Buckle up, road warriors: there’s a new sheriff in the wild, wild wasteland. Her name is Furiosa, and her cinematic epic is now blazing on screen with a blistering ferocity.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga comes nearly a decade after the Australian apocalypse series returned with the Oscar-winning mega-hit Fury Road in 2015. What (obviously) makes this instalment unique is that this is the first time someone other than Max gets the spotlight – true to the name, he isn’t even in the film except for a two-second cameo.

Instead, Fury Road’s deuteragonist Furiosa is in the driver’s seat, and she proves to be just as compelling and driven a lead character. After being originated by Charlize Theron nine years ago, her younger versions are now played by Anya Taylor-Joy and Aylya Brown.

The main plot sees a young Furiosa (Brown) kidnapped from her family in a desert oasis, sometime in the future when the world is nearly covered in sand, gas and grime. The rest of the film follows the growing Furiosa determined to exact revenge on her kidnapper – the warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) – and return home.

When the title promises this will be a “saga”, writer/director George Miller isn’t kidding. Just as Fury Road was about a man (Max) finding his quest and purpose in a woman’s odyssey, the inverse is realized in Furiosa, which is about a woman finding her pursuit within the male-dominated wasteland. 

Taylor-Joy and Brown get nearly equal screen time following Furiosa from childhood to grown woman, and they each dominate scene after scene showing their tactics, efforts, fears and discoveries through stunt after remarkable stunt in mountains, storms, and through every sort of dune buggy and truck you can imagine.

But because they split the film’s (maybe overlong) run time, the actor who we spend the most time with is Hemsworth’s Dementus, who shifts from graceful and brutal to giddy and manic. The degradation of the two main characters are fascinating: like their surrounding world, it’s like watching two warriors fighting the threat of literally wasting away.

George Miller has become famous for the meticulously evolving Mad Max series just as he has for family films like Babe and Happy Feet (yes, really!), but his regular detailed world building are in full force for Furiosa, with excellent production design, cinematography and editing sharper than the on screen spikes. It’s brutally beautiful.

The only real downgrade from Fury Road, which draws several easy comparisons, is that the first two chapters of the film are a bit slow, with the story’s engine only really revving once Taylor-Joy begins her scenes. But this is a small critique.

Furiosa is a madcap summer blockbuster, with soul, intelligence, and a gnarly artistry that all builds to several white-knuckle scenes. It’s well worth the ride.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

9 out of 10

14A, 2hrs 28mins. Action Adventure Epic.

Co-written and directed by George Miller.

Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke and Lacey Hulme.

Now Playing at SilverCity Burlington Cinemas and Film.Ca Cinemas, 5 Drive-In.

Love Me, starring Ashish and Vaishnavi Chaitanya, has hit the screens today. This romantic thriller is directed by debutant Arun Bhimavarapu. Let’s see how the movie is.
 

Story:

Arjun (Ashish) is a YouTuber. He always tries to find answers to unsolved questions and does things that others ask him not to do. Arjun finds out there is a ghost named Divyavathi, and whoever tried to go near her lost their lives. Arjun falls in love with the ghost and in the process of learning what happened to Divyavathi, he comes across many surprises. Who is this Divyavathi? What happened to her? How did Prathap (Ravi Krishna) and Priya (Vaishnavi Chaitanya) assist Arjun in unraveling the mystery surrounding Divyavathi? This is what the movie is about.
 

Plus Points:

Ashish has improved a lot compared to his debut film. He has shown more maturity in his performance in a role that requires him to behave in a subtle manner. Ashish looks charming in every frame, and his dialogue delivery is also neat.

The screenplay in the first half isn’t perfect, but the core idea of the movie, which is the hero falling for a ghost, makes us sit through. The movie begins on an interesting note with the backstory of the ghost. Though the film remains flat thereafter, the solid visuals and the central theme engage us to an extent. Ravi Krishna is alright in his role.
 

Minus Points:

Not all interesting ideas look good on the screen. The hero falling in love with a ghost is an idea that isn’t explored much, but the presentation isn’t convincing. The interest factor created in the first half dies down by the end after the big revelation. Once the final twist is disclosed, everything looks silly and illogical. The character development of an artist upon whom the entire film revolves isn’t done well.

One would expect a thrilling ride in the second half, but what we get to see is a confusing narrative that tries to pack in a lot. When the hero and Vaishnavi Chaitanya start unraveling the mystery, we come across many characters, and it is too much to absorb. A lot of information is presented that goes over our heads. The second half makes us wonder what actually is happening.

Vaishnavi Chaitanya doesn’t get much scope to shine, and this is due to the way her character is written. The complex narration is not the only drawback. The film scores low in terms of emotions, too. They don’t look natural, and not enough time is taken to showcase the emotional connection between the key characters.
 

Technical Aspects:

Keeravani’s background score is decent. The songs are just about okay. The writing isn’t good, so we can’t expect much from the music department. The art work is superb, and the visuals by P.C. Sreeram are top-notch. The movie is splendid visually, and credit should go to the legendary cinematographer for the fantastic visuals. The CG works are satisfactory.

The editing is below par and creates too much confusion. Director Arun Bhimavarapu has come up with some interesting ideas, but he isn’t successful in translating them effectively onto the screen. The first half is somewhat watchable, but the proceedings in the second half go for a toss with the complicated screenplay.
 

Verdict:

On the whole, Love Me tries to be a unique horror thriller but ends up being a silly and unconvincing flick. The fascinating ideas are not told in an effective manner, and the movie looks illogical in many places. Ashish is good in his role, and the first half is somewhat watchable. But the whole second half is confusing with too much information, and the key twist disappoints big time. You can skip this film.
123telugu.com Rating: 2.25/5

Reviewed by 123telugu Team

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