I just watched Furiosa, the prequel to Max Max: Fury Road that’s just as intense and almost as good. I was expecting a standout performance from Anya Taylor-Joy, which she delivers, but I didn’t realize she’d have such a significant co-star in the form of Praetorian Jack, played by Tom Burke, a throwback to the original Mel Gibson “road warrior” without literally being that character. Spoilers follow.
While his relationship with Furiosa is one of the core elements of the movie, his departure is a bit…unceremonious, and you may leave the theater wondering what happened to him or waiting for a post-credits scene to explain it. No such scene exists.
In his final scene, Jack is shown being tortured by Dementus’s gang pulled endlessly around on a motorcycle, first keeping pace but eventually being dragged. Then, a large amount of time passes and we see Furiosa escape by literally disconnecting her injured arm from a crane.
But Jack? He’s not seen. He’s never seen again. So what happened? If they didn’t show his body, is there a chance he’s still alive?
It would not make much sense if that was true, as we would have gotten some indication he also escaped during that scene, or Furiosa would try to rescue him, which does not happen. As it turns out, it’s been confirmed by Burke and George Miller that the character is dead, even if the movie doesn’t make it explicit by showing his corpse. From GQ:
“I actually never read the words, “He’s dead and she sees his dead lifeless corpse.” And eventually, it was about a week, I said, “George, I’m dead, aren’t I?” He’s like, “Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.” Because I thought, You never know, I could come back. He might not have any face left, but a lot of people in the Wasteland are like that.”
So, it’s not impossible, Miller could change his mind and Jack could return horrifically injured (you do not get dragged around by a motorcycle for several hours and survive, generally, and no one in this world has superpowers), but it seems likely that’s the last we’ve seen of Jack.
I’m not sure I was wild about how this was handled, as his disappearance and the mere implication of his death did make it seem like he’d either return in a hero moment or at least be mentioned later on, which did not happen. But if you want an answer? There’s your answer. For now.
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