"Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga"

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[00:01:35] We've come too far.

[00:01:48] As a child, my world was forever changed.

[00:02:09] There was magnificent.

[00:02:13] And he took it all from me.

[00:02:19] What do we have here?

[00:02:25] She's from a place of abundance.

[00:02:28] This is our destiny.

[00:02:31] My childhood.

[00:02:33] My mother.

[00:02:35] I want them back.

[00:02:41] Alright everybody, you're just listening to the trailer for Furiosa, a Mad Max saga,

[00:02:44] and the story is as follows.

[00:02:46] Set 15-20 years before the events of Mad Max Fury Road, as the world falls apart, young

[00:02:51] Furiosa is snatched from the green place of many mothers and into the hands of a biker

[00:02:54] horde led by the warlord Dementus.

[00:02:57] While two tyrants war for dominance over the Citadel, Furiosa survives many trials as she

[00:03:02] plots her way back home through the wasteland.

[00:03:05] The film is starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Alia Brown, Lachey Holm,

[00:03:11] Nathan Jones, Charlie Frazier, Josh Hellman, John Howard, and Angus Sampson.

[00:03:18] It is written and directed by George Miller and co-written by Nico Laforis.

[00:03:21] Here to join me today for this podcast review, I have Josh Parham.

[00:03:26] Hello, hello.

[00:03:28] So Josh and I are reviewing this actually in Cannes at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

[00:03:35] This is going to be a unique review because for such a large movie that had a considerable

[00:03:40] amount of hype behind it, I wanted to make sure that no member of MVP was left out.

[00:03:45] So, sprinkled throughout this review, you're going to be hearing not just from Josh and

[00:03:48] I, but you're also going to be hearing from other members of the team who could not be

[00:03:52] here with us to record this review in person today.

[00:03:55] I thought it was really important to include their perspectives and also hear what they

[00:03:59] think about the film's Oscar potential, which we'll get into, of course, at the very end.

[00:04:04] But Josh, this movie has been a long time in the making.

[00:04:08] Another troubled production history for this film alongside Fury Road, which when it was

[00:04:13] released in 2015, had, I would say, moderate box office success, give or take depending

[00:04:19] on who you ask.

[00:04:20] But the critical reception was there.

[00:04:23] And this allowed the film to be thrust into the award season spotlight where it then went

[00:04:27] on to be nominated for 10 Academy Awards and win six.

[00:04:32] And it's really crazy when I think back on it how successful Mad Max Fury Road was in

[00:04:38] that regard.

[00:04:39] But for cinephiles in general, it became a lot of people's favorite action movie.

[00:04:44] It became one of the best films of the 2010s.

[00:04:47] It gave us a new iconic movie character in Furiosa played beautifully by Charlize Theron

[00:04:54] in the last one.

[00:04:55] I think she brings so much ferocity and passion to that role that just really make it stand

[00:05:02] out.

[00:05:03] So you then have On Your Tail of Joy here in this prequel stepping into that role.

[00:05:09] And I think a lot of people were skeptical.

[00:05:11] Chris Hemsworth was announced for a brand new character.

[00:05:15] You did not have Tom Hardy returning this time around.

[00:05:17] As I said earlier, this is a prequel that takes place many years before the last film.

[00:05:23] Then you also have to add in the love for Fury Road and the anticipation and excitement

[00:05:28] that that does to its fans.

[00:05:30] How can a movie like this ever live up to what came before?

[00:05:33] Especially like when I said it's heralded already as one of the greatest action films

[00:05:37] of all time and by some people, one of the greatest films they've ever seen, period.

[00:05:41] So there was definitely a lot of anticipation for this before its world premiere at the

[00:05:45] 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

[00:05:48] Josh, you saw it here alongside me.

[00:05:52] What did you think of Furiosa, a Mad Max saga?

[00:05:56] So walking into the movie, I will absolutely admit that it had a lot riding against it,

[00:06:03] I would say.

[00:06:04] I think that especially comparing it to Fury Road, which is such a high bar to clear, that's

[00:06:10] a tall order for any movie.

[00:06:12] And I think this one does not come quite up to that same level, but in some ways it's actually

[00:06:19] superior to Fury Road.

[00:06:21] I think that this movie absolutely does not have the same kinetic energy to its action

[00:06:28] sequences, I absolutely do believe that.

[00:06:31] There is something kind of more somber to the sequences that it puts together, but I

[00:06:35] think what it does actually do better than Fury Road is that it is a much better written

[00:06:41] movie.

[00:06:42] I think that the characters and the world building are so fascinating and I was really, really

[00:06:46] intrigued by that and I found that that was the element that really pulled me in.

[00:06:53] And at the same time, the action is still really, really interesting at the same time.

[00:06:57] And when you also then have this really great performance from Anya Taylor-Joy in the center

[00:07:02] of it, Chris Hemsworth is amazing in it.

[00:07:05] I think that this is a really good movie, very entertaining, very engaging.

[00:07:10] As I said, maybe not quite to the same level as its predecessor, but in other ways it finds

[00:07:15] avenues to tell a more interesting story.

[00:07:17] So I still ended up really liking this movie at the end of the day.

[00:07:21] Super excited to be able to share a few quick thoughts on Furiosa while Matt and Josh are

[00:07:28] over at the Cannes Film Festival.

[00:07:30] I think Furiosa is absolutely incredible.

[00:07:33] I thought it was excellent.

[00:07:35] To me, it was another massive, successful, wild swing from the director George Miller,

[00:07:42] even more so than I honestly expected.

[00:07:45] I had pretty high expectations going in and what I saw and experienced was instead an

[00:07:50] even wilder, more daring, more challenging, weirder movie than I thought it was going

[00:07:57] to be.

[00:07:58] All in really good ways.

[00:07:59] To me, when you think about Fury Road and Furiosa together, they almost feel like the

[00:08:05] ideal double album where the first disc, obviously in this case Fury Road, kind of embodies the

[00:08:12] idea of a more straightforward, more conventionally accomplished disc where each song perfectly

[00:08:19] segues into the next.

[00:08:21] It's a really well-paced album.

[00:08:23] It does everything you want a good album to do.

[00:08:25] But then disc two comes out and that is, in this case Furiosa, where it's more experimental.

[00:08:32] It's more intimate.

[00:08:33] It's more vulnerable.

[00:08:35] In some cases, it's even more bombastic.

[00:08:38] You could even think of Kid A and Amnesiac as a comparison point.

[00:08:43] And to me, they perfectly foil, deepen, and enrich the other films.

[00:08:48] Hey everybody.

[00:08:50] So I'll start off my thoughts by saying that unlike a lot of people, I wasn't as crazy

[00:08:58] high on Mad Max Fury Road as a lot of other people.

[00:09:03] While I did really appreciate the giant action set pieces and just how vibrant everything

[00:09:10] looked and I did really like Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, I guess the main thing for

[00:09:16] me was that it just lacked more of a compelling story for me.

[00:09:22] You know, even though it is exciting to see all of these cars racing and all of these

[00:09:29] explosions happening.

[00:09:31] I don't know, I guess it got a little old for me after a while considering that when

[00:09:36] you kind of boil it down to that, that is a very large majority, if not the majority,

[00:09:42] of the film.

[00:09:44] So I was a little apprehensive going into Furiosa, a Mad Max saga, just because I wondered

[00:09:50] is it going to be a lot of the same thing?

[00:09:53] How are they really going to tackle Furiosa's story, especially since we didn't get much

[00:10:00] of it in the Mad Max Fury Road film.

[00:10:04] But I was optimistic for it.

[00:10:07] Overall, I guess that I have about the same apprehension with this film, if not even more.

[00:10:16] While again, it is pretty exciting to see a lot of these big action set pieces, although

[00:10:23] I don't think that they're as grand in this film, maybe because of more use of CGI.

[00:10:30] But regardless, I just felt like this really wasn't the ultimate Furiosa story that I had

[00:10:36] hoped for.

[00:10:37] Yeah, I think that the best thing that Furiosa does compared to Mad Max Fury Road is that

[00:10:44] it doesn't try to be Mad Max Fury Road.

[00:10:47] I like that George Miller went for a more traditional revenge narrative and told this

[00:10:53] over the course of several years to make it a more epic story.

[00:10:58] There are chapter breaks within the film, allowing this to feel more like this novel

[00:11:05] of backstory and world building.

[00:11:08] And it just feels so much more rich compared to Fury Road on a thematic level.

[00:11:14] Where it can't compare to Fury Road is, yes, the action scenes are not as good.

[00:11:19] I remember specifically in Fury Road, you had the frame rate changes, you had these just

[00:11:25] like visceral action scenes that felt so immersive and so unlike anything else you had seen in

[00:11:30] terms of their kinetic editing and sound design and the way that they just moved the camera

[00:11:37] throughout some of these.

[00:11:38] You kind of had this constant feeling of how the hell did they actually pull this off?

[00:11:43] But here, you can see that there's been a lot more CGI enhancement and some of the action

[00:11:50] framing, I mean, while it's still very exciting, it just can't really measure up to what came

[00:11:55] before it.

[00:11:56] But where this film blows that film out of the water isn't its character work, isn't

[00:12:00] its world building.

[00:12:02] There are subtle things that were mentioned in Fury Road and dialogue that just get brought

[00:12:06] up again here and shown to us, explained in some cases.

[00:12:10] And there are other things that are being brought up, mentioned and explained that we

[00:12:14] don't see again, maybe hinting once again at another possible film down the road depending

[00:12:19] on the success of this film.

[00:12:21] So I love that George Miller is further plunging us deep into the wasteland with its lore.

[00:12:28] And I love that as someone who loves world building films and do it right, I could get

[00:12:34] lost in this.

[00:12:35] And this movie too is nearly two and a half hours long, making it definitely a longer film

[00:12:40] than Fury Road was.

