As the world falls, young Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and into the hands of a Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). While two Tyrants war for dominance over the Citadel, Furiosa survives many trials as she plots a way back home through the Wasteland.

George Miller is a filmmaker unlike any other, and with a career spanning forty-five years, he’s created some of the most visually audacious, pulse-pounding and utterly moving pieces of cinema ever conceived. Bounding between genres and always seeking out new ideas and filmmaking techniques to experiment with, Miller is a visionary in the truest sense of the word, and audiences are now invited back to the Wasteland in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. As the follow-up to his critical and commercially lauded work on 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa is a piece of narrative storytelling that helps to embolden the history of the Wasteland and gives context and a sense of origin to the living Valkyrie, Furiosa. Miller again utilises action as narrative, and Furiosa delivers on a far grander scope that is pure cinematic spectacle.

Miller and his creative team of fellow maniacs set about to do something broader with the narrative for this picture, and what we are delivered is a grand Odyessy in the purest of mythmaking styles. Drawing influence from the grand mythos of Ancient Greece and Rome, Miller fashions a narrative of survival and becoming, and gives audiences the blood-soaked saga of how Imperator Furiosa became who she is. This is a grand and lively cinematic experience, and it races towards you at high speed, and there ain’t no slowing down. Image and sound are Miller’s north star in bringing this picture to life, and you feel like you are witnessing some furious rock opera come to life before your eyes. With its organic textures and in-your-face action, there’s grit to the events that unfold on screen, which makes for a pure rush for audiences.

Rising British film star Anya Taylor-Joy is stepping into the Wasteland this time around, and she embraces the utter fury of Furiosa as she is thrown into the fray of battle and death that the Wasteland breeds. In a performance that is virtually devoid of dialogue, Taylor-Joy relies heavily on expression and action of movement in her performance as Furiosa, and this is a character that is running on pure instinct. The word best used to describe Taylor-Joy’s performance would most certainly be feral, and there’s an uncontrollable, almost animal-like quality to the seething rage that she brings to the screen. With one goal in mind, escape, Furiosa does all in her power to find her way back to the Green Place of Many Mothers, and there’s not a moment on screen where you don’t buy into Taylor-Joy’s commitment to Furiosa’s only goal. Her performance is one of equal parts bravery and savageness, and she won’t back down from taking her vengeance!

Chris Hemsworth is one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, and now he completely does a 180 with his performance in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. And he’s an utter scene stealer in every sense of the word as the Warlord Dementus. As utterly mad as a cut snake and thoroughly tweaked, Dementus is a despotic ruler of the great Biker Horde, a nomadic gang who roams and pillages the Wasteland of its resources. And his presence is utterly terrifying. Part messiah, part general, all maniac, Hemsworth’s Dementus is a physically imposing and dangerous presence, and his particular interest in Furiosa will entirely shape her life. This is Hemsworth like you’ve never seen him before. There’s absolutely no filter in his presentation of Dementus, and he gives an utter beast of a performance and creates one of the most lively, twisted and psychotic villains ever brought to the cinema screen!

George Miller is a filmmaker who attracts the best of the best when it comes to acting talent, and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is no exception to this. Two of the film’s key supporting players, Tom Burke and Lachy Hulme, make an impression on audiences with their appearances, and both are rapidly different in their performances. Burke takes on the role of Praetorian Jack, the principal military commander of The Citadel, who instructs Furiosa in the art of ‘road combat’, and he’s an almost prototypical Mad Max character. Hulme, being the chameleon performer that he is, brings to life a younger and more sinister Immortan Joe, Furiosa’s liege lord, turned future enemy, and he’s damn scary in the role. It’s a lot of fun to watch Hulme square off with Hemsworth’s Dementus, and they’re just two bad bastards who will do whatever it takes to control the Wasteland. Returning Mad Max veterans Josh Helman and Nathan Jones return to the Wasteland as Scrotus and Rictus Erectus, the two scummy sons of Immortan Joe, and both are devilishly deranged in their performances.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is an example of pure action overload. George Miller and the entire cast and crew have done everything in their power to deliver some of the most adrenaline-spiking moments ever put on screen. The focus of this action is pure ‘road combat’, and with the film’s origin story, we get to see elements such as the construction of the War Rig and just how these early variants of this mechanical beast were tested on the ravaged outback highways. The most memorable moment in the film is the ‘Stowaway’ chase scene, and Anya Taylor-Joy is thrown headfirst into the carnage of a 15-minute chase scene filled with gunfire, explosions, and some of the most audacious action ever captured on screen. But action for Miller is not just mere spectacle; it has a key part in shaping the character of Furiosa, and these crazy beats will leave you wide-eyed with amazement.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is an opera of utter cinematic madness, and your adrenal gland will be working overtime with this full-on, all-out, shiny and chrome action spectacle. So sit down and buckle up for one hell of a wild rush!

