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Furiosa Has So Much More Talking Than I Expected From A Mad Max Movie

By 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Andrew King

Published May 28, 2024

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This article contains spoilers for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

Anya Taylor-Joy doesn't appear on-screen in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga until 45 minutes in. (That's an estimate, I didn't have a stopwatch going). She doesn't speak until an hour and fifteen minutes in. (Again, a stopwatch-less estimate). Furiosa is two hours and 28 minutes long with credits, so if we do the pseudo-math, we can deduce that the heroine doesn't speak until the movie is more than halfway over. And yet, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is still the talkiest movie in the franchise.

Going Off The Fury Road

Prior to release, I had seen social media impressions that cautioned that 🐟this was a different movie than Mad Max: Fury Road, the 2015 action epic to which it serves as a prequel. The primary difference is structural. Whereas Fury Road was one long chase sequence, Furiosa is a more traditional movie, following the character as she grows from a child (played by Alyla Browne) into the stoic woman we meet when Taylor-Joy finally shows up. We follow her as she is kidnapped from the Green Place where she was raised as a child, stolen away by bandits who belong to a gang led by the hawk-nosed Dementus (Chris Hemsworth).

Anya Taylor Joy as Furiosa surrounded by flames

Dementus drops a talky pebble on the film's silent surface. While Furiosa, and her mother who attempts to rescue her, are steely heroines, Dementus is a motormouth, and his penchant for nasally speech swerves the movie out of the lane that Fury Road so confidently occupied.

Furiosa Vs. Dementus

And it works really well. Though Dementus found himself at the top of his gang, he doesn't take the world seriously enough. His constant gabbing makes him a clear counterpoint to Furiosa. She has suffered real tragedy and, as a result, does nothing without thought. He moves through life carelessly, unconcerned with the havoc he leaves in his wake. Their roles in this revenge story — perpetrator and victim — are reflected in their temperaments.

There are good reaso🧸ns for Furiosa’s silence. In the first act, she’s quiet because she’s refusing to give up any information about the Green Place. Later on, she pretends to be mute to hide her gender. It’s only once she begins working with Praetorian Jack and gains a measure of security that she begins to speak more frequently.

When Hemsworth isn’t on screen, Furiosa is a quieter film. But when he is around, the film turns to talk. He bargains with Immortan Joe over Furiosa’s fate. He vamps before would-be members of his crew draw and quarter someone. He makes little noises to himself while Furiosa snipes at him. He monologues to hi𒊎s gang. He asks Furiosa if she has it in her “to make it epic.” When he’s on top, when he’s on the ropes, and when he’s staring down death, he chatters away.

And though it does feel like a different register for the series, Dementus’ personality works to highlight the wacky characters that Mad Max has always been filled with. Miller (along with co-writer Nico Lauthouris) has never had to pen this much dialogue before. As a result, the silliness that has always imbued the Mad Max films is more frequently right there on the surface. These characters could be mistaken for serious people when the🌳y’re glowering away. Get them talking and you realize the truth.