[00:12:41] But I didn't mind that at all because when the story and the characters are this engrossing,

[00:12:46] even if the action is not up to snuff, even with some slight reservations I might have

[00:12:53] here or there, I don't really care because I'm so invested in story and character.

[00:12:59] And that's something that I think Furiosa has to its advantage over Fury Road in that

[00:13:04] case.

[00:13:05] Let's get into some certain aspects here.

[00:13:09] Why don't we actually start off first with in terms of the story itself, like these characters

[00:13:14] and performances.

[00:13:15] Why don't we start off with the fact that Anga Taylor-Joy for example doesn't show up

[00:13:21] until halfway through the movie, I think?

[00:13:25] Because the first half pretty much through across two or three chapters is this young

[00:13:33] Australian actress here, Alia Brown who plays young Furiosa.

[00:13:37] And I was starting to wonder at a certain point, wow, when does Anga Taylor-Joy actually

[00:13:41] show up here?

[00:13:42] But this young girl was actually pretty amazing at also capturing I thought the essence of

[00:13:49] Furiosa pretty well.

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[00:14:20] You're right.

[00:14:21] It's a really great performance that captures that same aura to the character so that when

[00:14:27] you do get the flash forward when the character is older, you still buy that this is the

[00:14:33] same person who's going on this same journey.

[00:14:36] I admit that at first it's sort of surprising that we're spending so much time with this

[00:14:41] movie without the character or the version of the character that we are expecting.

[00:14:47] But I think it speaks to the strength of the overall storytelling that you don't really

[00:14:50] notice it because you still feel like this is the same character.

[00:14:54] I also think that that section of the movie really just gives a lot to Chris Hemsworth

[00:15:00] as well.

[00:15:01] He is a really fascinating presence in this movie where you kind of think he's going to

[00:15:06] be maybe just a bit of a one note villain with not that much complexity.

[00:15:11] But even in this section here, I still find him to be so compelling.

[00:15:16] And then towards the end of the movie, you get a great, great series of scenes where

[00:15:21] he becomes even more dynamic.

[00:15:24] But I think that having this younger Furiosa still be so captivating with this young performance

[00:15:31] and then matching that with what Hemsworth is doing and matching to the expansion of

[00:15:37] this world and getting all the details of where they are at.

[00:15:40] I think all of that makes that section of the movie far more compelling than we would

[00:15:45] normally assume it would be.

[00:15:46] I guess as the story keeps going, especially the fact that it takes at least an hour for

[00:15:54] Anya Taylor-Joy to come into the film, I feel like we aren't really focusing a whole lot

[00:16:01] on Furiosa.

[00:16:03] Of course, we have a fabulous performance from Chris Hemsworth as Dementis, who I do

[00:16:10] think is truly one of the praises of this film.

[00:16:15] I would love for him to get a supporting actor nomination at the Oscars just because he really

[00:16:20] was so phenomenal and I loved seeing him in this, like this character.

[00:16:26] He was fun.

[00:16:27] He definitely brought that wicked feeling, that grimy feel that I associated with these

[00:16:33] films.

[00:16:34] But it just becomes, again, more of a story that's focused on the men.

[00:16:41] It takes a while for Anya Taylor-Joy to come into the film.

[00:16:45] Once she does, it does pique my interest a bit more.

[00:16:49] However, the momentum just kind of goes back and forth for me, really.

[00:16:53] I really just wanted more of a focus on Furiosa, on this inner turmoil, the inner struggle

[00:17:02] that she's facing.

[00:17:04] We do see her trying to get back to her home and planning to do it with Praetorian Jack,

[00:17:11] but it just never really seemed enough for me.

[00:17:14] Although I will say that those parts definitely interested me much more.

[00:17:19] I want to speak briefly on some of the performances.

[00:17:21] Chris Hemsworth, I think, gives his best performance ever.

[00:17:25] Dementus is this really surprisingly complicated character whose relationship with Furiosa

[00:17:32] is naughty and a little complex.

[00:17:35] And I don't want to speak about that too much, but where their relationship goes and where

[00:17:39] it develops is very interesting as she's trying to wage this sort of revenge against him.

[00:17:46] And Tom Burke as Praetorian Jack reminded me almost of Jimmy Stewart in Anthony Mann's

[00:17:52] Westerns where he's this dark action hero.

[00:17:55] And to see George Miller pluck this indie guy from movies like The Souvenir or Only God Forgives

[00:18:01] into this role just showed his vision for the possibilities of casting.

[00:18:07] And Burke is sensational, I'm told.

[00:18:09] He has a really excellent Australian accent as well.

[00:18:13] But the second you see him on screen, you know who that guy is.

[00:18:15] You believe in him.

[00:18:16] He's a credible action hero.

[00:18:20] And their dynamic, I should say the dynamic between Jack and Furiosa was also really compelling.

[00:18:26] So of course, I also have to mention Anya Taylor-Joy and Alia Brown, who also play Furiosa

[00:18:34] in this film.

[00:18:35] And both of them are incredible as young and older Furiosa.

[00:18:39] Their energies match and yet differ in key ways.

[00:18:44] So you can kind of trace the character development and arc visually.

[00:18:48] Much has been noted about how silent both of those performances are for the most part.

[00:18:54] But the amount they're able to express in their body language, George Miller always

[00:19:00] talks about silent cinema as a key influence.

[00:19:03] But all the amount of information and emotional data they give us through their body language,

[00:19:08] through their eyes, through their face is really astounding.

[00:19:10] Yeah, I actually think that this is Hemsworth's finest acting hour that he's had in his career.

[00:19:16] It's funny how between this Bad Times at the El Royale and Spiderhead, he really does excel

[00:19:21] at playing villains.

[00:19:23] And I think that a lot of us are just used to seeing him be reined in with either some

[00:19:28] dull characterization as Thor or going too over the top and goofy as Thor.

[00:19:34] And so here to see him play in a different register, it really adds I think a lot of

[00:19:39] layers to Dementus and allows for Hemsworth to flex his muscles in ways that we just don't

[00:19:45] get a chance to see that often.

[00:19:47] And he's having a blast here.

[00:19:49] I mean there's like some stuff where you know he's doing it over the top but I mean granted

[00:19:53] this is the world of Mad Max.

[00:19:54] Everyone's gone a little cuckoo.

[00:19:56] So it's all fitting and makes sense within that regard.

[00:19:59] And then there are other times where his star power and charisma just really, really shines

[00:20:04] through.

[00:20:05] I particularly do want to also highlight, I agree with you, the moments where there

[00:20:11] are these subtle, not over explained hints at his backstory, his tragic backstory.

[00:20:18] We get a visual representation of this when we see the character for the first time where

[00:20:22] he has a stuffed animal teddy bear chained to his wardrobe and then he reveals to Furiosa

[00:20:28] that this bear belonged to his little ones.

[00:20:31] So we know that this is a man who has lost people close to him in his life and he is

[00:20:35] living a life now where he has absolutely no hope for humanity's survival.

[00:20:42] He's very much living day by day, bringing his biker horde from place to place hoping

[00:20:47] to get them sustenance and just really enough to be able to carry on to the next day.

[00:20:53] He's not thinking about you know what's going to happen a week from now, months from now,

[00:20:58] how is humanity going to rebuild?

[00:21:00] Because to him, there is no hope for this world.

[00:21:04] And if there can be no hope for him, he's going to make sure that there's no hope for

[00:21:08] anybody else in this world.

[00:21:10] And it's not like exactly similar to other villains where it's like, oh, they have a

[00:21:17] point.

[00:21:18] It's not exactly like that.

[00:21:19] But he is somebody that you completely understand where he's coming from because as you said,

[00:21:24] he does have a history of loss and he wants to rebuild in a way that he thinks is better.

[00:21:30] And I think that element is what makes that character more interesting.

[00:21:35] And I think especially towards the end, you get this really great moment between him and

[00:21:40] Furiosa that goes even deeper into the kind of melancholy that he's dealing with and how

[00:21:46] much that has eaten away at him throughout the years and how much that's like hardened

[00:21:50] his heart too.

[00:21:51] And I find that to be like such a really brilliant moment.

[00:21:56] That's the moment where I became convinced that Hemsworth was giving a fantastic performance

[00:22:00] because he's really fun up until that point.

[00:22:03] But it's not until we get that moment where we really understand that there's more going

[00:22:08] on to this character and therefore more going on in that performance.

[00:22:12] And I think he does an incredible job.

[00:22:13] It might be my favorite performance that he's ever given, honestly.

[00:22:16] Oh, it's definitely mine for him as well.

[00:22:18] From the voice that he puts on for this, which I did think was a little weird how whenever

[00:22:23] he was addressing people very loud and boisterously, that voice was more nasally and a little

[00:22:29] more higher pitched.

[00:22:30] But then you get these more intimate scenes where Chris Hemsworth is just talking in his

[00:22:34] very deep Australian accent.

[00:22:35] And I'm like, where did the voice go all of a sudden?

[00:22:39] But once again, it just adds, I think, a little bit of unpredictability to this character

[00:22:44] in a whole lot of ways.

[00:22:46] I agree with you.

[00:22:47] The final scene that he shares with Fang and Tear of the Joy is probably the highlight of

[00:22:50] the movie because it's just two actors really just bouncing off of each other through these

[00:22:57] really, I think, vividly drawn out characters and their views on the world and the situation

[00:23:06] that they find themselves in as far as this vengeance plot line goes.

[00:23:10] And what, in this case, Dementus is accepting versus what he's not willing to accept.

[00:23:16] And then also you see Furiosa come to grips with what is she actually going to get out

[00:23:23] of this?

[00:23:24] And I think that the two of them find layers within the characters here, primarily because

[00:23:30] though George Miller allows through the runtime for this to happen.

[00:23:35] And to Hemsworth, he's in the film the whole way through, which is to his advantage.

[00:23:41] On Your Tail of Joy, I think he's at a slight disadvantage because she does not enter the

[00:23:46] film until much, much later, even though she's got top billing here.

