Visionary director George Miller returns to his beloved ‘Mad Max’ world for this prequel, focusing on the real star of ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, Furiosa. Originally portrayed by Charlize Theron in that movie, ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ has now cast Anya Taylor-Joy as the younger version, who gets an origin story as bonkers as it is visually stunning. The trailer promised even more madcap wacky races and insane characters but is that enough to flesh out a two and a half hour movie? As impressive as the stunts are, the simple answer is no. ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ is enjoyable in its own right, but isn’t a patch on ‘Fury Road’.
A young Furiosa lives in relative peace with her mother in a land of rare abundance, named The Green Place. When marauders approach the borders of their safe-haven and kidnap Furiosa, her mother Mary Jabassa (Charlee Fraser) gives chase. After a tragic meeting, Furiosa is taken by the head of the marauders, an unhinged warlord named Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). Navigating through the new world Wasteland, Dementus comes across the Citadel, led by Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme) and his followers. The two tyrants form a fragile alliance of agreement, part of which is handing over Furiosa to become one of Immortan Joe’s brides. The years pass and Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) manages to fool her captors into thinking she is a male mechanic. And it’s this deception (and their ever-crumbling alliance) that will hopefully provide Furiosa with the perfect opportunity to escape Immortan Joe and exact revenge on Dementus.
Anya Taylor-Joy is certainly an actress that holds your attention, but I’m not sure the stoic Furiosa was the right role for her. Charlize Theron really emoted a lot of range without saying much in ‘Fury Road’, and I don’t think Taylor-Joy conveyed the right levels of anger, threat or vengeance needed to really sell this character’s tumultuous story-arc.
Marvel’s Chris Hemsworth takes a break from playing the Thunder God ‘Thor’ to portray a rare bad guy in Dementus – a suitably over-the-top villain with a ridiculous rubber nose that’s equally as absurd as the film’s outlandish set-pieces. He clearly had fun in the role and chews his scenes up with some over-the-top antics and a healthy dash of humour. But that nose really is ridiculous and very distracting, and genuinely affected my enjoyment of the film. There’s decent support from the others too, with Tom Burke as Praetorian Jack, Lachy Hulme as Immortan Joe, Charlee Fraser as Mary Jabassa and Alyla Browne as the younger version of Furiosa all delivering memorable turns.
The whole reason we are here is for George Miller’s incredible filmmaking, and he certainly loves this crazy world he has built. The action is always impressive and engaging to the viewer, delivering acrobatic and breathlessly inventive new ways for people to hijack moving vehicles. The cinematography for these scenes is also as good as you’d expect, filled with energy and verve. What’s less successful are some CGI scenes that feel very dated in terms of their quality. A few backdrops and landscapes feel too green-screened too and takes you out of the action.
The end of the movie is also interesting. No spoilers on the plot of ‘Furiosa' here, but the film does consciously show during its end credits some key scenes from ‘Fury Road’, detailing exactly what happens after this film’s story has ended. This seems to be a definitive line drawn in terms of any more ‘Furiosa’ films (of this iteration) being made. That’s quite refreshing, as this story has certainly run its course so there’s no need to drag out another film. But what it also does is highlight ‘Furiosa’s shortcomings as a movie. The clips just remind you of how insanely brilliant and inventive the set-pieces of ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ were. There isn’t a single scene in this film that comes anywhere close to matching the highs of that movie, and that is a real shame.
‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ will do enough for genre fans to be content, and it’s an enjoyable spectacle to sit through, even though the film is at least 30mins too long. But this also feels like a greatest hits of ‘Fury Road’, only played out by a cover-band. Everything is just rehashed, but a little less successfully. If you loved ‘Fury Road’ then it’s a safe bet ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ will entertain you, but perhaps not as much as you’d expect it to.
Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Lachy Hulme, Charlee Fraser, Alyla Browne, Nathan Jones Director: George Miller Writer: George Miller, Nick Lathouris Certificate: 15 Duration: 148 mins Released by: Warner Bros Release date: 24th May 2024
