REVIEW: “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” (2024)

During pre-production on Mad Max: Fury Road, director George Miller and co-writer Nico Lathouris wrote an entire backstory that chronicled Charlize Theron’s tough-as-nails Imperator Furiosa, from her lost childhood to the warrior we came to know her as in that now-unforgettable 2015 chapter. Reportedly, the actress wondered why they weren’t making her character’s origin story instead of Fury Road, as she found the former more interesting. Well, that backstory stayed with Miller and many of the same crew. And with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, it comes to fruition as both an exhilarating and immersive odyssey, and as a different kind of Mad Max story. 

For one thing, we get to see locations and set pieces only spoken about in Fury Road, such as the Green Place of Many Mothers (this narrative’s Garden of Eden, with “healthy, nourished full lives”), Gastown, and the Bullet Farm. We also get to see more of the Citadel, a younger--and a bit more sympathetic?--Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme replaces the late Hugh Keyes-Burne), and earlier versions of his massive War Rig. We also get a genuine sense of how strong Furiosa is--like mother, like daughter. The Wasteland, meanwhile, is as savage, brutal, and dangerous of an environment as we’ve seen by far in this franchise. (Plus, you would not want to be a War Boy. Just saying.) 

Anya Taylor-Joy steps into the titular role like her signature mechanical arm and makes it all her own; her eyes, stares, and quiet rage saying everything. Although the actress doesn't technically show up until halfway through the movie (Alyla Browne plays Furiosa as a child), what an entrance it is! And what a risk on the filmmakers' parts. Tom Burke is equally terrific as her partner Praetorian Jack. But Furiosa is also a rare case where the main villain steals the show. And with the big-nosed, sadistic warlord Dementus, Marvel veteran Chris Hemsworth (almost unrecognizable) has never been more against-type, nor so broad, colorful, or sick. The dynamic between Hemsworth and Taylor-Joy leads to several moments that’ll leave you breathless. 

One of Miller's specialties is the power of stories, of history, and of mythology. With this film, there is not only a battle for power and control (cue Dementus against Immortan Joe), but also a fight for Furiosa to get back home and to preserve what little she has left of where she came from. (She carries a tree seed throughout.) In fact, there are very few characters in this story who believe there is something better out there than all the madness around them, while everyone else argues that such places no longer exist--or at least want to pilfer and overtake whatever abundance they can get for their own personal gain. Praetorian Jack is one of the few characters to exemplify somebody fighting for something greater. (“Even as the world fell, my parents fought to be warriors for a virtuous cause.”) 

But while Fury Road had a redemptive arc or two, Furiosa is essentially a slow-burn revenge thriller. (Furiosa was forced to watch her mother murdered right in front of her.) Sure, it literally rides off into the sunset. But it heads toward the sun while it’s still hot, and slowly, quietly comes to a boiling point. The result, like Tom Holkenborg's subtle and intense score and the film's thunderous sound design, is heart-pounding and jaw-dropping. And graphic, nnot just because of Furiosa’s severed arm. One truly gross scene involves maggots and decomposing limbs in creepy underground tunnels. There are also grim scenes of torture and psychological tension, leaving a lot to the imagination. 

Furiosa also seems a bit more dialogue-heavy (then again, so were the 1979 original and 1985’s Beyond Thunderdome). Its two-and-a-half-hour runtime may try the patience of viewers used to fast action and crazy stunts (which this movie has plenty of), but I give Miller and company credit for presenting a different, more layered, and subversive kind of Mad Max. The chapter titles help make it feel like a piece of classic literature or ancient mythology. Its narrative structure, amazingly, comes full circle, from white to black, from innocence to antiheroism, if you will. The film does fall short in some of its visuals, half of which are clearly CGI panoramas; ditto massive crowd shots and insane car crashes (perhaps due to safety concerns from the last movie). 

Still, the effect is nothing short of gripping and exhilarating. For someone in his 80s (so are Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola), George Miller remains as skilled and crafty a filmmaker as he’s ever been. He really understands, and knows how to create, cinema. I guess all that's left is that pre-Fury Road backstory he and Lathouris wrote for Max Rockatansky, titled Mad Max: The Wasteland. We'll see. Remember that. 

REVIEW: “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” (2024)

[WRITER’S NOTE: The following review was originally posted on May 13, 2024.] 

Passing the torch of a film franchise from one director to the next is always a daunting task, especially if there’s a generational gap. What’s interesting about the original Planet of the Apes movies is they were products of their time (the late-1960s and early-1970s were a period of Vietnam, Watergate, and civil rights marches). 

The rebooted trilogy from the past decade has allowed filmmakers and artists to successfully update author Pierre Boulle’s original concept, by transitioning from practical effects to digital performances, all while keeping the storylines engrossing and thoughtful. In retrospect, 2011’s Rise, 2014’s Dawn, and 2017’s War, strangely foreshadowed where the world would be in the not-too-distant future. (Since 2020, we’ve had to deal with a global pandemic for real.) So the themes in this larger narrative remain as (if not more) relevant than ever.

With Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, director Wes Ball (The Maze Runner) picks up where Rupert Wyatt and Matt Reeves left off. Set 300 years after the events of War, a young chimpanzee named Noa (an engrossing Owen Teague) has much growth and knowledge to gain in his community. But when his village is attacked and taken captive by a power-hungry simian army, he goes on a quest to find his tribe and bring them back from a sadistic bonobo leader named Proximus (a commanding and chilling Kevin Durand). Along the way, he meets a wise orangutan named Raka (a wonderful Peter Macon) and a mysterious human girl named Mae (an incredible Freya Allan) with more to her than meets the eye. 

The world-building of this new iteration is captivating and awe-inspiring, from the sights of algae-covered skyscrapers in ruins, to motifs of waterfalls, eagles, and telescopes and satellites (symbols of hope and communication) looking to the sky. It’s a seamless balance of visual effects (courtesy Weta) and real locations. Proximus’s “wonderful day” catchphrase even gives this series another thing in common with Mad Max. 

The story of Kingdom takes on mythological and even Biblical proportions. Specifically, the idea of stories and legends from one generation that have either been forgotten or not passed on to the next. This is exemplified in two different clans of apes going toe-to-toe, physically and with conflicting worldviews and ideologies about community, laws, and how they treat or view human beings. Ditto themes of meaning, understanding, truth, trust, and honoring or dishonoring who we are and where we came from. It also begs the question (as cliché as it is): is it possible for two different species to co-exist and rebuild in a broken world? 

While Kingdom doesn’t quite reach the rock-climbing heights of Reeves’ previous installments, Ball’s take manages to be both a clever homage and a jaw-dropping, subversive narrative. Some throwbacks to the 1968 original are a bit much, but Kingdom represents a full-circle event that carries on the series in some unexpected and challenging directions, regarding the roles of humanity and stewardship (or the lack of both), as well as issues of submission, conformity, and ownership. It’ll be something to see where this franchise heads next.