[00:23:49] I think fans of hers might be a little surprised to find out how little she's in the movie.

[00:23:53] And also too, she doesn't have a lot of lines of dialogue.

[00:23:56] But that wasn't really a problem for me here because first of all, it was relevant

[00:24:01] to the plot in terms of what Furiosa needs to do in order to survive.

[00:24:05] She has to stay quiet and not reveal that she is amongst the Citadel hiding out as Furiosa.

[00:24:13] And then the other thing too, is I think that's also just like fitting in line with the way

[00:24:17] Charlize Theron played her in Fury Road.

[00:24:20] Going beyond that even, I think On Your Tail of Joy does an amazing job of capturing the

[00:24:25] essence of what Charlize Theron did with Furiosa in Fury Road.

[00:24:29] I mean, it's down to the flexion of the voice, the mannerisms, the way that she carries herself.

[00:24:36] I mean, this is a performance from On Your Tail of Joy that even with the shorter amount

[00:24:41] of screen time, I think is just as good as Hemsworth in the way that she doesn't overplay

[00:24:49] Furiosa but captures the subtle nuances of the character that was originally presented to us.

[00:24:54] On Your Tail of Joy, I think she did a fine job taking over for Furiosa.

[00:24:59] I mean, she's a fierce girl and I've really loved her in a lot of the roles that she has

[00:25:05] taken both on film and in TV.

[00:25:09] But I do feel like there was more emotional depth from Charlize Theron's portrayal of Furiosa.

[00:25:16] Despite the fact that, again, that film is not necessarily about her but there's just

[00:25:23] something about Charlize's screen presence that always captivates me and it is hard to

[00:25:29] go up against an Oscar winner.

[00:25:31] I do understand that.

[00:25:34] So I'm not entirely bashing Anya here but I just would have liked to have seen more of

[00:25:40] that emotional connection and it could also just go back down to the writing for me.

[00:25:46] Yeah, it's a very good point that her not speaking a lot in this movie is actually very

[00:25:51] relevant to the plot which I also found to be another really interesting and intriguing

[00:25:57] element to the storytelling here that they found a reason as to why you wouldn't hear

[00:26:02] her all that much.

[00:26:03] And I don't think protagonists in these kinds of movies not saying that much is new.

[00:26:08] I mean, even Tom Hardy in Fury Road didn't have that many lines so I think that's kind

[00:26:13] of part of the course for these kinds of characters but I think that the overall narrative supports

[00:26:20] that decision and I think it's a really smart one because it does actually make the character

[00:26:24] so much more complex and more interesting and I think that translates to her performance

[00:26:31] as well where she does have this just really great captivating screen presence to her and

[00:26:37] she does a great job of evoking Charlize Theron.

[00:26:40] In fact, there's like sometimes I almost wondered like is there some trickery going on here

[00:26:45] where they're like mixing in her voice because it sounds so similar honestly.

[00:26:49] Like I think that this is a really good performance probably not going to be something I would

[00:26:53] say is like one of my all-time favorites or anything but for what it needs to serve us

[00:26:58] for this particular movie, I think she does a fantastic job.

[00:27:01] I mean the other thing that I'm laughing at now that I've heard you say this in terms

[00:27:06] of like trickery, there's even a moment towards the very end of the film where I swear to

[00:27:10] you I think they do insert a CGI or an outtake or something of Charlize Theron from Fury

[00:27:18] Road into what is you know it's a behind the back shot so you don't really see much and

[00:27:24] it's also shot at night but I thought to myself wow the blend here is you know even though

[00:27:29] I identified it I was like this is pretty seamless stuff here in terms of capturing

[00:27:33] the transition of the character and making it feel like it's you know natural and something

[00:27:38] that you know the way she starts off at the end of the film too just from a not from just

[00:27:43] a visual standpoint but like just as a character who she is at the beginning of the film and

[00:27:47] how she changes throughout really fits in line then with how her demeanor is and how

[00:27:52] she is when we see her then in Fury Road.

[00:27:55] I did not realize that the events of Furiosa would lead us literally directly into Fury

[00:28:00] Road I thought there would be maybe a bit of a gap in there somewhere but Anya Taylor

[00:28:05] Joy's performance is so convincing that I actually still even though she is a totally

[00:28:09] different person than Charlize Theron I still believe that these two actresses are the same

[00:28:16] character.

[00:28:17] Yeah as we said it's like she really does a great job of capturing that essence of the

[00:28:25] previous performance and it really feels very very seamless and I think that a lot of credit

[00:28:30] has to be given to her for pulling that off because I don't think it's that easy and especially

[00:28:36] given the little that she has to do vocally and you would even say like physically just

[00:28:42] in terms of screen time I think that she makes an incredible impact.

[00:28:45] I will also say that I do feel like Anya Taylor Joy is underutilized in this film because again

[00:28:52] I wanted more of those inner conflicts inner struggles more of an emphasis on those emotional

[00:29:00] aspects to really pull me into her and to root for her.

[00:29:05] Ultimately I do want to see her return to that home but I guess I just have some problems

[00:29:12] with the way that things are delivered in the film.

[00:29:15] Would you go so far as to say that this is the best screenplay of any of the Mad Max

[00:29:20] films?

[00:29:24] Probably I would say that just because this is the one that really wants to focus in on

[00:29:29] those characters and those world building elements and I so appreciated that.

[00:29:33] You know there's a lot of things that as you said tie back into Fury Road that offer up

[00:29:39] explanations that we didn't have previously.

[00:29:42] One of my favorite details is there's a character in this movie that's this old man who has

[00:29:47] all these tattoos and it's very similar to another character we saw in Fury Road where

[00:29:51] was an old woman and here we get the explanation that this is somebody who's like a historian

[00:29:56] they have all of the information of the world just imprinted upon them and somebody will

[00:30:02] ask them a question about something and they'll have the reference to it.

[00:30:05] And like is that a detail that we absolutely needed in Fury Road?

[00:30:09] No I was just fine with seeing this old woman who had a bunch of tattoos and it's like

[00:30:13] okay that's just the world we're in but I like that now we have that detail and it helps

[00:30:18] to build out this environment even more and I live for those details.

[00:30:22] I think that's what makes the movie so much more engaging and so much more complex and

[00:30:29] I really love that this movie has details like that and I think that is what makes it

[00:30:35] the best written movie out of the Mad Max films and why it does leave such a lasting impression.

[00:30:40] A lot of people have been saying online that Furiosa actually makes Fury Road a better movie

[00:30:48] and I think that's absolutely right.

[00:30:50] It reminded me a great deal of Anno's Evangelion 3.0 plus 1.0 Thrice Upon a Time which deepened

[00:31:00] and made better the whole Evangelion anime saga through its kind of meta-narrative storytelling

[00:31:08] and Furiosa to me does the exact same thing.

[00:31:12] It gives meaning and weight to events that we see and experience in Fury Road but it

[00:31:20] also does that on another level which is the thematic level because George Miller has

[00:31:24] always been really interested in legends and myth and folklore and those have always been

[00:31:32] woven through all of his movies and obviously the very first Mad Max begins with narration

[00:31:39] as if Max himself is sort of this legendary figure and Road Warrior does the same thing

[00:31:44] and it just continues from there.

[00:31:46] This takes that idea to a new place with a new narrator.

[00:31:49] I don't want to talk too much about that but his name is the History Man and he gives the

[00:31:54] whole film this sort of folkloric energy even more so than the previous films and characters

[00:32:02] in the film are sort of building their own myths around themselves and to me that was

[00:32:07] really engaging and interesting that reminded me even more of George Miller's 3000 Years

[00:32:14] of Longing which is all about how myth sort of informs and influences our lives and how

[00:32:20] our lives influence and inform myth.

[00:32:24] Those ideas are here even more so than Fury Road or the previous Mad Max movies and yet

[00:32:30] despite doing all these different ambitious things it is a rip-roaring amazing action blockbuster.

[00:32:38] Were you a fan of the chapter breaks?

[00:32:40] You know chapter breaks are tough sometimes because you really got to be confident with

[00:32:45] your storytelling otherwise it will just feel like it disrupts the momentum.

[00:32:50] It did for a little bit for me but it was very briefly after that I would kind of recognize

[00:32:55] the chapter breaks and it's like okay I understand what we're kind of doing but the rest of the

[00:33:01] movie had such a nice pace to it that I was able to overcome that pretty quickly.

[00:33:06] I thought it added a lot to the overall epic feeling of the storytelling and I quite enjoyed

[00:33:13] it actually.

[00:33:14] I also liked that the movie felt segmented in a way that allowed for it to be told then

[00:33:18] over the course of 15-20 years.

[00:33:22] That's also aided of course then by the editing here.

[00:33:25] Margaret Siegel returns as a co-editor on this film again after editing Mad Max Fury

[00:33:30] Road which many people consider to be one of the greatest edited films ever but here

[00:33:35] it's very different in terms of its pacing and this is where I think we're going to have

[00:33:38] a bit of a drawback for some viewers because even though as mentioned earlier it's two

[00:33:43] and a half hours long and there is a lot of world building and excitement in its action

[00:33:49] and character work and these great performances I still do think that the overall pace of

[00:33:55] this movie if you're not familiar with it heading in and you're expecting this to just

[00:33:59] be another Fury Road you know there's a lot of fades to blacks and a lot of cross dissolves

[00:34:05] and I could see how this would have you know for an audience member that was not aware

[00:34:10] of this movie would probably start to feel like this was getting a little tedious watching

[00:34:16] it.

[00:34:17] And not even just in those sections I even think that the action sequences themselves

[00:34:22] for some people may not be quite as captivating as they were in Fury Road and I do wonder

[00:34:31] how people will take to that because even for me I had to adjust a little bit that this

[00:34:36] was not going to be the same like adrenaline fueled so fast paced like level of action

[00:34:43] even though the action is still like really incredible to watch it has kind of a different

[00:34:47] objective to it.

