Month: May 2024

Furiosa: In the beginning…

The Average Dude remembers the before-time when cell phones only existed on Star Trek, HBO was the only movie channel (and didn’t give you any choices), and people thought that home computers would happen after flying cars. In the midst of that unimaginable era there came a little indie flick called Mad Max. It starred a dude named Mel Gibson. He was, for most of us, our introduction to the land down undah. At least until Crocodile Dundee came out.

As average dudes, we love Mad Max. We SO wanted to be a muscle car driving bad @$$ with an accent that could drop undies at a convent. Mad Max was the tortured hero for the early 80s that average dudies fantasized about and average dudes admired. Galvanized by the tragic loss of his family, Max went from a clean-cut law officer to a rogue cop…the good guy bad boy of the law. The broken heart of Max further appealed to the ladies and the Dirty Harry from Down Undah had us dudes saying ‘Ef yeah! That would be me!’

And then…the inevitable remake

Cut scene to 30 years later, and Hollywood gives us a new Max for a new generation (actually, I think that would be two generations). Tom Hardy, an awesome actor, reprises the role of Mad Max. Or maybe it’s his spirit, because it’s not super-clear if he’s supposed to be the SAME Max. But let’s move on.

Mad Max Fury Road was a really good watch, It had the most amazing high-speed action I’ve ever seen in a movie. Nothing before or since comes close. Adding a psycho-punk flamethrowing dual guitar playing warboy on bungee chords was absolutely brilliant. I need a picture of this guy for the mancave. Preferably autographed. Ef, yeah.

And even though I have a great debate with my bestie on Fury Road’s nomination for Best Picture (I say Nay), it was still a worthy watch. Not quite on the annual rewatch list but close. Hardy’s Mad Max was an indominable bad @$$ and all. But there are two actual generations between the originals and the new. Thus the new audiences are not emotionally connected to the history, there’s very little reason to become invested in the character.

Furiosa was an odd direction for the franchise to take

And that brings us to Furiosa, a Mad Max saga. Furiosa is a prequel to Fury Road and is the story of the Furiosa (duh) played by Anya Taylor-Joy. Clearly, adding ‘a Mad Max saga’ to the title is just a way of piggy-backing on the brand and making Furiosa more than just another butt-kicking solo-chick that has been schlepped out to audiences ad nauseum for a while now.

Yes, these are characters from the Mad Max saga. Same blasted hellscape. But not a trace of Max. Will Tom Hardy show up in future Furiosa prequel/sequels? No clue. If so, it seems an odd choice to shoot the prequel before Tom Hardy even gets a chance to re-establish the Mad Max character. To this point in the reboot, Furiosa has more actual screen time than Mad Max.

Was she chosen because she has big eyes?

Which brings me to another point: Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa is a very talented actress. Not a lot of quality credits to her name yet, but her turn in The Queen’s Gambit was impressive. She’s got a lot of cred in Hollywood right now as an up and comer. So I get signing her to a big name movie with one of the biggest stars in the cosmos (Chris Hemsworth in an amazing false nose) is a great career move.

The down-side is that Furiosa was written as the ultimate stoic little girlboss growing up to be a stoic young womanboss. Other than having a soul-scorching stare, she wasn’t really called upon to do much…you know, acting. An estimated count puts her at about 30 lines total. As I recall, a couple of those were ‘I AM FURIOSA!’ and ‘No.’ Not the Independence Day pre-dawn speech but that stare was pretty feral. How did her parents know she would grow to be so furious when then named her? No clue.

Thor is more

Okay, so even though Furiosa is a high octane action flick, there still needs to be some characters to fill in the places between car battles. That burden falls upon Chris Hemsworth as Dementus, who has some lines that are more articulate than you will hear in the average conversation today. An amazing vocabulary given that there hasn’t been an education system in generations. It was cool to see the greater Hemsworth in a role that didn’t sound like old English. Forsooth.

So, does the Average Dude recommend? I do. I loved the characters of Dementus and Immortan Joe (the villain from Fury Road). And even though the hot car-on-car action wasn’t up to the gold standard of Fury Road, Furiosa still gave what we crave…auto carnage. And while there were moments, the whole was not all that memorable. It was an adequate popcorn pusher that was probably 30 minutes too long. And with all due respect to the Critical Drinker, I did not find that Anya Taylor-Joy gave a particularly ‘great performance’. How could she, with only 30 stumpy lines?

