Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

[dashrendar44]

I understood the horrific implication of what Imortan Joe's doing to them over and over and over again. I also understand, thematically, why more than just one or two survived the brutal, frenetic mayhem of the journey home. Even still, you unpacked it very well and that's appreciated.

 

And, I know I should've felt more empathetic. I almost feel guilty that I did not. I did feel a modicum of sorrow for Dark Of The Moon girl, even before the heinous extraction resulted in the subsequent death of her and her child. I think only seeing them looking healthy, beautiful and scantily clad muted my empathy. But, really, most of all, in my opinion, none of 'em delivering anything approaching a compelling performance is what really served to mute my empathy. That's why I hinted that some of Lynch's bizarre eroticism would've went a long way for me. Didn't have to overdo it. Just a glimpse. I mean, Miller channeled a lot of Lynch's Dune as it was... Why not?

 

Or, maybe don't show any of that stuff and just cast gorgeous women that can emote a bit. There's plenty out there. He purposely chose the supermodel variety as part of his statement. And, for me, that decision both sharpens and stunts his aim. Essentially, aside from the extraction and the unseen horrors that occur before the narrative in the film begins, I thought MIller did as little as possible with the wives. So... They left me pretty flat. I thought there was potential for a heck of a lot more from them.

 

But, a least he used Furiosa and the other older, weathered women to thrust awesomeness into the journey back. Made up for it a bit there.

 

 

 

You wanted Mulholland Drive? I think that was the point of Miller. Yes, the wives are hot, it's acknowledged but nowhere Miller's camera oogles and lingers on their bodies as sexual objects the whole movie unlike TalismanRing pretends. That is particularly true when we first see them spousing Max's POV, he's much surprised and befuddled as their pristine purity existence emerging from this slump of a world like some ethereal vision than being sexually aroused and when he's making that travelling on the TF3 girl framing her pregnant belly then coming back on her eyes to reveal the information for us then keep focused on the business going on. Nowhere the wives are sexually oogled or objectified by the camera as merely sex kittens.

 

Everybody's life was hell on earth except the pig in charge   What this feminist manifesto boiled down to was emancipation for very pretty barely clothed rather useless women that could barely act with everyone else doing the fighting and dying around them.   How convenient. Just like it's very convenient Furiosa couldn't find them clothes to wear for their trek across the wasteland. 

 

You must have missed the part when Capable and Toast the Knowing handled guns or put themselves on the line at crucial moments. Those women were either kidnapped then/or born enslaved, sheltered from the world to be raped their entire lives, their sole escape was their mind strength to resist that disgusting pig so they're a little inexperienced about living in the opened wasteland like Furiosa and Max, it's logical but they learn how to handle themselves along the way. The fact is that they got different ways to cope and each of them has a specific character traits in that regard. But turning them into Black Widow's badass sisters in the flick of the wrist would have felt so natural and not forced at all, yeah right   (Oh yeah, changing clothes and doused themselves in perfume because they had the time to when an entire army of crazy kamikazes was relentlessly chasing them and preying on them at any given time...And it wouldn't have strike the vuvalinis how important they were to Joe and hammer the point home if they were dressed like Furiosa).

 

Furiosa's plan was to steal what Immortan Joe value the most (Not their lives but their wombs), his slave "wives" that bear his offspring (that would keep the oppression on-going for eons in the Citadel) since every other women are deemed "milk cows" or are "imperfect enough" for Immortan Joe like Furiosa certainly. She rose to that position (and we can assume that it took a lot for her to achieve that) of being the war rig commander on whom the citadel's ruler rely onto to bring the gas they need to fuel their warboys. It was the perfect window for her to execute her escape plan. Her original plan was to join the vuvalinis in the Green Land with the brides to create a new society worth living in, she couldn't give two fucks about the rotten Citadel anymore.(That what is also great about her and gives her humanity, she's not acting like the messiah or the citadel's freedom fighter like she's Jesus, she's fighting and acting for herself with her own agenda to survive with the brides, the rest can go to hell). Taking no name poor people or random kids living off the citadel wouldn't have cut it nor make any sense to anger Immortan Joe nor warrant his whole army and allies to chase her to death. Furiosa took Joe by the balls.

 

Then Max convinced her that her only hope left resides in the Citadel, that hopelessly wander in the desert to run away is not the solution where everything she wished was back there to begin with and that she can destroy Immortan Joe's tyranny from within to plant the seeds of change. It's the theme of The Eternal Return.