[00:34:48] It wants to be a little bit more focused and wants to give you a sense of how characters

[00:34:53] are actually operating in these moments and it's not meant to be just this crazy collage

[00:34:58] that you're just really you know strapped onto and white knuckling it's a little bit

[00:35:03] more precise and I think that that trade off may mean for some people it's not quite as

[00:35:08] exciting it feels maybe a little bit more lethargic in those scenes.

[00:35:12] I think it has the potential I don't think they are I think even those scenes are still

[00:35:16] really interesting and serve a really particular purpose to give us more character but I can

[00:35:22] imagine a lot of people thinking that the action is not quite as good because of those

[00:35:27] decisions in this film.

[00:35:30] And yet despite that for me at least I thought this was all a positive I like that this movie

[00:35:36] is different than Fury Road structurally I like that it's different from Fury Road in

[00:35:41] terms of its pacing I like that it expands upon Fury Road and it's funny that I say that

[00:35:47] because it is a prequel after all so it is a lot more yes expanding upon the world with

[00:35:53] ideas that were already introduced within Fury Road but were never actually explained

[00:35:58] but there are some other new elements too that also get brought up as well for the world

[00:36:02] building that you know this makes me want to throw myself more into this world I mean

[00:36:06] this movie 148 minutes I could have spent another half an hour, hour, hour and a half

[00:36:12] you name it because George Miller is such a confident director in his overall vision

[00:36:17] for this world that I just feel like I'm in such good capable hands here and I guess then

[00:36:23] kind of going off of that let's talk about how Miller's vision for this world has stayed

[00:36:30] the same and also changed because I do think that it's important to note the Mad Max movies

[00:36:35] from the very beginning up until now you know made at different times within the industry

[00:36:41] so you start to see changes within the production value the budget even though it's all meant

[00:36:45] to be the same world here there's definitely a heavier reliance than in Fury Road on using

[00:36:54] computer graphics and this is something that when you when the first trailer came out a

[00:36:57] lot of people pointed to oh this doesn't look as good because we're living in an age now

[00:37:02] where everyone seems to think practical in camera equals best and I typically do agree

[00:37:08] with this notion I think the best visual effects are the ones that you can't see I will admit

[00:37:15] you can definitely see certain ones in this movie I do think they always serve a purpose

[00:37:20] and that they are always used to most of time during the action scenes to just make them

[00:37:24] feel bigger in scope and to do things that you literally could not do within camera

[00:37:30] like a collapsing tower for example I'm sure that would have been really really tricky to

[00:37:34] pull off maybe he could have done it I mean he is a mad bastard after all it's very possible

[00:37:39] but yeah I think that they're smartly utilized here even if they aren't necessarily the most

[00:37:45] seamless and convincing but as far as like his visual language maximalist approach to

[00:37:54] just giving us a intense and visceral experience even in dialogue scenes you know where you

[00:38:01] think to yourself okay this is not an action scene but why does it feel like it's shot

[00:38:04] like an action scene Miller has I think always been consistent across all the Mad Max films

[00:38:11] in that regard speaking of what George Miller is doing as a director I also want to talk

[00:38:16] about this sort of interesting shift in visual style that I noticed so in Fury Road everybody

[00:38:23] knows that you know he has this hyper kinetic center punch style where there's center framing

[00:38:31] the shot length is super brief on average like 2.6 seconds and there's a shot shot shot

[00:38:36] cut cut cut cut cut and it creates this amazing rhythm along with a lot of really aggressive speed

[00:38:42] ramping Furiosa completely abandons that that sort of hyper kinetic cut cut cut pattern it does

[00:38:52] something sort of unexpected for George Miller you know Furiosa on the whole almost has the feel of

[00:38:58] an old-school biblical epic and the visual language is true to that as well the shot length

[00:39:05] is much longer he keeps his camera away from the action much more often and there's a way

[00:39:11] more camera movement whereas camera will often snake around these vehicles it'll snake around

[00:39:18] these environments in such a way where it's almost a series of mini-oners that were watching

[00:39:25] and I often could not tell where one real shot began where the the stitches would begin they

[00:39:33] it was so elegantly done and so beautiful and so gripping that you just couldn't really notice

[00:39:38] where the seams were and there's in fact one set piece in particular I almost hesitate to call it

[00:39:45] a set piece where you see an entire convoy taken down and you're watching it from the top of a

[00:39:51] dune like a sand dune and there's a character in the foreground watching it and his back is to us

[00:39:56] and the camera just slowly pans from a great distance as this convoy is taken down and

[00:40:02] that type of shot would be inconceivable in any of the previous Mad Max movies where the action

[00:40:07] was for the most part very much you know in the chaos of it the camera is right down there with

[00:40:14] the vehicles and here that's not the case several of the big chase scenes or several of the big

[00:40:20] stunts unfold over single takes you know as vehicles are barreling over sand dunes or

[00:40:25] crashing into one another whatever the case is and to me that's very significant it also has

[00:40:32] a more poppy look to it a smoother cleaner look than Fury Road and some are calling it a little

[00:40:38] uncanny or a little extreme or weird but I think the look of this movie is absolutely beautiful

[00:40:45] and it's true that some of the visual effects are more obviously visual effects but the movie's own

[00:40:51] artificiality to me almost supports this idea that we're watching this legend take place so to me the

[00:40:59] visual shift very much fits the story content of this biblical epic but it also fits the broader

[00:41:07] thematic piece of what the movie is doing absolutely I think that while you can complain

[00:41:15] sure that there's more noticeable CGI in this one I don't really care about that necessarily

[00:41:21] there's you know there's more CGI in the first or in Fury Road that people like to remember too

[00:41:28] so as long as it's working for the film and you're not taken out by it too much and it just

[00:41:33] seems to be a part of the sequence that they're putting together it it's fine like there's plenty

[00:41:37] of CGI that happens in that one sequence that's sort of like this ambush at uh Bullet Farm that

[00:41:45] I don't really care because it's so wonderfully put together I love that sequence it's one of my

[00:41:50] favorite scenes in the movie might be actually my favorite scene in the movie and I don't mind

[00:41:56] that yeah there might be some more CGI shots in it because the construction of it the editing of it

[00:42:01] the way that you're tracking the characters through this these moments and having to get out of these

[00:42:06] certain situations and on both sides is like that is masterful storytelling mixed in with action

[00:42:12] spectacle and that's something that Miller just succeeds at so brilliantly so if you get hung up

[00:42:20] on the CGI stuff like I can understand it to a point but I think the movie does so much to

[00:42:26] overcompensate for that that it doesn't really bother me because I'm having such a great time

[00:42:31] with those moments where I am not really pulled out by that element at all the set pieces in this

[00:42:38] are phenomenal and there's one in particular I don't want to give a single detail away of what

[00:42:43] happens but you'll know it when you see it and in that particular set piece there's multiple

[00:42:49] elements working in tandem together in a way we've never seen on screen it is a new type of

[00:42:55] set piece unlike anything I've seen from you know the great Hong Kong action movies to the other

[00:43:02] Mad Max movies to you know Terminator 2 it brings vehicular action to a new place that really just

[00:43:09] blew me away and the fact that George Miller is able to again sort of flex everything he does

[00:43:16] better than people half his age was just really thrilling and wonderful to experience so you said

[00:43:23] the attack on bullet farm was your well the attack at bullet from the ambush was your favorite I

[00:43:29] thought the attack on the war rig with the power gliders and like all these different uh you know

[00:43:37] vehicles that we had not seen before I thought that was pretty exciting and really really really

[00:43:42] well executed it also showed us the dynamic here between Tom Burke's character here Pretorian Jack

[00:43:50] and Furiosa who Pretorian Jack you know played by Tom Burke here who people probably remember from

[00:43:57] The Souvenir and a few other things that he's been in over the last couple of years you know

[00:44:01] he does a really good job with very limited screen time of bringing this character to life

[00:44:05] and I think in this scene particularly you see how the two of them work together and help each

[00:44:11] other to get through this attack in ways that I found to evoke the best of what Fury Road had to

[00:44:18] offer and also like I said just through you know these new vehicles and things that we have not

[00:44:23] seen before it helped to keep it a little bit more fresh and dynamic the war boys are also included

[00:44:31] of course and they are throwing themselves uh self-sacrificing themselves uh and by any means to

[00:44:38] protect the war rig and I just really really liked how thrilling of this particular uh set

[00:44:43] piece was it doesn't unfortunately for me like neither one of the set pieces in this movie

[00:44:49] measure up to the same feeling I got while watching Fury Road but I still found them to be thrilling

[00:44:54] and absolutely adrenaline pumping at the same time.

[00:44:58] And I guess trickling back to the action set pieces I do get a little tired of them in this film

[00:45:06] I don't know what it is I mean there are some really really really incredible sequences I love

[00:45:11] seeing the war boys swing back and forth on the big rig as one of the bigger scenes is happening

[00:45:18] I do enjoy the raid at the bullet area and seeing all these things go down a gas town

[00:45:27] so I don't know what it was for me again maybe it was that extra emphasis on CGI in this film

[00:45:34] that it just didn't stand out as much to me as it did in Mad Max Fury Road but that film is so

[00:45:42] cool to look at so it is a very high standard to try to meet that.

