Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Who knew you didn’t need Max in a Mad Max movie to make it great???

Set decades before Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga follows the titular character Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) at the very beginning of a long journey that will eventually transform her into the badass hero we first meet in Fury Road. Chronicling Furiosa’s childhood in The Green Place, then as the forced adoptee of Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), a deranged leader of a gang of wastelanders, as the resilient captive of returning villain Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), and finally, as a vengeful warrior looking to separate Dementus and Immortan Joe’s respective heads from their shoulders, Furiosa, like her Fury Road counterpart, simply wants to get back home, and will do whatever she needs to do it. What follows is a madcap ride through the wasteland featuring vehicular carnage, disturbing revelations, and a furious lead that gives Max Rockatansky a run for his money.

The fifth entry in writer/director George Miller’s Mad Max series that began way back in 1979, Furiosa continues Miller’s vision of a ruined future ruled by psychopaths and sociopaths, all vying for vital resources that aren’t exactly in abundance. Successfully replicating some of the best moments of his Mad Max career while adding enough hardcore action, expertly shot footage, and interesting character dynamics that continue to push this franchise in the right direction, Miller placing the tough and rugged Furiosa and the wacky but dangerous Dementus at the heart of this story allows Taylor-Joy and Hemsworth to lean into roles that are far different from what they’ve done before, with Taylor-Joy needing to act less with her words and more with her entire body, and Hemsworth doing the complete opposite, both to stellar results. Throw in some great additions to the cast, like Tom Burke’s Praetorian Jack, who brings something new and exciting into the fold, and much of this movie is a treat to see, especially once Taylor-Joy finally steps into the protagonist role. But I couldn’t help but take issue with some of what came before she entered the picture.

Starting with an unnecessarily long prologue that dragged in spots thanks to some odd pacing and scene padding that almost had me reach for my phone to check the time, it took so much to get “into” this movie that I was uncertain if my attention would hold until the story fully kicked into gear. While the script itself is slightly scattered as it jumps through Furiosa’s life, the biggest gripe I had about this one came from a more technical part of the film that I was highly disappointed by. Having a bit of a Star Wars “prequel syndrome” problem where most of Furiosa’s childhood scenes look shot on green screens accompanied by overdone CG effects and an overly saturated color pallet, it isn’t until Anya Taylor-Joy shows up that things start to align in a more Fury Road-like way, with proper stunts, more real locations, and a better handle on the look, feel, and flow of a script that finally starts to do something.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a good movie, I just didn’t understand some of the filmmaking and scripting choices made here, none of which affected my enjoyment of this one enough to tarnish my experience too badly, but they are missteps that stand out in a significant way. It’s uncertain if George Miller will be allowed to explore this post-apocalyptic world again, considering Furiosa didn’t hit the box office heights everyone was expecting it to but as it stands now, this is a worthy — possibly final — addition to a franchise that continues to entertain and intrigue in ways that will make new and old fans alike beg for more. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga shows that there’s life outside of Max and his wild adventures, so here’s hoping we get one more trip into the wasteland to bring things to a proper conclusion.