Anya has great big eyes and Chris Hemsworth is sort of all over the show.

Let’s start with an over obvious reminder.  I don’t like origin stories.  Never have, never will.  I don’t care how a character came to be, and in most cases I think finding out actually decreases their power for me as a viewer.  Furiosa in Mad Max Fury Road (2015) was perfect – I love to accept a character and a situation as it is.

And look, this is the origin story of Furiosa.  Or, as the outro credits hint, a really expensive trailer for Fury Road.  I really hate when credits are entirely ads for a different movie.  A better movie.  Fury Road is a better movie.

The wasteland is good and the sets, costumes are all okay.  I didn’t think there were as many wild machines.  Not as many great car chase spectacles, and those we do see felt sort of bland and obvious CGI.  I shouldn’t be feeling like a Mad Max is less crazy than a Fast & Furious, but in this I was.

I think the film itself possibly has a stronger Aussie sense of humour than the last instalment, and maybe that’s part of why it’s not doing as well.  And yet it won’t commit, it could have been funnier.  Chris Hemsworth’s Dementor is particularly hard to understand, in terms of motivation.  Is he a misunderstood Dad?  Is he a man-slut?  Is he just a warlord having a series of bad days?  And let’s be clear, I don’t want an origin story to clear this up, I just want stronger in-film feels.

And feels, for me were the major thing lacking.  Anya was great for action, as was pre-Anya actor.  But I never got an actual feel for her motivation.  I understand the “theory” of her vengeance.  But it’s like one of those days when you understand the science fine and then do the experiment and it doesn’t work out “right” to support the science.  I never felt she was that committed to getting it done.  More sort of a side project along the way.

I didn’t care when her inevitable injuries and bionics happened.  There was too much boring conversation in the dying end parts of the film.  I mean I liked the weird seed bits.  But the rest of it was just dull.

I think, maybe, I found this really action-lite compared to the last instalment.  And occasionally it threw in moments or bits from Fury Road to remind you how cool it was and that just made me sad.  I think there was an opportunity to create a stronger sense of a pre-Fury Road wasteland.  But this basically just uses all the same stuff in a pared back manner. And still taking a long time.

Have I said origin stories bore me yet?

J* gives it 3 stars.