The Writings of John Ryan Sullivan

(Spoilers below)

This past week I found myself, once again, with no idea what to watch. After searching for half an hour decided to rewatch Mad Max: Fury Road. I didn’t have time to watch an entire movie and an hour later when I needed to leave the house I was surprised that I had been, once again, completely absorbed by the film. Needless to say the next opportunity I had I finished the film.

There are so many aspects of the film which are surprising, whether you are watching it for the first time or the tenth. The stripped down story, the stunts, the overly dramatic score and scenes that are theatrically lit. Fury Road is a movie that stands out in this current age as it is, unabashedly, a movie. It doesn’t aim for realism and the moments where it wants you to feel something it does not shy away from doing so (and by this I mean with a swelling of the score or the movement of the camera). A lot could have gone wrong with Fury Road (and should have) but somehow it is an excellent, compelling film.

Which is why after finishing it I thought, “I should give Furiosa a chance.”

I lump Furiosa into an ever-growing category of new movies that I classify as ‘Looks interesting/might be good/put it into a queue somewhere and forget about it’. Which, writing it out makes me feel a bit gross. Hundreds (thousands?) of people work on these films, artists and craftsmen, people pouring their ideas and energy into making something – they hope- you and I will love. And for these efforts people like me tuck them away on virtual lists knowing we will most likely never watch them.

And yet the blame isn’t fully with me (or you if you do this). If you watch the trailer for the film for Fury Road you can tell how much this film meant to George Miller, the director. You can feel the excitement in how the film is shot and edited and that there is an absolute need for this movie to be seen. Furiosa, not so much.

Which is not to say it is a bad movie or that I didn’t enjoy it. I certainly was not entranced by Furiosa and the sense of urgency, the feeling of need from the filmmakers (many of the same people behind Fury Road) does not seem to be there.

Which in part has to do with the story being told. With Fury Road we are meant to have an inkling of the world. Presumably we’ve seen the three previous Mad Max movies and have a general understanding of what life is like. But if you don’t, it doesn’t really matter because most of the movie is about the audience not knowing what is going on or why.

Furiosa, being the origin story of the central character of Fury Road (which given that the film is called Mad Max: Fury Road is confusing) is a different kind of film. Since watching it I’ve wondered if there is a prequel to anything that has felt necessary. Interesting, perhaps but necessary? So far I’ve come up with nothing but to be fair the genres where I think this is most common, science fiction and fantasy, are not really my areas.

That being said going into Furiosa we have an idea of what the story will be like and who some of the characters will be. What’s interesting about Furiosa is that it seems to have the same issue/oddness of Fury Road – Furiosa is not really the main character of the movie.

That would be Dementus, played by Chris Hemsworth. Ordinarily this would make sense with a Hollywood film. A big star joins the production, things get skewed in their direction and the film morphs to celebrate this talent. Only one of the more interesting things about the Mad Max movies is that George Miller tends to cast Australian actors for the majority of the roles (I know Chris Hemsworth is Australian!) and for most viewers they are unknown (or unrecognizable).

Which gives the films a wonderful quality where anything is possible. If you cast a big star in the role of antagonist, most likely, that means the character will be around for the bulk of the film. What Mr. Miller does so well by not casting movie stars (usually) is you get great performances that feel correct. No unnecessary scenes or lines are given to characters in order to give the actor more screen time. It is wonderful.

So in Furiosa this quality is lessened and we have a lot of Chris Hemsworth in a not terribly interesting role and half the film has a child actor playing Furiosa. In a sense Mr. Miller follows his typical casting choices by not giving the audience Anya Taylor-Joy in all of the film but given that she is meant to be the center of the story it is somewhat unfulfilling.

Comparing and contrasting these films is unfair as they are meant to be different things. Fury Road is a chase movie that somehow sustains the tension and drama for the duration of the film. Furiosa is the origin story of the central character of Fury Road but we spend as much time, if not more, with the Chris Hemsworth character who has little to no depth.

One of the best selling points of Fury Road is there is almost no psychology involved with the characters. We don’t have people talking much, or sharing their feelings. Terrible things happen to people and they pause for a moment, then continue onward. It speaks to the world they live in and the character’s expectations regarding what life is like.

In Furiosa there is a lot more talking, especially from Dementus. Only the message is essentially the same as Fury Road. Life is hard, no one is happy and we are all going to die. The audience is meant to see how Furiosa goes from being a child living in a place of abundance (and love)

to being a child living with a nomadic biker gang. Then how the child lives in a citadel. Then how the child escapes a predator and becomes a worker pretending to be a boy.

Which wasn’t boring to watch but I’m not sure it was necessary either. Watching Furiosa did not give me a new or deeper appreciation for Fury Road. There were some truly spectacular sequences of vehicular violence and mayhem in this film that may have outdone Fury Road. Having seen the film I can’t say I would recommend it to anyone simply because I’m not sure there is any reason to. I liked parts of it and it was certainly watchable. I just think movies should aim to be something more than that.