By Mark Kennedy
At the beginning of "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," we are introduced to a kick-ass woman who rides a horse, then a motorbike, nails a few bad guys with sharpshooting finesse and fights off a mob. But it's not Furiosa — it's her mom.
That's one of the oddities of this latest offering in the Mad Max Cinematic Universe: Creator and director George Miller has taken the coolest role of 2015's "Mad Max: Fury Road" and built a whole prequel around her yet has her overshadowed by everyone else.
The adult Furiosa — a coiled, clenched Anya Taylor-Joy — only appears after the first hour-mark — we get way too much preteen Furiosa — and she's meek for another quarter of the film. We, frankly, wanted more. Charlize Theron as Furiosa promised a "Top Gun" swagger yet Taylor-Joy mostly does furious side eye.
What goes into making adult Furiosa is very unpleasant: She endures childhood kidnapping and torture, goes mute, passes herself as a boy, gets traded for gas, works her way up a madman's hierarchy and only in the final scenes does she have real agency. We do learn how her left hand was maimed and that she was sweet on a guy. But making her mute? In her own movie?
Back are some familiar, scarred faces — Immortan Joe, The People Eater and a legion of half-naked War Boys. The new mega villain is Chris Hemsworth's Dementus, who has a hunger for human blood sausage and a knack for spectacularly murdering people who Furiosa cares about.
Miller has added pretentious chapter titles like he was making a black-and-white Czech New Wave exposition on existentialism — "The Pole of Inaccessibility" and "The Stowaway" are among the sections — despite also employing a narrator.
By the time Miller is finished, he's built an epic, gritty history in the Wasteland like "Lord of the Rings" or "Game of Thrones." But was the point of this franchise a better understanding of the negotiating tactics of untrusty warlords in a hellscape? No: It was rocket-propelled grenades, motorcycles, chains, massive sandstorms and cracked skulls.
The best action sequence happens at the halfway point — not a good omen — with a 15-minute sequence inside, over and under a barreling silver double-tanker War Rig while it is being attacked by motorbikes, buggies and parachuting adversaries. It's a marvel, truly, but since 2015 we've had cooler moments in things like "Mission: Impossible" and "Fast and Furious" so, sorry, mind not blown.
Viewers also spend time whipping through the Citadel, the Bullet Farm and Gas Town but there's something missing, that unpredictable spark of madness, maybe. Perhaps once you've seen an insane guy chained to the outside of a zooming truck playing guitar solos in front of a wall of amps with fire coming out of the headstock, the shock wears off.
Speaking of heavy metal, Hemsworth wears fingerless gloves, a codpiece, leather pants, a sleeveless leather vest and flowing hair, like he was a member of Mötley Crüe circa 1983. He has decided to perform his role in full psychotic camp — licking the tears of a victim, he describes them as "zesty" — and proves it by incorporating a teddy bear into his ensemble. Perhaps he should have his own stand-alone movie because he doesn't really fit in here as the deranged comedy monster in a film with grim faces and famine.
A large part of the problem here is that young Furiosa is on an epic hero's quest to go home — like "The Odyssey" or any "John Wick" movie — but we know from "Fury Road" that the Green Place is no more. So "Furiosa" then just becomes a catalogue of crazy stuff that happens to her until it morphs into her cold-blooded quest for revenge. There's no real risk either because we know Furiosa lives to team up with Tom Hardy in 2015.
It feels like with this fifth Mad Max installment, Miller is trying to add operatic heft and seriousness to what started in 1979 as a fun, rip-roaring smear of nightmarish, post-apocalyptic motor oil. In that case, "Fury Road" was fantastic, but "Furiosa" is just fine.
"Furiosa," a Warner Bros. Pictures release which hits theaters May 24, is rated R for "sequences of strong violence, and grisly images." Running time: 148 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
Mark Kennedy is an AP entertainment writer
Oscar and Emmy-Winning Composer Kris Bowers Joins Barking Owl For Advertising, Branded Content
Music, audio post and sonic branding house Barking Owl has taken on exclusive representation of Oscar and Emmy-winning composer Kris Bowers for advertising and branded content.
Bowers’ recent film scores include The Wild Robot and Bob Marley: One Love, alongside acclaimed past works such as The Color Purple (2023), King Richard and Green Book. His contributions to television are equally impressive, with scores for hit series like Bridgerton, When They See Us, Dear White People, and his Daytime Emmy Award-winning score for The Snowy Day.
In addition to his work as a composer, Bowers is a visionary director. He recently took home the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject for his directorial work on The Last Repair Shop. The emotionally touching short film spotlights four of the people responsible for repairing the musical instruments used by students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The Last Repair Shop reflects the positive influence that musical instruments have on the youngsters who play them, and the adults in the LAUSD free repair service who keep them working and in tune.
Barking Owl CEO Kirkland Alexander Lynch said of Bowers, “His artistry, diversity of style and depth of storytelling bring an unparalleled edge to the work we create for global brands. His presence on our roster reflects our continued commitment to pushing the boundaries of sound and music in advertising.”
Johanna Cranitch, creative director, Barking Owl, added, “Kris first caught my attention when he released his record ‘Heroes + Misfits’ where he fused together his jazz sensibility with a deeply ingrained aptitude for melody, so beautifully.... Read More