Film Review - Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Images courtesy of Warner Bros.
The world has been killed. Somewhere in the vast, desolate stretches of sand there stands a woman, driven by vengeance. In a wasteland where insanity is the only sane response, she holds onto a glimmer of hope with a righteous fury - burning hotter than the scorching sun that beats down on a land cracked and scarred by conflict.
Her name is Furiosa, and this is her odyssey.
Returning to his beloved nightmare playground almost a decade after the blaze of glory that is Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller once again rides shiny and chrome with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Supposedly written before Fury Road began shooting as a means to imbue Charlize Theron’s performance with knowledge of a prior character arc, the film follows the titular heroine from young pup (Alyla Browne) into the force of nature that she becomes (Anya Taylor-Joy). Plucked from her home of the Green Place and forced under the wing of antagonist Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), Furiosa vows revenge for her mother’s death in a pact that will see her risk life and limb.
Hemsworth’s Dementus is an utterly deranged warlord draped in the garb of vainglory, his performance a tempest of desperation, pride, and insanity. While I've never fully seen him as an actor in the way that I'm used to just seeing him as Chris Hemsworth in another role, the sheer magnetism of his presence commands attention. He embodies the dichotomy of a man who is both a tyrant and a buffoon, entertaining with his eccentricities, which somehow never get in the way of his menace as a villain. Dementus feels spectacularly unhinged, Hemsworth’s prosthetic nose and scratchy bogan accent calling to mind one of our nation’s iconic cockatoos. Leading his army of raiders, they go about pillaging whatever they can and leaving a wake of destruction, like some kind of vehicular Roman empire (call it the Roaming empire).
Also surprising is the amount of screentime given to Alyla Browne's child Furiosa, who remains in the role for the better part of the first hour. The transition from Browne to the older Anya Taylor-Joy is seamless thanks to subtle use of CGI to slowly shift the younger actress’ face to match her mature counterpart, with Taylor-Joy taking on the mantle with a gravitas that honors Theron’s legacy while carving her own niche in the saga. Her Furiosa is a steely-eyed, fiercely intense survivor, a warrior sculpted by the trials of the Wasteland, retaining just a glimmer of the idealism that once defined her. Miller’s direction is audacious to match, his vision spilling over in all manner of sumptuous filmmaking. He crafts set pieces that are not mere spectacles, but service as visceral methods to push the narrative forward. The film’s pacing, while occasionally uneven, never detracts from the immersive experience it offers. If Fury Road was an orchestra of chaos, Furiosa is an epic poem.
This Mad Max Saga is not content in being merely a prequel; it’s a narrative expansion that enriches the lore of its universe, asking questions like why the desire to persevere in such a hellscape is so important in the first place. It’s a tale of loss, hope, and the desire to reclaim one’s future. While it may not surpass the breakneck momentum of Fury Road, it’s a testament to Miller’s unparalleled craftsmanship in storytelling and worldbuilding, building upon seeds of what was planted in its predecessor, again putting the car in carnage with a medley of mechanical monstrosities. Not so much applying brakes to the franchise as it is shifting gears, Furiosa is a triumphantly Aussie blockbuster, and I'm proud to have gotten a ripper flash tattoo at the IMAX premiere (shout out to Cholo from Fine Line Tattoos for that one). If this was the last entry in the franchise I'd be satisfied, but apparently the 79-year-old Miller has two more in the chamber, so get ready to buckle the f**k up.
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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is screening in cinemas now. For tickets and more info, click here.