Movie Review: ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’

06/06/2024 by Corrye Van Caeseele-Cook

Plot: Set years before the events of Fury Road, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga chronicles the epic fifteen-year odyssey of Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy), a Wasteland warrior destined to overthrow warlord Immortan Joe. Kidnapped from the Green Place by ravagers from the Waste Land and given to the charming but psychotic Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), Furiosa sets in motion a vengeful plan. Indomitable and relentless, Furiosa will stop at nothing to enact revenge, but will the price of her single-mindedness be her own humanity?

Plot: Strangely enough, Mad Max: Fury Road is the last film I can distinctly remember experiencing FOMO over. I was a young father at the time and not particularly enamored with the franchise. It wasn’t until multiple friends told me “You HAVE to see this movie” that I was finally convinced to give the Tom Hardy led film a shot. I could hear the gravity in their voices. Fury Road ended up being one of the best movie experiences of my life. It’s the last time I walked out of a theater asking myself internally, “How the Hell did they do that?” In fact, after numerous viewings, it’s leapfrogged Die Hard as the best action movie ever made. At least in my opinion.

Nine years ago, director George Miller claimed he created the Furiosa character’s entire backstory in preparation for Fury Road, going so far as to write a script. While Mad Max: The Wasteland was likely to be his next project in the franchise, Miller choose instead to direct a prequel focusing on the titular character previously played by Charlize Theron. For fans of this universe any return to the apocalyptic future of Mad Max was welcome news.

But how does Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga hold up against the perfection that is Fury Road?

I’m overjoyed to say that Furiosa stands tall amidst the series’ best entries, even if it falls short of the glory of Fury Road.

A completely different beast than any previous Mad Max adventure, Furiosa manages to re-invigorate the Wasteland for a new generation, while still maintaining the touchstones of the series. Director George Miller and co-writer Nico Lathouris have crafted a truly epic tale, vast in scope and time. Indeed, this odyssey spans almost two decades and is split into chapters, something heretofore unseen in this world. Moreover, Lathouris and Miller’s script somehow enhances Fury Road, a feat I didn’t think was possible. There’s backstory, nuances, and details that fill in the fuzzy edges hinted at in Fury Road. In fact, Furiosa acts as the prologue to Fury Road we never received and didn’t know we needed. Additionally, Lathouris and Miller aren’t slaves to continuity, with Furiosa’s tale (much like Max’s) unfolding like a myth around a campfire.

Director George Miller has proven time and again with these films that heavy exposition isn’t necessary. Truly talented artists can relay a great story just through imagery. Aside from an incredible scene between the various leaders of The Citadel, Gas Town, and the Bullet Farm that redefines the power dynamics of the Wasteland, Furiosa is damn near a silent film. If cinema is truly the art of the moving image, then Furiosa is Cinema with a capital “C”. Simon Duggan takes over for legendary cinematographer John Seale this time around, but Duggan’s finished work is no less epic, even if there’s a little more CGI this time around than I wanted. There’s a war rig sequence half-way through the film that I put up against anything in the franchise. If you’ve ever wondered what paragliding ravagers with explosive spears attacking a tractor trailer would look like, you’re in for a treat. Duggan and Miller pull out all the stops using every camera trick in the book. There’s a shot involving Furiosa’s mother’s death that left my jaw on the floor. Robert Mackenzie’s sound design is also likely the best thing you’ll experience this year this side of Dune Part Two and Tom Holkenborg (as he did with Fury Road) delivers a solid score even though it’s not quite as epic as his previous work on Fury Road.

This is world-building on a titanic scale, yet Miller and company keep Furiosa grounded by rightly focusing on the years long dynamic between Furiosa and Dementus. I’ll get to Anya Taylor-Joy in a minute, but I want to take a moment to talk about the brilliance of Alyla Brown as young Furiosa. Stunning doesn’t begin to cover it. Everything is conveyed through the eyes. There’s a moment where Brown glares at Dementus with such a look of animosity it made my spine shiver. That someone so young can evoke this kind of emotion bodes well for her career.

When the switch happens from Brown to Taylor-Joy it’s done with a seamlessness not easy to pull off. Taylor-Joy is nothing less than a force of nature in Furiosa. Everything is conveyed in the eyes and face whether it’s grim determination, fury, love, grief, or ferocity. It’s authentic and you believe the character arc that Furiosa journeys on because of Anya Taylor-Joy’s performance. While not an outright movie star, Taylor-Joy is nevertheless one of the finest actors working today. Furiosa is driven by vengeance but eventually must grapple with the notion that perhaps justice is more important and there’s nobility in helping others. If anything, Anya Taylor-Joy’s performance enriches Charlize Theron’s role in Fury Road because of the character arc that Furiosa goes through in this film.

Yet as great as Anya Taylor-Joy is in Furiosa, this is the performance of Chris Hemsworth’s career. His Dementus is absolutely unhinged. Equal parts charismatic, psychotic, zany, and hilarious, Hemsworth fully understands the assignment. The world of Mad Max has always been maximalist cinema at its most stratospheric and Hemsworth plays into that in every scene. In many ways he’s a shadowy reflection of Max, a man who experienced similar tragedy but unlike Max, lost all his humanity. He’s a poseur, an inept phony and pretender who thinks he’s Julius Caesar but in reality is closer to Neville Chamberlain. However, there’s also something slightly sympathetic about Dementus and his final confrontation/conversation with Furiosa was nothing short of astounding. Think of the adage that “hurt people hurt other people” and crank it up to eleven and you’ll get a sense of what I’m talking about.

I only had two major gripes with Furiosa. Firstly, the minor characters like Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke) are somewhat underdeveloped. Secondly, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga feels bloated at times and could have easily shaved off about ten to fifteen minutes. In fact, it’s the latter critique I find most surprising as Miller’s previous installments have been lean and mean as a freshly painted War Boy. However, I suspect I may change my thoughts on subsequent viewings.

Regardless, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a welcome addition that rides shiny and chrome right through the gates of Valhalla. Witness this cinematic marvel at your earliest possible convenience.

You are awaited.

My rating system:

1 God Awful Blind Yourself With Acid Bad

2 Straight Garbage

3 Bad

4 Sub Par

5 Average

6 Ok

7 Good

8 Great

9 Excellent

10 A Must See