Image: Warner Brothers Pictures

The post ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ – Review appeared first on SpicyPulp.

Check out the final trailer for Furiosa below:

Along with the final trailer, audiences have now been treated to two brand new featurettes, Darkest Angel, and Motorbike Messiah, which give audiences an inside look into Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth’s transformative performances into Furiosa and her arch-rival Dementus, Warlord of the Wasteland.

Furiosa recently had its world premieres in Australia and London and made a considerable impression on audiences at the Cannes Festival, where it received glowing reviews and took audiences by storm. Its characterization, action sequences, and world-building have received exceptional praise, including a 15-minute action sequence that took 78 days to shoot and featured nearly 200 stunt performers!

Cast and crew have put everything of themselves into this production, and all of it will show up in an action extravaganza on cinema screens that will flaw audiences!

Here’s the official synopsis:

As the world falls, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and into the hands of a Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. While two Tyrants war for dominance over the Citadel, Furiosa survives many trials as she plots a way back home through the Wasteland.

Ready yourself for the sheer barking madness of the Wasteland when Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga arrives on cinema screens on May 23.

Image: Warner Brothers Pictures

The post It’s all about to get MAD in ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ appeared first on SpicyPulp.

A lonely scholar, on a trip to Istanbul, discovers a Djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom.

As one of the most gifted and imaginative filmmakers of the art of cinema, Australia’s Goerge Miller stands out. Ever since the late 1970s, he’s been pushing the medium of film into bold and ambitious new directions, and following his work on monumental action achievement Mad Max: Fury Road, Miller sets himself a new challenge with a fantastical new genre. Diving head first into the realm of fantasy with his adaptation of A. S. Byatt’s short story The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye, Three Thousand Years of Longing is a strikingly bold and richly painted piece of visual narrative storytelling that beckons its audience inwards. Examining themes of story, love, and time, and presented in the most striking way possible, Miller’s vision for this film is like that of a waking dream that completely sweeps up its audience into its fantastical narrative.

Told through the meeting of two unlikely characters, a world-weary Djinn (Idris Elba) who is possessed of all the power in the universe, but who has suffered through terrible tragedy and loneliness due to his abilities, and uptight University professor Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton), Miller explores three thousand years of fantasy, myth and legend and brings to life a breathtaking and lavish love story. Turning the cinema screen into a literal canvas, Miller paints with broad and bright strokes, and the visuals of this film will leave audiences in awe. From the beauty of the Queen of Sheba to the fury of Ottoman warlords to the tragic love of a lost genius, Three Thousand Years of Longing is a vivid piece of cinema and it is a picture that will cause your senses to catch on fire.

Stepping into the otherworldly role of The Djinn is noted Hollywood megastar Idris Elba and this character, and Miller’s story, offers the actor a significant new challenge to play with. With the control of the universe in his hand, The Djinn brings a fascinating frame of perspective and thoughtful intelligence to the story. Played with a sense of weariness and heartache by Elba, The Djinn makes for a very interesting character in whose eyes we get to see the world, and Elba is completely transformative in the role. Transformed through prosthetics of blue scales and gold skin, The Djinn is one of the most visually striking characters we’ve ever seen Elba portray, and he buries himself deep into this fantastical character and this devotion helps to realise the story more vividly.

Starring opposite Elba is noted thespian Tilda Swinton as Dr Alithea Binnie, a noted scholar and narratologist who specialises in the study of story and its meaning that contributes to culture and our understanding of the greater universe. An uptight, slightly pompous character, Alithea is at first distrusting of The Djinn thanks to her learned background, but as this story develops, love blossoms and her world is turned upside down. Swinton is a great reflection of Elba in Three Thousand Years of Longing, and her juxtaposing character adds to the exploration of the film’s fantastical narrative.

Three Thousand Years of Longing is a truly spectacular piece of visual cinema and its vast narrative is sure to take audiences on an exotic adventure, along with giving clarity to the power of narrative and the importance of why we need stories. It’s a film you won’t soon forget, and demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible.

Image: Roadshow Films

The post ‘Three Thousand Years of Longing’ – Review appeared first on SpicyPulp.