I really enjoyed this film! It is a lot of explosions and brutality, but it was continually compelling — even as I questioned why I was so invested. At 2h20m it definitely made me feel my sleepy age (I saw it on my 39th birthday, and I was squinting and yawning by the end!) but I felt more impressed that a relatively slow paced film gripped me for so long.
It's a proper odyssey, with poor Furiosa only wanting to get home; but the trials she faces grow organically out of the plot and the universe, and give Furiosa a depth I didn't expect from a character/actor who's almost entirely expressionless through the film.
This entry in the Mad Max continuum (though I've only watched the first, and Fury Road) steers away from exploring the whats and whys of the apocalyptic world they live in, tempting though I'm sure it was in a 2024 that has so many parallels, and instead lets us draw our own conclusions. The men in power who lie and rabble-rouse to get the power they desire, just so they can watch the world burn (again); how much we all embrace making ourselves vulnerable for the hope of human connection; the power dynamics and game theory in a world where two thirds of what you need is only necessary because of collective attitudes.
I'm certain I'll watch this again—and as a stand-alone film—which, for a long and relatively simple plot, is something very uncommon for me. I hope you enjoy it too!
(Originally posted on byJP)