[00:45:47] Yeah as we said the sequences here do not have the same level of energy that Fury Road does

[00:45:55] but I think at the same time they are serving a slightly different purpose I think they are

[00:45:59] a little bit more muted because you want to get a clearer sense of how the characters are operating

[00:46:05] and I do really love this scene too especially this like spinning gadget that's at the end of

[00:46:11] the tanker that is the big finale climax to this scene I loved everything about his construction

[00:46:18] I will say that on the subject of Tom Burke this was one of the elements that I wasn't

[00:46:24] quite so enthusiastic of with this movie I think that he gives a good performance I don't have

[00:46:28] a problem with that but I just feel like the character itself serves a very very simple

[00:46:34] purpose that I just did not find that interesting and his conclusion in this story was also very

[00:46:41] underwhelming to me I feel like he is unceremoniously removed from this narrative in a way that did not

[00:46:47] leave the impact that I think a character that seemed to have as much importance as he did should

[00:46:53] have left me with and it kind of just felt like we needed somebody to interact with Furiosa so that

[00:47:00] it's not only her I understand that but I feel like the execution of him was not really to my liking

[00:47:07] as I said no disrespect to Tom Burke I think he does a great job with playing that role but

[00:47:12] I think the character itself was very very weak and kind of ill-defined and I wanted more

[00:47:19] and what I got was very underwhelming so for me I actually liked it quite a bit where I what I

[00:47:25] didn't like was there's one of the yeah there's two moments in this movie where I feel like George

[00:47:31] Miller just chose not to show us certain elements of the film that I think could have actually have

[00:47:38] helped the overall experience and one of them is Pretori and Jack offering Furiosa after this attack

[00:47:44] hey you handled yourself quite well out there I'd like to teach you everything I know to help you get

[00:47:49] back to your home and where you need to be I'll and you know come along with me and then all of a

[00:47:54] sudden we have like a time jump and we don't see any of this uh training or you know you could have

[00:47:59] just done a montage or something to just show how these two characters are coming closer together

[00:48:05] because it's a I think it's a little you know ambiguous as to whether or not if their relationship

[00:48:11] is indeed wholly platonic uh built off of mutual respect or if there's something a little bit more

[00:48:15] going on there the film never does uh actually go into the romance territory of it all but I do

[00:48:22] think that you know you could read into it maybe a little bit um that way it's a little it's a little

[00:48:28] you know gray but I think that just showing more uh could have helped to enrich that connection

[00:48:35] to Pretori and Jack and helped us to be a little bit more invested in him

[00:48:39] yeah I personally never got like a romantic vibe from them uh sort of in the similar way that I

[00:48:46] never got a romantic vibe between Furiosa and and Max in the previous movie and he kind of just feels

[00:48:53] like like like Jack in this movie comes across as a Mad Max surrogate that we just need somebody

[00:49:00] in this role again and yeah I agree I think that there are some things missing that feels like if

[00:49:07] we had that we could maybe get a stronger connection I think that his last scene in the

[00:49:12] movie where he is disposed of is also another one that seems like the way that it is shot doesn't

[00:49:18] really give us the sense that the departure of this character is going to be something significant

[00:49:24] it's almost very offhandedly treated and I thought that was weird for a character that seemingly was

[00:49:30] very important in this story so that was the one character world building element that I

[00:49:37] thought did kind of come up short I loved most of it for sure but that was the one part where

[00:49:43] it felt a little weak to me so as I was mentioning earlier too you know the first half of this movie

[00:49:50] is Alia Brown uh who is playing young Furiosa we are introduced to her mother in this movie

[00:49:57] and she's an important character too as far as informing Furiosa's quest for vengeance here

[00:50:04] she's played by Charlie Frazier and I thought she did a really great job too in her limited

[00:50:09] screen time of just showing what a capable badass she is um and it also keeps in line

[00:50:14] too with what has already been set up in Fury Road where uh the mothers of the green place

[00:50:20] are all capable fighters to some degree I mean she might be uh perhaps maybe the best marksman

[00:50:27] uh sniper I've ever seen portrayed in a movie because she does not miss a single shot here

[00:50:32] no she does not but that's what makes her so much more of a badass and it is great that she can

[00:50:38] provide all that in such a short amount of time but you get everything you need you understand

[00:50:44] her determination her love for her child and then also where Furiosa would get that too like

[00:50:51] because since Furiosa is a character that never really speaks all that much and so much of what

[00:50:57] we learn about her is just inferred through her action you need to get a sense of where that

[00:51:03] foundation came from and you definitely see it in her mother and yeah I agree despite such a limited

[00:51:10] amount of time actually in the movie she makes an incredible impact and I really did love her

[00:51:16] our returning character though um that we can get more of here is Immortan Joe he was previously

[00:51:23] played by Hugh Keyes Byrne in Fury Road um he did pass away in 2020 so he's been replaced here

[00:51:29] by Lachey Holm who I gotta say I needed more Immortan Joe in this movie mostly because though

[00:51:36] the voice that Lachey provides to him and just the overall presence of that character I found to be

[00:51:42] so compelling I constantly was leaning in every single time Immortan Joe was on screen just

[00:51:48] talking and even with the mask it he just has like such an intimidating look to him uh that was

[00:51:55] already established in Fury Road but they just carried over so well here that I really I just

[00:52:01] found myself so captivated by it that I was begging like please give me more Immortan Joe in this movie

[00:52:08] and it's a slightly different version of the character obviously he's younger he has a little

[00:52:14] bit more energy to him and you know so for that I think that there might be some disconnect with

[00:52:20] some people but for what is being serviced for this story I thought it was very very effective

[00:52:26] he still had a lot of great screen presence to him and even his dialogue it was like nice to

[00:52:32] hear him talk and hear more about his own thought process and how he strategizes and it was another

[00:52:38] element that allowed us to fill in some gaps with that character like again in Fury Road it was

[00:52:45] enough for me I didn't necessarily need to know more about him I think that the movie actually

[00:52:49] does a pretty good job of telling us what kind of a ruler he is just in that film from what we see

[00:52:56] but this is like just some more coloring to him and that is very appreciated now uh this also means

[00:53:03] that because we get Immortan Joe come back we also get more Ricktus but we also got another

[00:53:10] son of Immortan Joe here Scrotus these names these names are incredible I love that you know

[00:53:17] the introduction of new characters allows us to see more details within the costuming and how

[00:53:25] that informs character for each one of these uh for each one of these people that it's another element

[00:53:31] here that I just find to be so ever fascinating then you have other returning characters too

[00:53:35] who I truly did not expect to see show up again uh from Fury Road played by the same actors in some

[00:53:41] cases as well like I said with Nathan Jones in particular who like clearly he slimmed down uh for

[00:53:48] this or maybe that's just how he is now in his 50s that he's not as big as he once was um but I'd like

[00:53:53] that at least here he wasn't as large as he is portrayed in Fury Road showing of course then

[00:53:59] you know this is prequel after all so the guy probably hits the gym a little bit harder I guess

[00:54:04] in the years between the two movies yeah it was very nice to get those little continuity details

[00:54:11] yeah I did very much appreciate that and once again it just is another thing that helps to

[00:54:17] build out this world and make it feel like it's more lived in and more detailed and

[00:54:22] I credit Miller with with doing that I think that those are really important pieces to put together

[00:54:27] especially in a prequel that for so many instances has such a hard time justifying itself you know

[00:54:34] it's like why go back when you've already told the story but no this is the reason why is because

[00:54:39] we're gonna get some of these character moments some of these elements that were either not talked

[00:54:45] about or just briefly hinted at and that helps to elevate the overall experience of watching not only

[00:54:51] this film but Fury Road as well what did you think of the production design of the environments such

[00:54:57] as Gas Town, Bullet Town we get more of the Citadel uh this time around and then of course

[00:55:04] you know the production design extends out to the cars and other vehicles like you know Dementus's

[00:55:10] uh motorcycle chariot for example yeah I'm gonna say that in my opinion I think that the production

[00:55:17] design in this movie is actually stronger than in Fury Road and I think it's because we get these

[00:55:22] other environments to to really get to play with that and I loved it in Mad Max Fury Road but that

[00:55:31] one was mainly designated to the cars but this one yeah we get more of the Citadel we get those

[00:55:37] other locations like Bullet Farm and and Gas Town that I thought were just so wonderfully designed

[00:55:43] then actually to me evoked more so the earlier Mad Max movies that I really really do love so

[00:55:50] I think that the because once again the world expands that allows us to get more locations and

[00:55:55] because of that the production design actually ends up being a lot stronger among some other

[00:56:00] positives for this film I do think the production design is fabulous as well what did you think of

[00:56:06] the decision to show the green place in the beginning of the film because that is something

[00:56:11] that is talked a lot about in Fury Road but never actually seen do you like that they showed it here

[00:56:17] because I think we are supposed to definitely at some point in Fury Road accept and believe that it

[00:56:22] is a real place but never seeing it I don't know added something more mythical to it in a way

[00:56:30] so actually seeing it displayed here kind of robbed it of some of that imagination for me I

[00:56:35] don't know how you feel about it I think you actually do need to see it a little bit in this

[00:56:41] movie because in order to understand why it is so important to keep it a secret you kind of need to

[00:56:47] also then see the evidence of it as well and they don't overplay it it's only at the very beginning

[00:56:53] of the movie and it's only in like one section of this place and I think that's just enough you know

[00:56:58] we don't get an over explanation of it but I think we do need to see a little bit of it just so that

[00:57:02] we understand like why this place is important why it means so much to the people that are there

[00:57:08] why other people would be fighting to get to it and that serves as the foundation for so many of

[00:57:14] the decisions the characters make so while I understand that yes it does rob a little bit of

[00:57:18] the mystery from Fury Road I think for the purposes of this story seeing even just a glimpse of it so

[00:57:25] that we understand why this one thing is so important to so many people is pretty vital to

[00:57:31] the overall storytelling we see at the start of the film her as a young girl being snatched away

[00:57:37] from her home I would have appreciated more time in the green place considering that in Fury Road

[00:57:45] that is what Charlize is constantly talking about and constantly wanting to go back to

[00:57:50] and of course in this film when she is taken from her home she just wants to go back to it but it

[00:57:57] just seemed like I guess I understand wanting to get into the action right away but even just

[00:58:04] getting some glimpse inside of the green place more than just that one five second overview that

[00:58:12] we get would have really been nice for me and what do you think of the introduction of the movie

