Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
I remember when Mad Max: Fury Road came out, I was one of the FEW detractors for the film. I grew up with Max, and while it was definitely a fantastic looking picture with a wonderful sense of style, it just didn’t “feel” like Mad Max to me. I mean, it was certainly better than Beyond Thunder Dome, but overall I just didn’t feel that sense of elation and group adulation that the film received. Years later I have sort of changed my perspective on the film, and while I don’t consider it AMAZING, it is certainly a lot more fun on repeat viewings. Especially since I’ve sort of shuffled it off to the side as an “alternate universe” Max Max story in my own mind. Back then (wow, has it been a decade?) there was all sorts of talk from Miller and some of the fans about a Furiosa movie, as Charlize Theron nearly stole the entire picture away from Tom Hardy’s “Max”. But things happened, Miller didn’t seem to be THAT interested in pumping out another sequel, and then the fantastic video game in 2015 came out (which is only PARTIALLY canon from all reports) and then Covid side lined ANYTHING that wasn’t an easy production. Fast forward a couple MORE years and after years of development hell, we actually got Furiosa stand alone.
The thing is, Furiosa flopped at the box office, and I kind of see why. There was next to no online and theatrical promotion for the film, and I didn’t even realize it came out of production hell until a few months before its theatrical run. And by this time I was questioning whether a spin-off to a modern day remake of a classic series was going to do that well, or even be good. And I was sort of partially right. The theatrical numbers for Furiosa absolutely stunk, but it wasn’t a bad film at all like I was expecting. In fact, it was pretty dang good. And I hate to say it, but I actually liked it as much as, and maybe MORE than Fury Road.

Our film starts out with a young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) getting kidnapped from “the green place” where she grew up (basically watch Fury Road BEFORE this one, as it sets the ground work for everything that happens here) by biker marauders and taken to the demented Dementus (Chris Hemsworth with a giant prosthetic nose), who heads up the roving biker gang. Dementus decides to murder Furiosa’s mother, and then keep the young girl for as his own daughter, only to trade her away to the warlord Immortan Joe (now played by Lachy Hulme after the original actor died a couple years back) for more food and an increased presence in the wasteland.

Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) escapes Immortan Joe’s desire to have her as a breeder by disguising herself as a boy, and grows up manning the outer gate away from Joe and his son’s lecherous gazes. Still ever desiring to return home to the green place where she grew up, Furiosa keeps herself hidden, and keeps herself safe until one day she’s accidentally discovered by Immortan Joe’s lead ravager, Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke). Instead of killing her, or turning her in, Praetorian Jack sees the potential in the young warrior, and offers her a deal. If she works for him as one of his right hand men (or woman really) he will let her slip away from the Citadel and find her way back when she’s ready.

Their plan works well, with Jack and Furiosa absolutely ruling as Immortan Joe’s most trusted warriors, privileged more than anyone else other than his own sons. However, their plans for escape are foiled by none other than an aging Dementus, who is trying his best to take over not only Bullet town, but Gas Town as well and force Immortan Joe out of his seat of power of the 3 major wasteland warlords. Watching her mentor, friend, and (insinuated) lover get tortured to death by the man who stole her from her home leaves Furiosa with no other option but to lay waste to Demuntus and his men and teach the marauding biker just who is the biggest and baddest in the polluted waste land.

I was genuinely surprised by how much I liked Furiosa. It was really well done, with a different approach than Fury Road. Fury Road was simply a non stop chase movie with Max and Furiosa trying to get out of Dodge (or really, away from Immortan Joe), but this one spans decades, showing us Furiosa’s start from beginning all the way up till the very opening shot of Fury Road. It’s longer, more spread out, and actually kept my attention the entire time. It’s also not AS action oriented as I would have expected. The first real action sequence doesn’t happen till the 50-55 minute mark with an incredible war rig heist that Jack and Furiosa have to fend off against (it’s easily the best fight in the entire film). But then the film actually slows down a bit, filling out all of the character development between Jack and Furiosa up until the point where Furiosa has to go on a bloody revenge rampage.

