i suspected it immediately, but never dared say it to anyone. there are some things you just don’t admit, no matter how much you trust people or how secure you may feel in yourself.
however, the feeling grew, and so i said it cautiously to someone who is almost a complete stranger. to my surprise they agreed, so i said it to a relatively new friend. to my relief they understood.
i feel seen, i feel safe, and i feel that if i don’t say it now, how will future generations be able to follow my example?
here goes…
i prefer Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga to Mad Max: Fury Road.
are we still here? are we ok?
i’m not making an objective statement about which is ‘best’, but – as this blog has always been – it’s just my personal response to the films i see.
i suppose there was always a chance that this could happen. i wasn’t a huge Max-Head before Fury Road, but i had seen all three of the originals and enjoyed them all, even the one that ruined any chance i might have of ever seeing my favourite book, Riddley Walker, adapted for the screen. i also enjoy the loopier side of antipodean cinema, with the old fashioned quirks and pantomime campness that mark out films like The Dish or Housebound, let alone the more overtly ‘out there’ works of a Waititi or a Luhrmann. Miller is a master, action is an addictive genre, the desert is an exquisite canvas, and Chris Hemsworth has a funny bone as developed as his deltoids.
and then there’s Anya.
the main reason i held back my controversial opinion is that Anya Taylor-Joy could sit in silence and still have my rapt attention.
i think (without looking it up) that when i reviewed The Menu i said that she was so beautiful that she was almost a satire on beauty itself, and being a weak male i stand by that comment. i have never revisited The New Mutants, but i know i would find her scenes easier to watch than anyone else’s, purely by virtue of her face being on screen. it was a great comfort to me when other, more emotionally stable critics agreed that she had an abundance of talent and star quality to go with it, because from Thoroughbreds onwards i was entranced, and unsure of how fairly i could assess her work.
the other potential spanner in the works is just how good Fury Road is. it was released before this platform existed, so it’s a film that i’ve never reviewed in print, but i adore it. Theron and Hardy are incredible, both individually and together, and the colours and contours of the Namibian desert are as beautiful as any location in the world could be. images like the stalking creatures in the blue, Max’s muzzled face, and Furiosa’s anguished howl are eternal pieces of cinema, and Nicholas Hoult‘s Nux was a surprisingly nuanced highlight. it perhaps lacked a little of the mad world of the wasteland, but The Doof Warrior and Immortan Joe were enough to hint at the weirdness around the edges of the action.
it was also part of hollywood’s modern adoption of practical stunt work, using as little vfx as possible, and camera operators as insanely brave as the stunt performers themselves. essentially an action-packed chase punctuated with narrative – before turning round and chasing back with more action and less punctuation – Fury Road was a breathless big screen experience. my second viewing was in the balcony of Tyneside Cinema‘s Classic screen as it approached its hundredth birthday, and as the score belted out of the speakers my chair vibrated with the bass, giving me a 4dx sensation without having to pay extra! the colour, sound, and energy of the film stood head and shoulders above all competitors, ending the year in my top five, only behind films that i regularly mention amongst my favourites of all time.
i have now watched Furiosa three times, and after my second viewing i went straight home and watched Fury Road, for the full Rogue One/Star Wars experience.
(by the way, although i own the Black & Chrome version, and find Logan Noir superior to Logan, i do not recommend watching that film in monochrome, and hope George doesn’t do it again. the colours are a huge part of the visual appeal, and no matter how beautifully shot the film is, it cannot afford to lose them.)
the gratifying thing is that the two films absolutely belong together, as do the performances of their lead actresses. both have a dangerous grace and an authentic fierceness, and despite the physical mismatch it is easy to believe that they are the same person. Namibia did not have to step in this time, but the re-casting of Australia as itself has taken nothing away from the awesome beauty of the setting, and the production design of a slightly younger, somewhat less established world feels like a natural regression from what we had already seen.
i think that the reason i love Furiosa more is because we get so much storytelling from the film, and Miller is a genius at visual storytelling.
broken into five chapters, there is a mode for every mood. The Pole of Inaccessibility is a chase thriller that introduces our main characters (if not yet our lead actress) and delivers some tension. Lessons From The Wasteland is mostly concerned with world-building, as Hemsworth’s Dementus takes the lead in grandiose, grotesque fashion. The Stowaway is arguably closest to Fury Road, an action-packed road-war that not only brings Taylor-Joy into the film but introduces Tom Burke as Praetorian Jack, the war-rig driver who Furiosa models herself after, and a rare spark of humanity. Homeward is the blockbuster movie, with a buddy pairing and huge stunts, as good and evil clash properly for the first time. Beyond Vengeance is a dark fable, the revenge fantasy that the whole film builds towards, but with added layers of pain and vitriol.
all of these chapters weave together seamlessly, but they could each be watched alone, viewed as episodes from the world of The Wasteland. it’s almost an Oz-sploitation remake of Game of Thrones, and there is definitely a spin-off mini-series to be had if George so desires. as a young Furiosa, Sting‘s Alyla Browne is superb, feisty and defiant and indefatigable of spirit, and i could imagine a world where a host of writers and directors are invited to each tell an hour-long story around her experiences, both before and after her kidnapping. more so than in any of the four previous films, the setting feels vibrant and alive, and chock full of potential stories just waiting to be told.
i don’t know whether George Miller has another Mad Max in him. i know there is some form of script for a pre-Fury Road Max story, and if Tom Hardy is willing to return that would be something special to see. by including footage from 2015’s film in the conclusion to Furiosa, i feel pretty confident that we are safe from a remake, but more stories of the Imperator – no matter which actress plays her – would be very welcome for me. there are even theories that Hardy’s Max is not the same one from the original trilogy, and that would be a fun thread for someone to pull on. the Max-i-verse probably only exists in my head, but there are so many seeds of ideas bursting out of this new film that nothing would surprise me.
in conclusion, i love both of these films, but i will return to Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga even more often than i have done to Mad Max: Fury Road – even the hour that Anya isn’t in! if Fury Road is a straight shot, there and back again, then Furiosa is a grand tour, a scenic route through lives and cultures that beg for exploration. i’ll be back in the wasteland before long, i’m sure. i hope George will be too.
onedottoomany 