It would seem Furiosa’s war is just beginning in George Miller’s latest entry in the Mad Max saga. Positioned as a prequel to the masterful Fury Road, Furiosa (currently and unfairly floundering in theaters) presents an episodic origin story sprawled across his iconic wasteland of post-apocalyptic Australia. Don’t expect the breakneck pacing of Fury Road, but do expect epic sadness and backstory to fill the gaps between rousing action sequences, which include Furiosa’s first convoy (as a stowaway) down that infamous Fury Road, and a meltdown at a bullet factory involving some high-wire metal balancing acts.

The common denominator across the episodes apart from Furiosa (played vividly by both Alyla Browne as a child and Anya Taylor-Joy as a young adult) is the roving warlord Dementus (played by Chris Hemsworth, who gives an out-of-nowhere momentous performance) whose gang initially rips Furiosa from her happy home, and who orders the murder of her mother. Furiosa’s drive for revenge fuels the film and leads to her making a deal with rival warlord Immortan Joe (who eventually gets his just desserts in Fury Road) in her efforts to take down Dementus.

Utilizing brutal car chases and death-defying stunts as metaphors for rage and processing trauma, Miller paints a blistering tableau of fury and revenge.

Meanwhile, Godzilla Minus One (finally on streaming stateside through Netflix after being a sleeper hit in theaters…and at the Oscars) channels the post-traumatic stress of World War II to add emotional layers to the typical monster mash. Godzilla’s rampaging becomes a metaphor for the national and personal trauma inflicted on Japan and its people. The war might be over, but not in the hearts, minds, and nightmares of some of the survivors. The film makes great use of the late 1940s backdrop, painting its own post-apocalyptic landscape based on history, where the people of Japan attempt to rise up from the ashes…only to have an atomic beast from the deep rise up to smash their refurbished cities.

I was floored by the simplistic but powerful story acrs that dug deep into the psyches of the Japanese characters where soldiers and civilians alike mourned their loss in World Word II while seeing a chance for redemption in saving Tokyo from Godzilla. And that ending…and that final line…almost brought me to tears.

Both of these films detonate all the right genre notes, but it’s their subtext and emotional weight that makes them truly memorable. Furiosa and Godzilla Minus One show us how great genre films can be when they leverage their own tried-and-true mechanics and thrills as metaphors for grander, universal themes.

Reviews by D. H. Schleicher