[00:58:18] itself over the credits with the radio news clips saying how the world is ending and you know like

[00:58:25] this is already information that we already know like what why go into that again right but I think

[00:58:30] that there's a theme here throughout of a lack of hope in a world that has just been completely

[00:58:36] stripped of it and how this informs the character of Dementus throughout but also too informs the

[00:58:42] character of Furiosa who is filled with not just her vengeance but also hope that she can find her

[00:58:50] back home you know it's a very subtle thing that they do at the beginning of the film

[00:58:55] as far as like just like kind of transporting us back into the world again and some might think

[00:59:00] it's a little reductive and you know we still don't ever really quite see exactly like what

[00:59:07] happens it plays out over a black screen but for me it really just helps to kind of throw us back

[00:59:14] into it what I will what I will say though in terms of something that we don't see the second

[00:59:19] scene I was mentioning that I feel like George could have just given us a little bit more

[00:59:24] is there is this feud between Dementus and Immortan Joe there's an uneasy pact that the

[00:59:31] two of them form because Dementus wants too much and he's not willing to stop with what he's

[00:59:36] initially given and so you know that at some point he's going to find a way to try to one up

[00:59:43] Immortan Joe and take more than what he is being given in their alliance and this leads inevitably

[00:59:49] to some great big battle across the wasteland between the two parties and their respective

[00:59:56] fighters and this is shown in a montage over a voiceover from this wise character who I can't

[01:00:04] recall exactly his name or he's like kind of a like a like a whisperer if you will for Dementus

[01:00:12] as far as information goes but uh he's talking about like the history of wars throughout the

[01:00:18] world and how this is all culminated now in this new war between these two uh these two groups

[01:00:25] but we don't actually see this as a set piece it's played out as a montage so earlier in the film with

[01:00:30] Tom Burke and Aung and Tilla Joy I wanted a montage and here I really felt like the third act of this

[01:00:35] movie was missing one big final set piece because we do get the attack on the war rig we get the

[01:00:41] ambush at bullet town and then I was thinking okay there's got to be a third action scene right

[01:00:46] there's got to be something to kind of close out the movie and then you can end with the two-hander

[01:00:50] between Hemsworth and Aung and Tilla Joy and he doesn't do that here did you like that decision?

[01:00:58] You definitely do get a sense that the movie's kind of uh yada yada-ing a big like days-long

[01:01:07] battle that's happening through that montage and I understand it for economical storytelling

[01:01:13] purposes because yeah the movie's two and a half hours long I can understand that maybe they don't

[01:01:17] want to overload the audience with so much action at that point it does feel like we are getting

[01:01:23] robbed of something and instead what we do get is we still get a little bit of an action set

[01:01:28] piece at the end with this chase that Dementus is pursuing Furiosa but it's nowhere near on the same

[01:01:36] scale as what we had seen before and I think while yes it's a little frustrating and a little

[01:01:44] underwhelming I think the trade-off that we get with those character moments at the very

[01:01:49] very end of the movie I think makes up for it while I don't really I certainly can see that

[01:01:57] I can be underwhelmed by certain elements of that and I do wish we'd gotten a little bit more of

[01:02:02] a big action set piece I think that because we end on with such strong characters that makes up for

[01:02:08] it for me. See and I don't want to talk about what the movie should have done or could have done so

[01:02:13] much here but it's like if your problem is well we don't really have Furiosa part of this fight

[01:02:20] there's an easy way to write around that and just figure out a way to insert her into the battle

[01:02:25] that she's looking for Dementus amongst the carnage and chaos and then somehow some way the

[01:02:30] two of them find themselves by the end of it away from the conflict and then you can get that

[01:02:35] two-hander scene between them so for me it was like this is a very easy fix George either they

[01:02:39] ran out of money or he wanted to just take a different approach and you know I'm not saying

[01:02:46] that one is necessarily wrong and one is necessarily right I just did feel like we invested so much into

[01:02:51] this Dementus Immortan Joe rivalry that it felt like it was building up to something a little bit

[01:02:55] more substantial as far as payoff goes that to get it as like this you know brief montage

[01:03:03] did feel a bit underwhelming to me so it's not a huge you know knock on the movie necessarily but

[01:03:10] at the same time I could see once again for maybe a more average viewer who doesn't have the same

[01:03:15] level of patience that you know we necessarily do I could see them being definitely underwhelmed by

[01:03:21] it and I can see that point I definitely think that you could feel like something's kind of missing

[01:03:27] in the finale like a really really big set piece to kind of take everything home for sure I can

[01:03:34] understand that but it's relatively minor for me in the grand scheme of things like I don't

[01:03:39] necessarily think that missing it is taking away a whole lot because since we do get a really

[01:03:49] wonderful sequence with those characters at the end I think that makes up for it for me I can

[01:03:54] understand for other people maybe not quite so much because yeah you would miss that big spectacle but

[01:03:59] I think the route that Miller does take worked enough for me to overcompensate for that yeah I

[01:04:05] mean as we said earlier the acting between Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth is just really

[01:04:11] really exceptional in that final scene between the two of them and then you also are as an audience

[01:04:17] member wondering how is she going to enact her vengeance upon him he's not in Fury Road so we

[01:04:22] know he doesn't survive through the events of this movie or maybe he does maybe she lets him go out

[01:04:27] into the wasteland to starve and fend for himself and I love that the movie ends with this kind of

[01:04:34] choose your own vengeance if you will as far as you know they present different versions of

[01:04:40] what she might have done to enact her vengeance upon him and I like that at the very very end

[01:04:48] it does leave you with this one final possibility that is so completely George Miller like just

[01:04:55] wacky and out there it's the craziest version of all the ones that are shown but it's also the

[01:05:00] one that for me felt the most fitting as far as this clash between hate and hope despair and how

[01:05:07] Furiosa is choosing to chart a course forward as far in contrast to Dementis who was constantly

[01:05:17] kind of crawling back into himself into this pit of just hopelessness and it's something that

[01:05:23] from a visual representation and what how they choose to play it out here I actually thought

[01:05:28] it was quite powerful yeah as you said the uh the kind of like final option they give you for what

[01:05:36] happened to him it's very ridiculous and kind of silly and I think your mileage may vary on in

[01:05:42] terms of whether or not that is effective for that to be the last one but I think what it does speak

[01:05:47] to is the strength of the dynamic between the two of them and where those characters are at that

[01:05:54] certain point in the film and their motivations in terms of where they're kind of crossing paths

[01:06:01] and that speaks to the strength of the storytelling here and why I think that this is

[01:06:06] a much better written movie than any Mad Max film we've gotten before that even though there might

[01:06:10] be those kind of clunky elements to it I think where it lands thematically is so powerful and

[01:06:17] that's what really counts here okay so I do want to get over to final thoughts now so stuff that

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[01:06:56] I think the one thing that I really do just want to say and you did mention it but I gotta

[01:07:03] just mention it again because I just thought this was so cool is his chariot yeah with all the

[01:07:09] the motorcycles attached to it I think that is like the most brilliant piece of production design ever

[01:07:14] because not only does it just look cool but it also does kind of speak to his mentality of a

[01:07:21] leader and what he wants his own personal aesthetic to be and especially in a world where

[01:07:27] even though there is more opportunity for kind of the traditional production design it's still

[01:07:31] kind of sparse when you get into the desert landscapes you know you really have to find

[01:07:36] creative ways to make an impact and after all that we saw in Fury Road that becomes even more

[01:07:42] challenging but that chariot was just so striking and so just so impactful like that to me sold it

[01:07:50] as okay even though this movie has to do something a little bit different and it's going to be

[01:07:55] difficult to do so it will still find ways to make an impact and I thought that was brilliant

[01:08:00] like everything associated with him with his with you know whatever he was driving whatever he was

[01:08:05] wearing I love the the red that like that red dust that came on him afterwards it just sort of stained

[01:08:12] his clothing throughout years and years I felt that was a really great touch too so every piece

[01:08:18] of aesthetic with that character I thought was just absolutely brilliant yeah there's a lot of

[01:08:23] moments of really really thoughtful production design put into the vehicles the sets and going

[01:08:30] beyond that to the makeup work in this movie there's so much more variety on display here than

[01:08:35] what we got in Fury Road that I was constantly thinking to myself man like I love that every

[01:08:40] single character literally every single one other than the wives of Immortan Joe have like

[01:08:45] something done to them like that one woman who's got like her lip partially like torn off on her

[01:08:51] face you know scrotus you can call it that name and you know there's various other ones throughout

[01:08:59] where it's like either their skin is just rotting or it's they've been out in the sun for too long

[01:09:04] so it looks like it's like like cracking this one character is missing an eyeball it's pretty

[01:09:11] amazing stuff and one of my favorite elements of Fury Road and something I'm definitely going

[01:09:15] to be doing here with Furiosa is when they you know inevitably release the 4k blu-ray I can't

[01:09:20] wait to kind of like just pause it and really take in the production design details the makeup details

[01:09:26] the costuming details and look for like little subtle things that aren't actually shown necessarily

[01:09:32] in insert shots but are there to inform the characters and the world because that to me is

[01:09:38] just I mean like even like something like the war rig which you know is part of Fury Road when you

[01:09:44] see it actually being built out here for the first time and it's so shiny and chrome and pristine and

[01:09:50] it's a first in and its first build I loved that they had that as a montage sequence of like like

[01:09:57] let's show them building the war rig I was like this is fantastic I could do this stuff all day

[01:10:03] just getting lost in all these little details of the world yeah absolutely I love the those details

[01:10:10] as you said and the only other thing that I would mention is we were talking about names

[01:10:16] justice for piss boy that's all I'll say because he showed up and did his job and his job title

[01:10:24] was accurate yeah my favorite one was when um was when Angus Samson introduced himself as I'm

[01:10:31] the organic mechanic I love that name too that's just such a great way to describe what he what it

