Movie Review: FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: May 24th, 2024 / 02:19 AM

FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA poster | ©2024 Warner Bros.

Rating: R
Stars: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Alyla Browne, John Howard, Angus Fraser, Charlee Fraser, George Shevtsov, Lachy Hulme
Writers: George Miller & Nick Lathouris
Director: George Miller
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Release Date: May 24, 2024

FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA is, as its title suggest, focuses on the multifaceted character previously played by Charlize Theron in 2015’s MAD MAX: FURY ROAD.

As FURIOSA is a prequel rather than a sequel, the title character is portrayed as a young woman by Anya Taylor-Joy, and by Alyla Browne as a child. Franchise creator George Miller is back as director; he has helmed all of the MAD MAX movies, starting with 1979’s MAD MAX and continuing through 1982’s THE ROAD WARRIOR, 1985’s MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME (co-directed by George Ogilvie), and MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. Miller co-wrote FURIOSA with Nick Lathouris, one of his writing collaborators on FURY ROAD.

In the MAD MAX films, it’s the near future. Our planet has been decimated by war, climate change and general human awfulness, transforming the world into a vast desert wasteland. Brutal dictators rule gated enclaves; marauders roam the sands; everybody has souped-up vehicles.

The first three films starred Mel Gibson as vengeful, wily survivor Max. FURY ROAD featured Tom Hardy as an alternate timeline version of Max, but gave as much time and emphasis to Theron’s Furiosa.

Max (Jacob Tomuri) appears in exactly one shot here late in the running time, mirroring an early shot in FURY ROAD; the FURIOSA end credits are populated with clips from FURY ROAD, reminding us what the current film sets up.

At the beginning of FURIOSA, we hear the world going to hell. Young Furiosa seems to have been born after this, into a responsible agrarian village.

Viewers of FURY ROAD know that Furiosa has been a trusted mechanic/driver – in the film’s parlance, “Blackfinger” – for Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme in FURIOSA; Hugh Keays-Byrne originated the character in FURY ROAD) – before spiriting away five young women he was trying to impregnate.

Since Immortan Joe is a savage fiend, one of the big mysteries of FURY ROAD was how Furiosa had risen so high in his ranks without getting killed or forced into his harem.

FURIOSA ably – and credibly, within the physics-defying action of its storytelling – answers this. It turns out that, even as a child, Furiosa has a great sense of both mission and tactics. It’s not that Immortan Joe appears to be any less horrible here than he does in FURY ROAD, but Furiosa has reason for a major grudge against one of Immortan Joe’s adversaries, the nomadic, fast-talking Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), who commands a vast army of bikers. Furiosa will do anything to first get away from, then get back at, Dementus.

While FURIOSA is a character study, the narrative is propelled by warlord vs. warlord conflict. The movie is divided into five super-titled chapters. These don’t necessarily correspond to how we experience its sections, especially since there is so much vehicular desert mayhem that it’s easy to become dislocated.

We’re caught up in the immediacy of the visuals and the clashes. The stunts are spectacular – Guy Norris is the credited action director – but there are points where we wish we had a little more sense of forward momentum.

Some horrendous torture is visited on a wide variety of characters, some of whom we like. The child Furiosa is also briefly threatened with sexual assault, although she escapes and is at enough distance from her would-be attacker that there is no contact. Fair warning to those who have heightened sensitivities to such elements.

We are given ample time to ponder what justice looks like to Furiosa, and the film ultimately provides something that feels uncommonly appropriate.

While Taylor-Joy doesn’t seem like an earlier form of Theron as Furiosa, she convinces us she is emotionally focused, ingenious, and up to any physical challenge. Young Browne does feel like an earlier edition of Taylor-Joy and has the requisite intelligence and aptitude. Charlee Fraser as Furiosa’s mother has enough facial resemblance to Taylor-Joy and projects enough fierce rectitude for us to believe the family connection.

Hemsworth appears to be having a blast as Dementus, even though it’s unclear exactly what he and/or Miller thought the prosthetic nose gives the character. He’s persuasive as a man taken with his own wit and absolutely detached from conventional morality. Tom Burke is sympathetic as Furiosa’s Blackfinger mentor, and Hulme is a perfect match to Keays-Byrne as the swaggering, calculating Immortal Joe.

Given that it’s a back story, there’s only so much sense of conclusion FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA can pack into its finale. For those who are not total stunt-heads, there may be a bit more activity than seems strictly necessary. Still, it’s high-octane, committed Miller mythmaking, and that’s always excellent.

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