Originally, i didn't because i've seen Mad Max. We did that already. Do something new. Sheesh. So sick of all these remakes. But then i read Kelly Thompson's review on CBR, and i think now i have to see it.
As I've said many times before, not every film (or book or comic or whatever) has to be about women, in fact they shouldn't all be about women, but if you're going to use female characters, Mad Max: Fury Road is the perfect template for how to do it right. Because Mad Max: Fury Road not only gets it right, but gets it right on several complicated levels where it could have gone horribly awry.
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So let's get into the nitty gritty of why this works like gangbusters: Imperator Furiosa is every bit Max's equal - both in the story and execution and in the way she is presented to the audience.
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Most notable next to Furiosa is the element which is by far the most dangerous to include and which could have gone magnificently wrong and this is The Five Wives. The Five Wives are beautiful "breeders" and the "wives" (read: sex slaves) of lead big bad Immortan Joe.
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These women are anything but damsels. They are fighting for their lives and freedom and risking everything, just like Furiosa and Max. They do not have the same skill levels of Furiosa and Max, and they shouldn't as they have led very different lives, but these are not shrinking violets. They do everything and anything within their power to help Furiosa (and anyone else along the way that tries to aid them)...
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In action movies, hell, in most movies that aren't "chick films," women have clothing and hair that makes no goddamn sense. It's also true in comics to a massive degree, though we're going through a nice phase right now where there's a focus on design that makes more sense (see: Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, Batgirl, Spider-Gwen, etc.). So it's nice to see all of that so fantastically realized in Fury Road. It's okay that The Five Wives are basically wearing white sheets wrapped to make them look like pliant sexual beings, because that's what they have been designed to be in this world. It makes sense that they are paler and more beautiful than everyone else because they are literally kept in a vault away from the sun. It makes sense that they have gorgeous flowing (clean) locks of hair and supple groomed limbs and all their teeth because they have been pampered while everyone else starves and works and grovels. Of course that pampering comes with rape and imprisonment and who knows what else, but visually it makes sense. They look completely out of place in this world and it is deliberate and well considered and it's not in any way sexist because it's smart and real and not put there for random male gaze wank factor. Often beautiful women in movies are beautiful just because, and sometimes it makes no sense that they are this way, but here they are beautiful on purpose. By contrast Furiosa looks ready for battle just like Max does, including very short hair and lots of leather. By FURTHER contrast the women in the desert (The Vuvalini) they hook up with later look motorcycle riding badass desert survivalists. This all makes SENSE. None of it is random or put there to be titillating. It's there to serve story. And story rules all.
I, too, hate when costumes make no sense. Seeing female superheroes mincing around in heeled boots when their power set involves them getting into physical combat irritates me to no end. Do you have any idea how little traction heels provide? Do you??? And don't tell me "super powers". They're fighting against other supers so any advantage they might have over a normal person with their super strength and super speed and super holding up my costume with "magic" is negated.
I love action movies that involve female characters getting actiony. And if this film is as good as Kelly Thompson says at portraying women as being vulnerable and yet not just as eye candy damsels, i want to see that. Netflix, hurry up and get this on streaming! I might want to see this film, but not so badly that i'm going to brave a movie theater to do it.