[01:10:39] is that he does it's fantastic what did you think of the I don't know if the movie needed this

[01:10:43] necessarily did you like the Mad Max cameo where he's standing out over the ridge looking down

[01:10:52] uh it it was so small for me that I didn't really register it that much like yeah it wasn't my

[01:11:00] favorite bit but there's so much more that the movie does right that that one moment was like

[01:11:06] it's a little eye rolling but I was able to move right past it what did you think of the reveal of

[01:11:12] how Furiosa loses her arm that was interesting I kind of have mixed feelings about it because

[01:11:20] on the one hand I thought maybe it would be a little bit more intentional um instead of just

[01:11:26] like she just is in an accident and she loses her arm because I thought there was going to be

[01:11:31] maybe more of a stronger story reason behind it because she has tattooed like this map to get back

[01:11:37] to the green place and I thought maybe she has to lose it so that it doesn't this information

[01:11:42] doesn't fall into the wrong hands and it just was like okay she had an accident and then she was

[01:11:49] hanging by this spot at one point and apparently nobody saw her escape and her arm was just

[01:11:54] hanging there so I it felt a little clumsy a little awkward in terms of how we got there but

[01:12:03] you know that was another moment where it wasn't my favorite but I was able to go buy it really

[01:12:08] quickly because I did just like so much of what the movie was doing up until that point

[01:12:13] you know they make a point to constantly tell us that she's from a place of abundance we see that

[01:12:17] place and then there's um all this mythological like world building with regards to um you know

[01:12:24] the stars and how these people rest on the stars to navigate but you also get a sense that it's

[01:12:30] also like part of their uh religion if you will and so she has this map that is drawn on her arm

[01:12:37] in the form of the stars um as a way to uh to get back home so I always thought that the arm would

[01:12:44] be cut off as a means to protect the secret of the green place but instead it's cut off as a means to

[01:12:50] escape from Dementus in a trap that he's holding her in as he's tormenting Pretorian Jack and yeah

[01:12:58] I did think that that was a little odd um I'm also thinking a lot about the practicality with regards

[01:13:04] to how did no one see her do this uh how did she do this it's a cool reveal but it did feel for me

[01:13:14] like in terms of all the ways that you could have done this to me it just didn't have the impact

[01:13:20] that I was hoping for especially for something that heading into this you know this is a key

[01:13:25] element of the Furiosa character that you know audience members who are fans of her for Fury

[01:13:30] Road are heading into Furiosa thinking okay how do we see how she loses the arm you know and so

[01:13:35] what we get here yeah I can't help but feel a little underwhelmed by it. Yeah I was really anticipating

[01:13:42] a thematic reason as to why she would lose the arm and it would have so much more impact for her

[01:13:50] like I agree with you Matt I thought that the movie was heading towards a situation where

[01:13:54] she would have to have made a decision to get rid of that and it would have been a huge heavy loss

[01:14:00] because that's the only way that she knew how to get back but it was just a situation where

[01:14:05] it needed to happen and we did not really get that we did not get that emotional kind of crashing

[01:14:11] moment for something like that and instead it was just used as kind of a gag for her escaping which

[01:14:17] was fine like I enjoyed it for what it was but it felt like a lot of missed opportunity for

[01:14:23] that moment to have a lot more significance than it actually did. Okay another thing that I got to

[01:14:28] bring up here that is I think a weaker point compared to Fury Road and I haven't listened

[01:14:34] to it on its own yet I haven't had a chance to do so but Junkie XL's score was definitely missing

[01:14:40] some more of the string moments I felt like that really helped to amplify Fury Road's score to

[01:14:47] god tier level here it's just like a lot of war drums and kind of the more subdued

[01:14:55] sort of like approach to it I was very very surprised that the score did not go as hard

[01:15:02] as Fury Road did. It's another element that definitely feels like it contributes to

[01:15:09] the perception that this movie is maybe a little bit more somber and lethargic in comparison to

[01:15:15] Fury Road and yeah the music doesn't have the same kind of propulsive energy to it that the

[01:15:22] first movie did. I think it works just well I while I don't like it quite as much I think it fits the

[01:15:27] movie perfectly fine and those sequences very well but yeah it's not quite the same level of

[01:15:34] achievement as before but I still thought for what it needed to accomplish to move these sequences

[01:15:40] along and to match somewhat of the similar energy in this movie I thought it did a fine job.

[01:15:48] And then one other thing too I also want to point out that I actually did like about this

[01:15:53] were the end credits and how they showed clips from for Fury Road not not Furiosa from Fury

[01:15:59] Road and I like this because one it makes you want to re-watch Fury Road immediately again after

[01:16:06] this movie but also too you then see I guess like like it helps you to kind of like recontextualize

[01:16:12] right right there in the moment as you're in the theater watching this for the first time

[01:16:16] oh so that's now seeing this character again here later on oh that's how this character ended up here

[01:16:23] or whatever it ends up being right and so I like that the two were linked together in a way that

[01:16:32] these comparisons that we're always constantly making between the two they're inevitable

[01:16:35] I'm sorry like people are like out there trying to say you should not be comparing the two no

[01:16:40] you can't avoid it and I like that George Miller did so much here to both make it feel like it was

[01:16:48] part of the same world on a visual aesthetic level there's a change in cinematographers and

[01:16:52] yet still the visual language feels exactly the same and then you have the production design

[01:17:00] details the costuming details they all feel seamless on your Taylor Joy as I mentioned earlier

[01:17:04] her performance is seamless so then yeah going into the credits and showing clips from Fury Road

[01:17:09] to kind of show that these two films are linked and that you can't separate them you can take a

[01:17:16] different approach to them in terms of as we mentioned earlier the narrative structure the

[01:17:22] pacing and these I think actually work in favor of helping Furiosa to distinguish itself because

[01:17:28] if you just tried to do Fury Road all over again this movie would have failed I mean tremendously

[01:17:34] failed in my opinion so to then show clips at the during the credits that makes you want to

[01:17:40] just come back to the world again with a different film and anticipate what is to

[01:17:45] come from George Miller God bless the guy you know he's getting older but I mean to me after

[01:17:52] watching Fury Road Furiosa like to me it just doesn't feel like he's I don't think he's lost

[01:17:58] his step here you know I know some people will say oh it's like Scorsese's getting older for example

[01:18:04] his crime films don't have the same vigor as his earlier one does do when they when he was younger

[01:18:10] and it's like yeah but you know what sometimes delivering a more thoughtful contemplative

[01:18:16] narrative in your wiser years as you're coming closer to the end than you were to the beginning

[01:18:21] can have its own rewarding impact so I'll just end by saying I thought Furiosa was

[01:18:28] an outstanding kind of cinematic achievement to me this is almost everything I would want a big

[01:18:34] blockbuster to be it's rich it's dense it's daring it does things you would not expect or

[01:18:41] even think it's going to do when you go in or perhaps even want it to do but it takes you to

[01:18:47] all these different places and it was so exciting to just be in the hands of a master at this level

[01:18:52] of control of his craft there are flaws but for me the flaws weirdly kind of represent idiosyncrasies

[01:19:02] of his vision that still resonate I love the idea that George Miller getting older and delivering

[01:19:08] the more contemplative somber movie is still Furiosa I still love that because that's that's

[01:19:16] just George Miller for you and he's a genius sometimes he's the only person that can see

[01:19:22] the vision but I'm glad that we get it all the same I do think that the editing is pretty good

[01:19:29] I do think the pacing does get in the way at times again the momentum flowing in and out for me

[01:19:36] but I was impressed with the sound quality in all these all these different areas all right

[01:19:41] so in terms of a grade Josh or do you have anything else no okay so the grade for you is out of 10

[01:19:49] I'm gonna settle at an 8 out of 10 I really really enjoyed the movie not quite to the

[01:19:54] same level as the previous one but still really good I'm gonna end by giving it a very strong 9

[01:20:00] out of 10 I can't wait to see more thoughts and more writing about this movie over the weeks and

[01:20:05] months to come because there's so much to say about it I go back and forth with my grade on

[01:20:10] this film I did come out of the theater giving it a 6 out of 10 just because I just felt a bit

[01:20:18] disappointed by it overall again it's a hard standard to meet when the standard is Mad Max

[01:20:25] Fury Road and that took on a huge huge life of its own and has been hailed as one of the best if not

[01:20:33] really the best action film in in recent years and really of all time so I am interested in

[01:20:40] revisiting this a little bit down the line I could see maybe it bumping up to a 7 but for right now

[01:20:47] I will stick to a 6 and I'm going with a 9 out of 10 even though I think some might be taken

[01:20:52] aback by its length and pacing this is was a necessary film to work in conjunction with Fury

[01:20:58] Road and not against it I do prefer Fury Road it's one of my favorite films of all time but this is

[01:21:05] not too far off and as far as like my initial fears heading into this movie like thinking

[01:21:10] god there's no way like right there's no way he's gonna be able to come anywhere close I should have

[01:21:16] had more faith in George I think a lot of people especially after that first trailer should have

[01:21:20] had more faith in George Miller because he just understands this world inside it out to the point

[01:21:26] that his actors sometimes get frustrated with him because he's so hyper focused on details that are

[01:21:32] going far beyond what they're being asked to do and I know some actors you know want to be included

[01:21:37] in on that process here but it's like when you see what's like finally put up there on the screen in

[01:21:42] the end this guy just has it all in his head he may not be you know maybe the best at communicating

[01:21:48] that to other people on set but I mean I want to also take a moment to throw out there if you want

[01:21:54] to know more about this world highly recommend Kyle Buchanan's book on the production of Mad Max

[01:22:00] Fury Road which gives you even more insight into George Miller's mind the production history I know

[01:22:06] it's different than what happened here with Furiosa but I do think the two are part of the

[01:22:10] same coin you know two sides of the same coin if you will in that regard so the craftsmanship is

[01:22:15] on a whole other level I think the vision is just out of this world amazing it's one of my favorite

