she proves to be a bad ass warrior, it feels truly earned.

To my surprise, we don’t see Anya-Taylor Joy until an hour into this film. Instead, we get Alyla Browne who plays her as a girl, and she previously worked with Miller in the criminally underseen “Three Thousand Years of Longing.” This young Australian-Estonian actress does fantastic work in making you believe a child of so young an age can be quick to defy her captors, escape those about to do serious physical harm to her, and to slip away ever so cleverly to where she is not just another piece of property.

When Anya-Taylor Joy arrives, Furiosa has been toughened up to a large extent and has disguised herself as a mute boy who is good with fixing cars and operations around the War Rig. While it is a bummer that Charlize Theron could not return as Furiosa, Joy makes this role her own and commands the screen to where her male counterparts can only play catch up. Seriously, she has a glare which shoots lasers right through your eyes and punches a hole out the back of your head. Not once is she ever less than riveting in this role.

Then we have Chris Hemsworth as the warlord Dementus, a man who only thinks he’s as badass as Thor. He’s a hoot to watch here as he simply lets loose and chews up the scenery with sheer abandon. He is an actor possessed with a fury as Dementus has the appearance of someone successful, but who has no idea how to wield power in a successful or profitable way (sound familiar?). But moreover, Hemsworth gives Dementus an inescapable vulnerability as he reveals himself to Furiosa as someone who has been equally wounded as she has. Both have suffered tragedies and want to get back to the lives they once had, but this apocalyptic world has robbed them of their hopes and dreams and leaves them with only one mission, to survive. This all leads one of the big questions this film has for us and its characters; how do you go through life when everyone and everything around you has been laid waste?

Seriously, however, the real star of “Furiosa” is George Miller. After all these years, he still knows how to create a post-apocalyptic future like no one else. I would love to get inside his head to see how he comes up with all these visuals and cars. And while some might be saying this prequel is “Fury Road” all over again, they are wrong. He does revisit familiar territory and characters here, but he still has new tricks up his sleeves as he expands the world he brought us into years ago and gives it even more visual and thematic depth. Can another filmmaker give you such Wasteland splendors like the Citadel, the Bullet Farm and Gastown? I think not.

And yes, there are glorious action set pieces to be found throughout. Among my favorites are when Furiosa stows away in the War Rig undercarriage while Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme) drives through the war-torn field while being attacked by rogue raiders. It is one of the most thrilling sequences I have seen in a film so far in 2024, and Miller is aided by the propulsive music of Tom Holkenborg (a.k.a. Junkie XL), the amazing cinematography of Simon Duggan, and the brilliant editing job done by Margaret Sixel and Eliot Knapman. This sequence plays even better in 4DX as you feel like you are at a rodeo that never lets up.

Now as I write all this up, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” is failing at the box office which depresses me. This is a film meant to be seen on the biggest silver screen in your neighborhood and not one to await on streaming. I’m sure there are understandable reasons as to why this prequel is underperforming around the world, but you are really missing out if you don’t see it at a theater near you. This is one of the most visually spectacular films you can hope to see this year this side of “Dune Part II.” I find it hard to believe I will have a more exhilarating cinematic experience in 2024 than I had here.

I do have to say, however, that the big chase sequence featuring the War Rig gave me some PTSD memories of when I worked at Disneyland. I had a commute of 35 miles one way, and it did bring out the Immortan Joe in me. Traffic in California was hell back then, and it is still quite hellish today.

* * * * out of * * * *

Fast & Furious 6

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Fast & Furious 6 movie poster

After watching “Fast Five,” I kept wondering what the filmmakers would end up calling the sixth film in the franchise. One guy told me they should call it “Sexy Six” which I thought would be pretty cool, but the filmmakers decided not to be all that creative with the title this time and they just called it “Fast & Furious 6.” Then again, you will notice during the opening credits (yes, this one actually has opening credits) that the movie is called “Furious 6.” Why they decided not to put this title on the trailers, posters and TV commercials is beyond me because it sounds perfect.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter because “Fast & Furious 6” proves to be just as much fun as its predecessor, and it delivers the kind of crazy and illogical entertainment we have come to expect from these movies. You can bitch and moan about the plot holes and the absurdity of certain stunts, but this franchise is now over a decade old and we have long since given up trying to make sense of everything which goes on. I’m just astonished director Justin Lin and company still managed to make an incredibly entertaining movie while not introducing much of anything new to this series.

