John Howard – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: I remember watching Mad Max: Fury Road.

Vampire Bat: Yes, that was when you arrived late in the movie theatre.

Vampire Owl: I was not that late because there were too many advertisements.

Vampire Bat: Still, you arrive late each and every time.

Vampire Owl: I am only as late as it is required of me.

Vampire Bat: You fail to watch the beginning of every movie.

Vampire Owl: Some of the beginnings are not that worthy to be watched.

Vampire Bat: What is a movie without its beginning?

Vampire Owl: We often start our vampire lives in the middle, don’t we?

Vampire Bat: I would agree to that. Why shouldn’t I?

[Gets a chilly chicken pizza and three cups of Kodaikanal tea].

What is the movie about? :: Many decades have passed after the grand apocalypse that has turned the lands to the wastelands with no hope of returning to the green glory. Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) maintains control over the wastelands with his biker gang and manages to get his hands on a child who seems to be from a land of plenty far outside the world known to them. With her mother who attacks them tortured to death for not revealing the location of that particular place, he adopts the child as his own without hesitation while murdering anyone who has a second opinion about such ideas. Years later, there is new clue about the place with abundant resources, and Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme) who rules the Citadel with hidden resources finds himself attacked by Dementus and his gang, but manages to defeat the bikers with ease with the help of his fanatic, suicidal War Boys. Dementus manages to capture Gastown, an oil refinery which supplies power to the Citadel, which helps him to come up with a deal for resources from Immortan Joe, but losses the child Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) in the process.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Furiosa manages to escape from being the future wife of Immortan Joe or any of his children, and disguised as a mute War Boy, Furiosa works her way up through the ranks of Citadel. She helps them in building the War Rig, a heavily armed fuel supply tanker that could survive the wastelands where there is no law, but ruthlessness. As she teams up with Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke) and manages to win impossible battles, she becomes Jack’s second-in-command and is promoted to the ranks of a Praetorian, despite everyone including Immortal Joe coming to know that she is not a War Boy, but a girl in disguise. She gets the honour and privilege in the Citadel, even from the toughest warriors, and is feared by many. But she does not stop thinking about escaping from the situation and go back to her original home and live with her people. For this, Jack also pledges to support her, and they make plans to escape. But can they really get away from the Citadel? And what will Dementus at Gastown think about it?

The defence of Furiosa :: Here is one prequel that leads well to the next one with its story and the narrative. The establishment of connection seems to be one thing done with precision and so is the choice of the main character, the titular person who makes all the difference, even though the other characters often get lost in the process. The fights here would not seem any big for those who have watched the predecessor, which set the world as something grand for vehicular mayhem, but this one adds the emotional touch to it, to make things feel better. The world still looks grand, with the land after apocalypse is just as we would expect it to be, both with the looks and the content. The feeling of danger is there, and so is hopelessness, as we see a world without greenery of expectations – the environment seems to have finally met its end here, as it expected with so many fake environment lovers wandering around even in our world who make absolutely no impact, and instead creates some nonsense just to escape from their responsibilities, and in the process, wastes the time of people and much of the resources too. At the same time, the fights on the truck remains the best, and the titular character is a classic action character doing the same, and the support makes an impact too.

The claws of flaw :: Slower than its predecessor and with its main character talking so less, the movie has a little bit of struggle at times to keep going on a path similar to what happened on that Fury Road with Max. It takes too much time to get into action and has too long a run-time. There is also too much time when nothing really happens. The green place is not a believable thing at all in that world, considering the various features of it, even though after an apocalypse, everything else shown there feels not just real within that universe, but even possible now. The greenery in the nothingness would have been better if it was established as something not that big. Then, the villain is too unpredictable, and it’s the kind of villainy that takes the funny side for no reason instead of staying menacing at all times. It keeps one wondering if the same thing happened because of the Thor series going dumb and silly after Thor: Ragnarok. We know that there has not been a likable Thor with the same actor since that classic movie with God of Thunder fighting the Goddess of Death. It could be the Marvel foolishness discovery syndrome. The franchise which was full of vehicular mayhem could have done better with this one and should have come at least close to the fast-paced quality of the screen that was displayed by its predecessor.