[01:22:22] films of the year absolutely agree with that so as far as the Oscar potential goes now this is

[01:22:28] I think a little tough because Mad Max Fury Road being nominated for picture and director

[01:22:36] it's like one of those lightning in a bottle like moments of well of course it was just so

[01:22:43] goddamn good that they couldn't they couldn't say no to it in its respective year here this is one

[01:22:49] of how many Warner Brothers sequels that we're getting uh this year that were previous best

[01:22:53] picture nominees and I keep constantly telling myself well they can't all be nominated and the

[01:23:00] reception to this you know you look at the letterboxd score you look at the rotten tomato

[01:23:03] score you look the metacritic score it's not the same compared to Fury Road so you know it's not

[01:23:08] going to get that critical push the same way at the end of the year this has me going back and

[01:23:13] forth on its best picture chances granted we're still early enough in the year that you know if

[01:23:19] one wanted to slide it into a 10 I can understand why you would do that and maybe we'll get a lot

[01:23:24] more contenders towards the end of the year maybe we won't I think if the rest of the year proves

[01:23:28] to be very weak that actually does help a path for Furiosa to get in there again but then you also

[01:23:36] come down to Miller and director and are the director's branch going to go for him again I don't

[01:23:42] think so I think they should because just how original his vision for this world is but they

[01:23:50] might have this feeling of oh we did that already we don't need to do this again it is different

[01:23:57] but it is also still giving them some aspects that feel more of the same I definitely see this

[01:24:04] probably getting in for best picture it most likely will not make my personal best picture lineup

[01:24:12] however it has gotten fabulous reviews thus far so I really wouldn't be surprised if it gets in

[01:24:19] I guess we'll have to see in terms of best director George Miller obviously is a huge

[01:24:26] force of nature so I wouldn't be surprised if he does come in here this year but it is still

[01:24:33] quite early to tell with this season what the rest of it will shape up so I kind of have that as a

[01:24:39] maybe for right now but I guess we will see yeah I think this movie will very very much struggle

[01:24:47] above the line because as you said even with Fury Road that was kind of a very special case where

[01:24:54] that film was kind of written off a little bit early on and then the critics came around at

[01:24:59] the end of the year to really give a hard push to it I don't think that's going to happen in

[01:25:04] the same capacity this time around and I think the movie will still be a contender in a lot of

[01:25:10] categories in the craft perspective I absolutely do believe that but in terms of like picture director

[01:25:16] like it was sort of a miracle that Mad Max got those nominations you know especially the kind of

[01:25:22] movie that it is so to expect that for this go around where I think even people who do love it

[01:25:28] say it's not as good as the previous movie is going to be a very very tall order I think Hemsworth

[01:25:35] legitimately has a shot here though I really do I think he's at the right point in his career

[01:25:40] I think that this is a kind of performance and character that granted I want to be very clear

[01:25:46] it has to be a week year for this to happen like there cannot be an overcrowded supporting actor

[01:25:52] field otherwise I do think they'll go for a more quote-unquote prestigious more digestible

[01:25:59] offering but he's not like Heath Ledger in the Joker level as far as you know this massive standout

[01:26:07] in the film like to the point that it's like he is the film's identity and I'm not getting like

[01:26:12] that sense of it like you like his character is not about to become a pop culture phenomenon

[01:26:17] but I do think it is the best work that he's ever done and he's in his 40s now I feel that there is

[01:26:25] if there's ever going to come a point where just like how they finally recognized like Robert

[01:26:30] Downey Jr. last year with an Oscar win for Oppenheimer if they want to just bring Hemsworth

[01:26:35] a nomination here's another thing you can also point to as to why they would want to do this

[01:26:41] name me another actor who has come from the MCU who has been more open about wanting to take on

[01:26:50] riskier roles that push them as an actor because Evan seems to be doing blockbuster films more and

[01:26:58] more frequently compared to some of the more interesting character work we saw him do earlier

[01:27:02] in his career Ruffalo was already a character actor so he doesn't count Downey Downey is same thing

[01:27:08] you know but like I'm talking about like these new stars who were introduced through the MCU

[01:27:12] I think there's respect there for Hemsworth you know for at least trying I think there is respect

[01:27:19] for trying but I also think that that performance is not going to get nominated and it's not for

[01:27:26] lack of merit because obviously yeah the performance is really good but these performances

[01:27:32] in these kind of big genre movies always have so much difficulty getting in even when they get tons

[01:27:39] of nominations you know Dune didn't get anything like even you think about Lord of the Rings only

[01:27:44] a single nomination throughout that entire series and it was for the established veteran for the

[01:27:48] first movie so I don't really think it's gonna get that much traction to be honest and especially if

[01:27:55] the movie overall is not maybe going to be the strongest of players above the line too in other

[01:28:02] areas I just think that I'm not gonna say that it's impossible for him to get a nomination but

[01:28:09] I do think just based on the kind of movie that it is it's going to be very very unlikely I would

[01:28:16] absolutely love for Chris Hemsworth to get in for best supporting actor because he just was born to

[01:28:23] play this crazy persona and he does it so so well I guess we'll have to see what the remaining

[01:28:31] supporting actor lineup looks like later this year and how heavy the field is but he is definitely

[01:28:38] one of those huge contenders for me I don't see Anya Taylor-Joy getting in for best actress

[01:28:46] again it just wasn't this huge performance for me that I would have liked to have seen

[01:28:53] I'm also of the belief that they're not going to go for the cinematography this time around

[01:28:57] I know some people have said it looks just as good even though it is slightly different

[01:29:02] I do think that that is a case where it does feel like more of the same and and I don't think

[01:29:07] that branch is going to want to do that again necessarily if it had taken a very different

[01:29:12] approach from Fury Road in terms of its lighting choices you know you still get the same heavy

[01:29:17] blues for the nighttime scenes and there is visual continuity here across two DPs which believe me

[01:29:23] I do appreciate that but I think that also is going to hurt it from being able to make a

[01:29:28] dent in that race yeah I don't think it's gonna get in for cinematography I think that it's still

[01:29:33] good work and yeah the fact that it again looks seamless from the previous movie is a really good

[01:29:41] notice for it but I remain skeptical that it would break into that field so where that leaves

[01:29:48] us then is because I don't think editing is getting in this time around too many people are

[01:29:52] gonna say it's you know too lethargic and it's pacing and I mean listen I like it you know I

[01:30:02] don't love it but at the same time it's I just want to be very clear and upfront with everybody

[01:30:07] that's listening I don't think it's being nominated for editing this time around I do

[01:30:11] think we're looking at costumes production design 1000% makeup sound do you think visual effects

[01:30:21] is my real question uh probably visual effects I mean I think that's the ceiling for this movie

[01:30:28] I don't think it's really going to get much more than that I understand that the visual effects

[01:30:33] yeah there's might be more of a bigger issue with some other people but I think because the last

[01:30:39] one we got nominated it's such a visual spectacle just overall it would just get included in the

[01:30:44] package it could miss that one but I do think that those categories are really the major ones that's

[01:30:51] going to be going for yeah I think visual effects can go either way but all the other ones I mentioned

[01:30:57] I would be shocked if it missed any of those um I think as much as I did say that I love the

[01:31:05] production design I think that that is a category that sometimes can be very tied to best picture

[01:31:11] contenders and I would worry about that one a little bit more than costume design okay but

[01:31:17] sound and makeup you're pretty set on yeah I feel like those are relatively good bets for it I think

[01:31:23] the technical categories are definitely ones for this film to take over um definitely best makeup

[01:31:32] and hair styling production design sound visual effects a lot of the things that I highlighted

[01:31:38] already uh film editing I I think it'll definitely have a shot in that costume design of course

[01:31:46] because a lot of those looks are very iconic to that world and without them you you don't have

[01:31:53] this world come to life as much as it does do you think it could win anything um I don't know at this

[01:32:03] point I mean maybe it could go for sound again but it's it's tough because there might be a mentality

[01:32:10] with some members of the academy of like we already gave the last one six awards like do we need to do

[01:32:15] this again I I can see that coming into the fold in terms of voting and it depends on what the

[01:32:21] competition is obviously but there is a part of me that does wonder that it'll get all of those

[01:32:26] nominations we talked about but when it comes to wins there might be a feeling of this has already

[01:32:31] been done and let's try to find something different to reward and I want to be very clear too this

[01:32:36] exact mentality is something that I am kind of feeling for Warner Brothers other sequels this

[01:32:42] year too so this is not just extending to Furiosa I think that we all have to like prepare ourselves

[01:32:48] for the inevitability of movies like Dune and Mad Max or Furiosa rather uh not repeating the same

[01:32:57] wins especially too because they're going to be competing against each other right and it's very

[01:33:03] consistent we have seen that whenever there is a big genre blockbuster that does really well with

[01:33:09] the Oscars the follow-up does not do as well you know we saw with Lord of the Rings we saw with

[01:33:15] Avatar like it's pretty consistent that that tends to happen and I can imagine the same fate

[01:33:21] also being applied to Furiosa all right before we go do you have anything else you want to add

[01:33:28] uh movie is still awesome go see it yeah cosign that it's definitely an awesome movie to check

[01:33:34] out in the theater especially if you get a chance to see it in any kind of premium format

[01:33:38] whether that's Dolby or IMAX it's a really immersive film and I cannot recommend it enough

[01:33:45] all right well that's it for our review of Furiosa a Mad Max saga I hope you enjoyed

[01:33:49] listening from both Josh and I over at Cannes but also to the rest of the MVP team as well

[01:33:54] Josh Parham tell everyone that's listening right now where they can find you on the internet

[01:33:58] you can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd at JR Parham and you can find me at Next Best Picture

[01:34:04] thank you so much everyone for listening to the Next Best Picture podcast we are proud to be part

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[01:34:25] thank you all so much for listening as always and we will see you all next time

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