After pulling off the mother of all bank heists in “Fast Five,” the merry band of car racers have retired rich and are enjoying life. Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) and Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) are now the parents of a baby boy, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) has a ridiculously beautiful estate in which he lives with Elena (Elsa Pataky), Gisele (Gal Godot) and Han (Sung Kang) have moved to Hong Kong, and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) flaunt their wealth in ways both loud and generous.

But with this being a “Fast & Furious” movie, there’s no way any of these people will stay retired. Into the picture comes Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) who meets up with Dom not to arrest him, but to ask for his help in bringing down a former British Special Forces soldier named Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) who has taken down various military convoys. Dom, of course, has no interest in working with Hobbs, that is until Hobbs shows Dom a picture of one of Shaw’s crew members: his ex-girlfriend Letty (Michele Rodriguez). From there, the whole crew reassembles to take Shaw down, rescue Letty, get full pardons, and drive some super-fast cars in the process.

It should be of no surprise to anyone that Letty is alive as this was confirmed during a post-credit sequence in “Fast Five,” and it’s good to see Rodriguez return to this franchise. While the explanation of how she survived doesn’t make much sense (these movies have never been high on logic), I’m glad to see her back. Letty looks to have turned bad and is suffering from amnesia, but you’ll have to see the movie for yourself to see how far from grace she has fallen.

It’s a shame this will be Justin Lin’s last film in this long running franchise (James Wan will be taking over for the next installment) as he continues to outdo himself in terms of the stunts he gets onscreen. Even when certain stunts stretch the boundaries of what’s even remotely possible, Lin still leaves us on the edge of our seats and begging for more. He also understands that while we love the action, it’s the characters which bring us back as well as we have come to deeply care about what they go through.

We could get into a long discussion about whether or not Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are really acting in these movies, but this issue has long since been rendered moot. They are these characters, and they are key part of this franchise’s success as we root for them to get away with everything and anything. This also goes for Jordana Brewster who, while a bit underused in this one, is still a kick to watch as Mia. Recent additions like Dwayne Johnson have also given the “Fast & Furious” movies a swift kick in the butt, and we leave this movie wondering if his muscles can get any bigger than they already are. It’s like what Danny DeVito said about Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Twins:”

“You’re all swelled up and you look like you’re ready to explode!”

Actually, the best thing about “Fast & Furious 6” is watching Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris play off of each other. These two are so damn funny as they try to one-up each other as to who’s the cooler dude, and I wonder if the filmmakers would ever consider doing a spin-off series with their characters.

As for the newest additions to the “Fast & Furious” family, Luke Evans gives us the strongest villain this series has seen in a long time with Owen Shaw. This is not to say the villains in the previous installments were weak (the actors playing them were quite good), but they proved to be generic in the large scheme of things. With Shaw, we get a character bound by a philosophy as strong as it is twisted, and Evans sees to it we do not forget about this particular nemesis once we leave the theater.

Gina Carano, whom Steven Soderbergh directed in “Haywire,” is another newbie here as Hobbs’ partner Riley, and you can sure bet she puts her mixed martial arts fighting skills to good use in this movie. Her fight scenes with Rodriguez are exhilarating to witness, and those looking for a good catfight will get more than what they expected here.

Some of the craziest stunts in “Fast & Furious 6” include a tank which mows down every car in its path, regardless if the cars are imports or American made, and a cargo plane which our heroes use everything in their power to bring down. One automobile which stands out in particular is “The Flipper” which Shaw drives, and it’s a car designed to flip over any car foolish enough to get close to it. Whether you’re driving head on at this thing or trying to ram it from behind, you’re in a no-win situation as you will find yourself unexpectedly flying through the air and crashing painfully. Just look at Walker’s face as he finds this out the hard way.

“Fast & Furious 6” does have its share of plot holes which are becoming harder to forgive, and the airplane runway featured in the movie’s climax is even longer than the one in “Die Hard 2,” but it’s still a slam-bang piece of entertainment to where you can only complain about its problems so much. It’s not better than “Fast Five” which was a wicked blast, but it’s still delivers the kind of fun we have come to expect from films like this. As always, be sure to stick around for a post-credit sequence which introduces us to the main villain of the next sequel. While the identity of the actor playing this villain has long since been spoiled, you’ll still get a kick out of seeing this guy appear on the big screen.

* * * out of * * * *