The performers of the soul :: The movie belongs to Anya Taylor-Joy who comes up with a performance which perfectly blends into the mood of the movie, and we feel with her here. Alyla Browne who plays the same character at a younger age is not that far behind in performance either. Anya excels with her facial expressions, limited dialogues and the actions sequences which seems to make a point that she has got a diversion from The Witch, Morgan, Split and Glass. From the possibility of becoming the next scream queen, she might be going on to be the one action star whom we can have in those futuristic action movies that have had remakes in the past or are going for a few, Total Recall for example. It is sad that most of her movies never really released in this part of the world, and even if they did, never really had enough screens to prove their existence in busy theatres showing movies of too many languages. Chris Hemsworth makes a fine impact, but the focus is never really on him, and we end up forgetting him due to the way the movie is written. So, it is Tom Burke who makes the next fine impact. Then there is Charlee Fraser who rules the first few minutes of the movie.

How it finishes :: The movie could have been better than Mad Max: Fury Road, but that level is surely not reached. A prequel could have done so much, but this one only manages to connect well and add a little bit more of reason of the happenings of the film which released earlier. There is no bigger battle or something of grandeur that raises the level of this one, as it goes through a slower path. But this one manages to do its job as a prequel which acts as a raising stone for sure. With some fine performances, one can be sure to enjoy the Fury Road better after watching this tale of Furiosa – it is how things should go, and not the other way around. If this prequel is watched first, the quality of the 2014 movie would improve even more, and that should be the way to go. This one provides the wastelands with a beginning for the new generation, as the other movies of the series go a long way behind, and they were never among the best known action films in this part of the world for sure.

Release date: 24th May 2024
Running time: 148 minutes
Directed by: George Miller
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Alyla Browne, George Shevtsov, Lachy Hulme, John Howard, Angus Sampson, Charlee Fraser, Elsa Pataky, Nathan Jones, Josh Helman, David Field, Rahel Romahn, David Collins, Goran D Kleut, C J Bloomfield, Ian Roberts, Guy Spence, Rob Jones, Clarence Ryan, Tim Burns, Quaden Bayles

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Vampire Owl :: Do you know that this director’s last movies were Happy Feet and Happy Feet Two?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, the Vampire Penguin did inform us about the same.

Vampire Owl :: And we are going to watch this one.

Vampire Bat :: Ninety Nine percent at Rotten Tomatoes and nine out of ten at IMDb for an action movie – then why not watching it?

Vampire Owl :: Well, I have my doubts. They rate random violent action movies as awesome. Quentin Tarantino knows that for sure.

Vampire Bat :: Quentin Tarantino has nothing to do with this one. And the trailer was awesome. It called for a quick 3D watch!

Vampire Owl :: It could be also because we love Charlize Theron.

Vampire Bat :: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is also there, if you want another reason. Remember Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Vampire Owl :: Let’s go for this then.

Vampire Bat :: It is exactly what I am talking about. I also have to write my two hundredth review with this one.

[Gets the tickets].

What is it about? :: In a distant post-apocalyptic future where the resources are scarce and there is rarely the trace of civilization, Max (Tom Hardy) is captured and is imprisoned to be used as a blood bag for the sick boy Nux (Nicholas Hoult) in a part of the world which is ruled by a tyrant called Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). Meanwhile, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) who was sent by Joe to collect fuel drives away, and the tyrant realizes that she had also taken his five beautiful wives whom he had selected to bear his children without the deformities of the normal people around him. As Nux makes an attempt to make an impression with the captive attached as the blood bag, Max escapes, and joins forces with Furiosa and the wives Angharad (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), Capable (Riley Keough), Cheedo (Courtney Eaton), Toast (Zoë Kravitz), and Dag (Abbey Lee), as they hope to reach a location called “Green Place”.

