Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Review
George Miller is rightly held up as an icon of action, with the original ‘Mad Max’ trilogy pushing the boundaries of what audiences could expect from the genre, and blowing everyone with the masterpiece of a film ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’. Now, he wants to revist that world again without Max, exploring the origin of the breakout character in ‘Fury Road’, Imperator Furiosa. And it’s another solid hit from the master, with a stronger focus on story, expanding the Wasteland, but not denying audiences from a dance of destruction.
The two leads of the film, Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa, Chris Hemsworth as Dementus both put in stellar performances. Taylor-Joy melds with the Charlize Theron version of Furiosa seemlessly, developing as a stoic and silent character who only speaks when necessary. Chris Hemsworth thrives in the film as the warlord Dementus, being an unapolagetic moustache-twirling villain with no redeeming factor about him. He’s suitably crazy verging on goofy, and an absolute joy to watch.
There are several other key characters that appear in film, like Praetorian Jack played by Tom Burke, who is an important part in Furiosa’s life. He’s not quite got the presence of Mad Max, but he’s an enjoyable ally to Furiosa. Lachy Hulme replaces Hugh Keays-Byrne as the Immortan Joe, and adds a strategic depth to the character, but still managing to hold onto the voice and presence.
George Shevtsov makes an incredible appearance as The History Man, who is a soothing counterpoint to Dementus, and somoene who skillfully deploys lore. A final character worth mentioning is Octoboss, played by Goran D. Kleut. He’s a threatening presence, with every element of his design like the demonic horns or Octopuss balloon oozing personality.
The world as ‘Fury Road’ set up teased at two key locations for Immortan Joe’s power, Gas Town and the Bullet Farm. While audiences understood their functions due to intuitive names and meeting the inhabitants during the chase, ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’
visiting Gas Town and Bullet Farm. And the fleshing out here is immense help to their place in the world, the quarry of Bullet Farm with an incredible setpiece, or the visual imagery of Gas Town, with its moat of oil is its many refineries. It’s simple, easy to understand but carries the world in a great way.
In this expanded world comes expanded action. There is a War-Rig in the film, like ‘Fury Road’ and ‘Mad Max: The Road Warrior’ but it’s bigger and better. It momentariliy prompts fears that Miller is resting on his laurels delivering action audiences have already seen, but he expands the action in inventive ways, ramping up the aerial assult. There are plenty of other unique and exhilarating beats, like and then there are those scattered throughout the film. It’s a magnificent display of nitro-boosted high octane action.
One way ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ is incompareable to ‘Fury Road’ is its story. ‘Fury Road’ was built on simplicity choosing instead to devote its time to its devastation on wheels. ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ is much more of a personal and driven revenge story, and Dementus’ struggle to fight Immortan Joe. It’s a compelling tale, especially because it builds on the world that ‘Fury Road’ built. It’s split into chapters, each exploring a key moment Furiosa’s life. There is a bit too much focus on her as a young girl, which in turn slows the story and prevents the story exploring the older Furiosa.
‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ does what all good prequels do, they build and expand upon their world, rather than contract it an make it feel smaller. Audiences come away from the film with a better understanding of Furiosa, a wider picture of the wasteland and a dollop of pure unadulterated action. It’s a perfect story for the big screen, inviting audiences into its tale and the wider world of the post-apocalypse.
