I will cut right to the chase and formulate in this message what I didn't like about this new entry: on the one hand, I was under the impression that Miller was a little heavy handed with the "myth" aspect. For example, showing us right at the beginning that the action is set in the middle of Australia, the History Man calling Furiosa the fifth horseman of the apocalypse or the Jack character, who is obviously some sort of "Max" archetype, etc. I wished George Miller would trust his audience - even the popcorn crunchers - a bit more; there's no need to spell everything out. On the other hand, there's many scenes which are "chaotic" or confusing in the sense that there's way too much happening on the screen (hence requiring multiple viewings) blink and you will miss it kind of thing. A lot of details in the background and the foreground. This isn't a bad thing in itself but I found the sharp difference between the on-the-nose moments and the chaotic, complexity-true-to-life ones quite jarring at times.
Some of the characters, unfortunately, didn't amount to much. In the context of the film, I thought their presence was superfluous, if not distracting, quite frankly. I was specifically disappointed by Scrotus in comparison to his non-canon counterpart.
We were promised a "Wasteland War" that, alas, we didn't really get. Near the end of the film we are told that there's one going on but the narrative quickly shifts to Furiosa's revenge. Now it's understandable for budget and/or practical reasons in terms of scope. But just imagine if Miller had the ambition to actually make one, that would have blown us away! I can't help but perceive the action scenes (chases and assaults) as "road wars" not dissimilar to Fury Road, under that aspect.
Feel free to share your thoughts and comments about the film!
Because of where I live I won't be able to see it until it's out on streaming services, so for the moment I'll just have to sit on my hands