The defence of Mad Max: Fury Road :: This one goes directly into the action, and we know what is expected here. We have something like the ultimate action movie which is so quick in its action and thinks not much about bringing up the rules. There are modified vehicles battling in the middle of nowhere – a lot like warships fighting on the sea, and here the four-wheeled monsters fight on the sea of sand. There are sandstorms instead of the storms in the sea, and there is a lot of work in the design of those vehicles, that is for sure. There are gunshots, melee combats, racing and people falling dead all the time. The pace is so good that you don’t wish to take your eyes off the screen. The dialogues also turn interesting soon enough. The background score is also impressive. There is also that display of humanity when it is left with no law and order, as we see the chaos which the lack of civilization brings to the humans. There is madness, and there is fury!

The claws of flaw :: Never does this movie venture too much without the action which seems to be imprinted throughout its run. There is the scope for more and more of story, but the focus remains on the action sequences which keep coming. This leaves the option to say that this is another mindless action movie – but that is still disputed, and depends on how you take it. The ending also doesn’t come up with that big surprise or climax, as the action just continues to lead to the end. There are things left unexplained about the situation, and there is not much smartness displayed by the characters in this movie as the actions are rather reckless. Yes, there is the need for willing suspension of disbelief, but it is easy in this case as the situation is of a post-apocalyptic future.

Performers of the soul :: The performances, especially from the leading cast remains the strength of this movie. The first name that needs attention here is Charlize Theron. This is not the kind of avatar in which you would expect to see her, but this is a role in which she excels. She plays the character who becomes the reason for this movie as well as all the action that we get to witness. She plays an amputee, but is still one of most powerful female action heroines of all time. Tom Hardy also makes it out strong as the titular character, and he surely has the best moments. You might not recognize Nicholas Hoult in the first look, but he steals a few moments nicely. The ladies play the wives well, and another person you need to look out for is the former WWE wrestler Nathan Jones who had teamed with the legendary Undertaker himself, as the strong Rictus.

Soul exploration :: The movie ventures in the post-apocalyptic future when the world has plunged into chaos. It comes up with that situation when almost all the resources have finished, and also when humanity finds chaos again in the absence of civilization. Without order, there will be only people fighting each other, and it is a possible state of the world in the future in the presence of its never-ending wars. As no surprise, the future will still have its weapons, even if the resources are to be so scarce. The final stages mean that someone will try to have them all without thinking about sharing. An experience close to the end of the world won’t make people any better, but will make them worse, trying to make “the survival of the fittest” happen in every case. Then there is the need for redemption as often spoken about by the main lady, and for the same, there is need for courage, sacrifice and revolution.

How it finishes :: Mad Max: Fury Road might not do that well at this part of the world as it is not the usual viewers’ choice action movie with the users’ choice kind of things. This is mostly action, but things remain too grim for the general audience who would surely prefer to see Avengers: Age of Ultron or Fast and Furious 7 instead of this one. But you need to watch this one in the theatre more than any other, as you seek chaos in the sands past the apocalypse – the world is so good that it might even make you satisfied only with the 3D. Mad Max: Fury Road becomes the movie of the week; not so sure about the box-office collections, but it is a certainty with the critics and action lovers. This is actually the fourth film in the director’s Mad Max franchise, and may be we should watch the others too – I haven’t done it yet. This brutality in brilliance gives an order!

And that was the 200th review! 😀

Release date: 15th May 2015
Running time: 120 minutes
Directed by: George Miller
Starring: Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Zoë Kravitz, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Abbey Lee, Riley Keough, Courtney Eaton, Nathan Jones, Megan Gale, Josh Helman, Melissa Jaffer, John Howard, Richard Carter, Jennifer Hagan, Gillian Jones, Angus Sampson, iOTA, Joy Smithers