Edited May 17, 2015 by MADash Rendar

[JohnnyGossamer]

Well, I'd hardly say Mulholland Dr. I was thinking more along the lines of a subdued Blue Velvet and/or Wild At Heart. Maybe a better film to reference regarding the wives would've been Cronenberg's Eastern Promises. A movie that both insinuates a very similarly disturbing fate for mistreated women and, also, gives a glimpse into the gross, disturbing implications in a scene with Viggo and one of the girls sold the empty promises. The girls in it are forced to indulge in heroin, etc. as means to break them and, then, they welcome it as a means to numb themselves to the subjugation and rape. The ugliest insinuation being that many of these girls father the sons of Russian mafia heads... Sons that later become powerful in supplanting their fathers. I felt that flick did a much better job getting me invested with just a few glimpses.

By the way, the wives being dull, forgettable is a small complaint that I'm magnifying for the sake of discussion. It didn't taint the film much in retrospect. Though, I bring it up because I felt it was the least interesting and poorest execution in Miller's film. Again, I need to see it again. Was any mention made of any of the wives harming themselves and/or attempting suicide? Given such a gross existence, after years and years of rape, I just assumed I missed something or it was implied other wives found peace in death before learning of the escape plan. I mean, instead of just waiting around for Furiosa and Rosie Huntington to galvanize the cause....

I never said they were ogled and didn't mean to imply it. I more so meant, given how flatly drawn they were, they didn't seem like much more than their wardrobes, aside from Rosie.

Edited May 17, 2015 by JohnnyGossamer

[dashrendar44]

Well, I'd hardly say Mulholland Dr. I was thinking more along the lines of a subdued Blue Velvet and/or Wild At Heart. Maybe a better film to reference regarding the wives would've been Cronenberg's Eastern Promises. A movie that both insinuates a very similarly disturbing fate for mistreated women and, also, gives a glimpse into the gross, disturbing implications in a scene with Viggo and one of the girls sold the empty promises. The girls in it are forced to indulge in heroin, etc. as means to break them and, then, they welcome it as a means to numb themselves to the subjugation and rape. The ugliest insinuation being that many of these girls father the sons of Russian mafia heads... Sons that later become powerful in supplanting their fathers. I felt that flick did a much better job getting me invested with just a few glimpses.

By the way, the wives being dull, forgettable is a small complaint that I'm magnifying for the sake of discussion. It didn't taint the film much in retrospect. Though, I bring it up because I felt it was the least interesting and poorest execution in Miller's film. Again, I need to see it again. Was any mention made of any of the wives harming themselves and/or attempting suicide? Given such a gross existence, after years and years of rape, I just assumed I missed something or it was implied other wives found peace in death before learning of the escape plan. I mean, instead of just waiting around for Furiosa and Rosie Huntington to galvanize the cause....

I never said they were ogled and didn't mean to imply it. I more so meant, given how flatly drawn they were, they didn't seem like much more than their wardrobes, aside from Rosie.

 

That is also conveyed in Fury Road without it hammered like in Eastern Promises which was a good movie on its own that make the entire movie revolves around this russian prostitution ring. It's just that Fury Road is mostly centered about Furiosa and Max redemption. The brides plea is the catalyst for Furiosa's redemption, they all leave the past and trauma behind them not to delve and revel into as a therapy, few glimpses here and there tell us all we need to know without hammering the gruesome bits while suggesting the horror, the butchery on the Splendid was all you need to know about how far they can go to get what Joe and his minions want from them. However, we see how the one called Cheedo the Fragile got kind of a Stockholm syndrome for hence or how Toast the knowing is kind of nihilistic developing some kind of numb demeanor to shelter herself and The Dag the anorexic one that just let herself starve to become less desirable to the men she despises.

Edited September 8, 2015 by MADash Rendar

[JohnnyGossamer]

That is also conveyed in Fury Road without it hammered like in Eastern Promises which was a good movie on its own that make the entire movie revolves around this russian prostitution ring. It's just that Fury Road is mostly centered about Furiosa and Max redemption. The brides is the catalyst for Furiosa's redemption, they all leave the past and trauma behind them not to delve and revel into as a therapy, few glimpses here and there tell us all we need to know without hammering the gruesome bits while suggesting the horror, the butchery on the Splendid was all you need to know about how far they can to get what Joe and his minions want from them. However, we see how the one call Fragile got kind of a Stockholm syndrome for hence or how Toast the knowing is kind of nihilistic developing some kind of numb demeanor to shelter herself and Cheedo the anorexic one that just let herself starve to become less desirable to the men she despises.