Not gonna lie, I was expecting something as “big on style, little on plot” as Fury Road was, but this is an entirely different animal. It’s well paced and everyone involved does great. Chris Hemsworth is absolutely mesmerizing as Dementus. He’s over the top villain to the max, with a giant prosthetic nose, and a weird Aussie accent that screams “1960s James Bond villain”. Anya does a great job as Furiosa, though it’s sometimes jarring to think of her being the bulked up Charlize Theron from a decade ago (although they do some CGI trickery near the end to try and make Anya look and sound sorta like Charlize). That being said, the guy who actually stole the entire film was Praetorian Jack. Burke was phenomenal at playing a character that sort of ran parallel to Max himself, acting as a sort of sympathetic warrior who mentors her and becomes even more than that later on. I was fully expecting to not like the whole insinuated romance between Jack and Furiosa, but it was actually rather organic and served to actually explain WHY Furiosa was able to keep a piece of her humanity intact in Fury Road, and also explains why she actually bonded with Max himself during the same film. It may not be a PERFECT film (Demenuts gets a bit old by the end of the film), but the ending is deliciously twisted and Miller still has it in him to make an absolutely gonzo post apocalyptic world come to life.




Rating:

Rated R for sequences of strong violence, and grisly images




4K Video: Video:

Now on to the fun part. While it stylistically looks very similar to Fury Road, said prior film was a notoriously mediocre 4K UHD disc back in the day. It was one of the first attempts at the format years ago, and just never looked that great compared to the Blu-ray. However, the format is much more mature and the mastering process for this film (shot with a native 4K master) looks INCREDIBLE. Presented in it’s original 2.39:1 framing in HEVC, Furiosa is an incredibly sumptuous disc. Even though it really doesn’t peak more than 50 mbps on the bitrate meter, the film looks incredible as most of the time we’re at night with cool blues, or in the daylight with bright oranges and ruddy browns. The heavily stylized appearance will look very very similar to Fury Road, but incorporates more garrishness in the outfits, as well as deeper saturation with the Dolby Vision. Fine details are razor sharp, and the overly colorful HDR application is used to the max. All in all, there’s a few minor soft spots here and there thanks to the CGI, but overall this is a fantastic looking disc.






Audio:

The Dolby Atmos track is what I would call that “oh baby, oh baby” audio mix that has now officially become my favorite audio mix of 2024. And it’s not even a hard decision. The Warner Brothers mix is absolutely bonkers, with near non stop surround activity from the sides, rears and overheads from beginning to end. And that bass. Holy cow, when Furiosa’s mother sets out across the desert on the chopper near the beginning of the film I new we were in for a low end treat, and the film does NOT disappoint. This is easily one of the most dynamic and powerful mixes that I’ve heard all year, and this is NOT for the faint of heart. Those of us with a higher end audio system are going to be in nirvana, cuz this is a powerhouse track that doesn’t deal with over cooked clipping bass, and has some of the best ambient surround usage I’ve ever heard. The only thing to make note of is that the track is recorded awfully low. Much like Disney tracks you need to boost it a good 6-8 DB’s over normal listening volume for it to really come alive. But unlike Disney Atmous tracks, the dynamics and sheer ferocity of the mix is never a problem. This track shook my house from floor to ceiling and actually made my dogs hide in the back room during the scene where Jack and Furiosa raid bullet town and take down Dementus. Absolute demo track for sure.







Extras:

• Highway to Valhalla: In Pursuit of Furiosa
• Stowaway to Nowhere
• Metal Beasts & Holy Motors
• Darkest Angel: Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa
• Motorbike Messiah: Chris Hemsworth as Dementus

Final Score: ​

Furiosa surprised me as I stated above. It was a decade late to a sequel that not many people were asking for, AND it struggled with the fact that Warner really didn’t promote it that much before it’s theatrical run. However, it ended up being a very solid sequel nonetheless. If anything, it proved that George Miller was still firing on enough cylinders to keep pumping out good stuff, and for those who missed the post apocalyptic wasteland, it gave us a fun romp one more time. The 4K UHD disc is absolutely mind blowing in terms of audio/video, with the only negative being Warner’s resistance to releasing combo packs. Definitely in for a fun watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Ayla Browne, Nathan Jones
Directed by: George Miller
Written by: George Miller
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), Italian Dolby Atmos, French (Canada), Spanish, Italian, English DD 5.1 (640 kbps)
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: R
Runtime: 146 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 13th 2024

Recommendation: Good Watch

 

[Michael Scott]

There was a small glitch on inserting the proper "summary" (it was for Run Lola Run when posted by accident), but it has been fixed

 

[HoiA]

Can't wait to watch this one on Saturday. The guys are leaving their wives at home with Emily in Paris and the soundbars. I'm going to crank this up to 0db and hopefully it won't cause my new JTR subs to trip the breakers.