And at the risk of beating a dead horse

If you’ve read my reviews in the past, you already know of my utter disdain of the black-screen ‘Five Years Later’ type scene change notices that take you completely out of the movie. What’s wrong with the classic fade out or fade to black? But maybe that’s just me.

And just for laughs…the character names are fantastic! Dementus. Immortan Joe. Rictus Erectus. Organic Mechanic. People Eater. Mr. Harley. Mr. Davidson. Scrotus. Ef, yeah.

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IF is Inescapably Fantastic

I know I tout it every single week how I’m just an Average Dude. It says so right in the title. And for the most part, I think it’s true. I believe in hard work, loyalty and an unchanging magnetic north to my moral compass. But there are times when I am convinced that I am not an average dude. Not better. Just…different.

I guess we all feel that way sometimes. And, being an honest average dude, that feeling is probably more right than wrong. Again, that doesn’t make it a bad thing. Nobody wants to be JUST like everyone else. We all want to be unique in some way. We all want to be special. Then adulting gets in the way and the want gets lost in the day-to-day. It happens to all of us. But sometimes we are lucky and find a reminder that the wanting is not lost forever.

IF is one of those reminders

IF wallops us in the feels right out of the gate. Bea (played by TWD’s Cailey ‘Judith’ Fleming) loses her mother to illness and becomes maybe the most grown-up, serious, no fun 12 year old one could imagine. Calamity follows tragedy, and Bea’s father (John Krasinski) is admitted to hospital for heart surgery. Bea’s heart of steel becomes a heart of stone. Her father, a child-at-heart, does his best to lighten her load (world’s best dad, IMO) to no avail. Bea will not be moved.

Thank goodness for childlike curiosity

Though Bea had made herself into a 12 year old adult, youthful inquisitiveness is still a driving force. She is having glimpses of someone…a little girl, she thinks…in the shadows and ducking around corners. Where hope has been packed away, curiosity still lives. Bea’s tenaciousness eventually brings her face to face with what was lost…an IF.

Like finding a new cup-holder in your 2017 Jeep

Lost and found is kind of the theme for IF, and it doesn’t get old or oversold. It might have been luck or by design, but apparently we as humans never get tired of the thrill of finding what was once thought to be gone. Or finding something new in something you’ve had for years. The old becomes new again. And that is magical, even IF only for a moment.

Imaginatively Fun

It’s so much fun every time a new IF is introduced. Guessing the voices without mentally stepping out of the movie is not easy, and there are plenty of them. Clearly, everyone in Hollywood wanted a piece of IF. I dare you to spot them all without the help of Google. And there is one IF that you could not possibly get because it does not speak. But when you see who it is you are struck once again by the brilliance of IF. IF becomes new again, if you will.

Ryan Reynolds doing Ryan Reynolds things, part 1

IF would have been a solid movie had the star been pretty much anyone else. Having Ryan Reynolds as the co-star makes it beyond entertaining. Reynolds plays Cal, the leader and caretaker of the IFs (local chapter, I assume). And even as a sardonic pessimist, we can’t help but love him. The dude just never disappoints. I have a direct interaction with Ryan Reynolds on Facebook. I’ll show it to you someday. It made Facebook new again for me.

Inevitable Five (or close enough)

So, I’m gleefully giving IF a 4.9 out of 5 happy faces. What’s missing, you ask? We got plenty of IF. This movie was full to overflowing of WHAT. The missing element is WHY? As in WHY was Bea able to see the IFs in the first place? IF that question had been answered, this would have been a 5/5, hands down. In the end, I guess the why’s are sometimes over-rated and we just need to accept the IS and enjoy the ride. Kids can do that SO much better than we adults. And that brings me to the realization that I might not be as average as I thought.

IF is a movie that kids will love but I suspect not all adults will love it as much as I did. Full disclosure: I was on the cusp of blubbering audibly by the end. Certainly the tears were rolling. God bless Mrs. Average Dude for handing me a napkin before the movie even started. She knows me so well. Your Average Dude is a sucker for kids, dogs and redemption. And apparently, the journey to find what was lost is not as far for this average dude as it is for others. In that, I suspect I am very un-average. Totally cool with it.

Ryan Reynolds doing Ryan Reynolds things, part 2

For those who follow Welcome to Wrexham, this was his latest birthday prank played on Rob McElehenny… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCKgewLdK9w
Its been living rent-free in my skull for two weeks now.