Makes perfect sense. I did like the Fragile attempting to run back. And, I did notice one being thinner than the rest. But, as you mentioned, Miller chose to attack their pain with subtlety to better shift the focus on Furiosa. Again, this discussion is partly to aid me before I take it in a second time tomorrow night. To put my physche more in line with Miller's so I can better absorb his goals.

Also, awesome to see something like Fury Road generate such compelling debate/discussion.

Edited May 17, 2015 by JohnnyGossamer

[mattmav45]

It's fucking awesome.

Enough said.

[4815162342]

I remember seeing somewhere that someone posted that the reason Furiosa rose so high in Joe's army is that she was sterile, but there was never any mention or hint of that in the film so far as I could tell. It might have just been from some interview Miller or Theron gave about the character's background.

[The Futurist]

Sorry I hate Besson's schtick trying to imitate James Cameron's badass female empowerment act wherein fact it's childish women out of a manchild fantasy where waifs with a mind of a 6 years old act like infantile Terminators on stilettos and short skirts (or half-naked like in 5th element) and Besson's track record with child-like women is iffy when you know that he married a 17 years old teen he met two years before when he was pushing 32 like no big deal.( And there's this cut scene from The Professional, the writing script is creepy).

 

This Leon/Professionnal stuff is for real ???

It cannot be, someone made that up.

Creepy doesn t even cut it, it's, I don t know ...

   

[dashrendar44]

This Leon/Professionnal stuff is for real ???

It cannot be, someone made that up.

Creepy doesn t even cut it, it's, I don t know ...

   

 

Unfortunately it's true. Besson is our own Woody Allen, he was "romantizing" (yikes) his relationship with Maiwenn Le Besco through The Professional's script before dumping her for Milla Jovovich (at least she was of age when he started groping her...).

[The Futurist]

Unfortunately it's true. Besson is our own Woody Allen, he was "romantizing" (yikes) his relationship with Maiwenn Le Besco through The Professional's script before dumping her for Milla Jovovich (at least she was of age when he started groping her...).

 

I knew about the Maiwenn's stuff...creepy.

He also banged Nikita s Anne Parillaud back in the day.

Edited May 18, 2015 by The Futurist

[Rorschach]

My bladder almost exploded by the time it was over. That should tell you something about the level of awesomeness this film holds.

A+

Edited May 18, 2015 by Radical Rorschach

[Gopher]

I am in love. And will no longer tolerate meaningless action.

[Kvikk Lunsj]

I really liked  it.  The action and fight scenes where done so well.

4/5  

[Mango]

Best movie of the year.

[Blankments]

I remember seeing somewhere that someone posted that the reason Furiosa rose so high in Joe's army is that she was sterile, but there was never any mention or hint of that in the film so far as I could tell. It might have just been from some interview Miller or Theron gave about the character's background.

Yeah, that's in the Entertainment Weekly interview - source: my copy of Entertainment Weekly I read on a trip into Chicago today

[BoxOfficeZ]

One thing i didn't like was the guitar and the wheel at the end that was obviously CGI in your face for 3D users. 

[Jessie]

So Iver seen this with 6 friends si far, all of whom thought it was 'shit' lol. I'm not expecting this to have good WOM despite the great reviews.

[Fanboy]

Strange. I saw it with seven of my friends and all of them said it was one of their favourite action films of all time. 

[Jessie]

Strange. I saw it with seven of my friends and all of them said it was one of their favourite action films of all time.

Are your friends movie fanatics though? Or just normal people that like to go to the cinema? I think this film is simply too weird for casual movie goers and unlike us, casual movie goers couldn't give a shit if a certain action scene was constructed solely on stunts and no green screen, the dobt care about symbolic images or feminist pleasing heroic leads like critics do, they prefer stuff that looks cool with a story they can engage with. I think the lowest this movie drops this weekend is 45%, im expecting a 50-55% drop but I'd like to be wrong.

[JohnnyGossamer]

Are your friends movie fanatics though? Or just normal people that like to go to the cinema? I think this film is simply too weird for casual movie goers and unlike us, casual movie goers couldn't give a shit if a certain action scene was constructed solely on stunts and no green screen, the dobt care about symbolic images or feminist pleasing heroic leads like critics do, they prefer stuff that looks cool with a story they can engage with. I think the lowest this movie drops this weekend is 45%, im expecting a 50-55% drop but I'd like to be wrong.

I don't entirely disagree with your take on how casual moviegoers will respond to Fury Road. Still, I think a 3 multiplier is possible. Though, more of a discussion for the Fury Road box office thread as opposed to the review thread, no?

Edited May 18, 2015 by JohnnyGossamer

[Nostalgia]

No where in the league as reviews are indicating.

 

Direction and writing was very very average.