George Miller
Furiosa – A Mad Max Saga

George Miller's mistake is putting too much plot into it. Or rather, thinking of constructing a vast, time-expanded epic (that of the protagonist's formation) through scenes that are all essentially action-based. The result is a very long and well-structured film (no doubt), but it struggles to deliver characters with any depth because words, the main vehicle of human traits, are always words of violence, concrete discourse, blackmail or negotiation, and don't delve much into the psychology of Furiosa, Dementus, or Praetorian Jack.

Many episodes, little depth. No one asks for this in a "Mad Max" film, to be clear, but this time it's the creator himself who takes this path. The result? There isn’t much left of the heroine's biographical story, but even the furious action component somehow ends up weakened. The wild tribalism of "Fury Road" is well imprinted in our memory; this time the approach is different (which is fine) and probably less effective than the previous one.

The new villain is also charming and roguish, but overall, his confrontation with Furiosa is a side aspect (at least for him), and thus, in the end, we don't perceive great pathos, the "Kill Bill" style obsession is far away. And that's understandable because, frankly, in two and a half hours, telling the story of a kidnapped girl until she becomes an adult heroine, creating a scenario of gang conflict over essential resources, sketching a promise of love and Edenic rebirth, in addition to triggering a convincing revenge mechanism... well perhaps it's a bit too much even for Miller.

Only one truly impressive scene, a long high-speed battle to defend the precious tanker, which, however, seems to bear the brunt of too heavy a hand with the CGI. And that’s a shame. There are no major flaws, mind you, it's great to watch, but the sensation is that of witnessing a watered-down version of "Fury Road," which also exploits the easy trope of the female heroine without, however, embracing a specific system of values. Mind you, if only there were more directors with Miller's eye, but this time it seems he has bitten off more than he can chew, resulting in a good film but not an exceptional one like its predecessor.