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The Fall Guy is the remake we never knew we wanted

Trying not to give away too much about me, but I remember watching The Fall Guy back in the early 80’s. It was okay, typical 80’s TV fare in the vein of the A Team and Knight Rider. Ultimately forgetable, really. I truly don’t remember a single episode. But oh, I remember the theme song word for word (link at the end). SO catchy!

Better. Stronger. Faster.

The Fall Guy from the 80’s starred Lee Majors as a Hollywood Stuntman who moonlighted as a bounty hunter to fill in the financial gaps that getting set on fire or blown up on set didn’t cover. I have no idea how many of you will remember this show (I know my kids don’t) but Majors was one of those virile male stars from back when it was okay – even desirable – for men to exhibit toughness, kindness and follow a firm moral code. In the pantheon of male tough guy heroes of the 80’s, you had Burt Reynolds, David Hasselhoff, Tom Selleck…and Lee Majors, the Six Million Dollar Man.

And if you don’t remember the Six Million Dollar Man, then I got nuffin for ya. About 50% of this review is going to whiz right over your head. And I feel bad for you.

Since so few people remember the Six Million Dollar Man, it seems an odd choice by Hollywood to bring Major’s second act to the big screen with The Fall Guy. I don’t know what inspired Universal to pull it out of the vault and give it a new millenium makeover. But they did, and we are all better off for it.

Only the Village People can still use that word

Let’s be clear…there is no way that they could make The Fall Guy with the same macho essence that the 80’s male star exuded. Whether that is for good or ill is hotly debated, and your Average Dude has much to say on the subject. I suspect other average dudes and dudies do, as well. But the wise, wise Mrs Average Dude reminded me that this is not the forum for such debates. Keep it about the movie. She is the angel on my shoulder. So, because she is so very wise and because she is correct, I will say only this: I miss the 80’s. It was a good time.

Having said as much, I am giving the writers and director David Leitch (John Wick, Deadpool 2 and the criminally underrated Hobbs & Shaw) full marks on revamping the show for a new age. The Fall Guy 2024 stars Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt with an excellent supporting cast that includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Winston Duke (M’Baku from Black Panther) and the delightfully sleazy Hannah Waddingham. Gosling plays Colt Seavers, the unknown stuntman that makes Eastwood look so fine. That’s the only story element that made the transition from the magnificent 80’s to the end of the first quarter century of the new millenium. That’s okay.

What Leitch managed to do – somehow and against all odds, says I – is bring a hint of that bigger than life era back to the big screen without championing machismo or infuriating the always furious. Gosling’s Seavers was a man’s man that was still vulnerable to both physical and emotional scarring. Most endearing was a sense of chivalry, of right and wrong, and a willingness to put himself to the hazard for love of both. It was almost subtly given to us, which was perfect on multiple levels.

Not a fairy tale but yeah, a fairy tale

Okay, I did say that some of you would not get this review, but that doesn’t mean that this movie isn’t worth your time and corn. It is, fear not. The images of bygone male-female stereotypes might have been removed from The Fall Guy, but the quintessential elements that we all still crave are there. Not only Gosling, but Emily Blunt is also strong yet vulnerable and ultimately loyal and forgiving. Both stars embody things that, if half of us weren’t furious and the other half scared, we would all aspire to be and have.

Is it too early to give a 5 our of 5?

Nah, I’d give it top marks if not for a couple of very slight knocks. Yes it was an action movie but The Fall Guy pulled back the curtain to reveal the wizardry of Hollywood stunts and then proceeded to throw sand in it’s own face by giving us a finale that was just a wee bit over the top. No spoilers but you’ll get me when you see it. Just a skosh long, it probably would have be a straight up 5 if they had shaved maybe 5-10 minutes of end action sequence.

And while there was not one note of ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’ as the trailers so gloriously promised, the soundtrack for The Fall Guy was beyond awesome. Believe it.

They should have had bigger cajones

Exception to that last take: Blake Shelton’s remake of The Fall Guy series theme song. I get why they did it but it was still a disappointment. Might be the one really bad call of the whole show. But I’m correcting that here. You’re welcome. Even so, I am proudly giving The Fall Guy a well-deserved 4.8 out of 5. Plenty of cameos and rememberberries to enjoy, including the way that Colt narrates his own story. Oh and lest I forget, scene-stealer Jean-Claude. Engage your core!

Enjoy this new addition to my annual watch list and spring for the large corn. I didn’t and wish I had. A-hey hey!

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