Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, 2024.
Directed by George Miller.Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Lachy Hulme, Josh Helman, Nathan Jones, John Howard, Angus Sampson, Charlee Fraser, Goran D. Kleut, David Collins, Ian Roberts, Matuse Paz, Darcy Bryce, Rahel Romahn, Quaden Bayles, Daniel Webber, CJ. Bloomfield, Alyla Browne, Florence Mezzara, Maleeka Gasbarri, Nat Buchanan, Lee Perry, George Shevtsov, Spencer Connelly, Alex Time, Xanthia Marinelli, Yeye Zhou, Elsa Pataky, Jacob Tomuri, Nick Annas, Robert Jones, and Karl Van Moorsel.
SYNOPSIS:
The origin story of renegade warrior Furiosa before her encounter and team-up with Mad Max.
Much like what Jesus-bearded, biker gang Manson-cultish warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth, a remarkable mix of raving lunatic, sadistic savagery, and internalized pain) is scouring the Wastleland for, co-writer/director George Miller’s (collaborating alongside Nick Lathouris) Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga packs the goods in abundance.
The filmmaking duo previously worked together on Mad Max: Fury Road, but they actually wrote this entry in conjunction with that fourth installment to allow Charlize Theron to dive into the headspace of the vengeful and heroic Imperator Furiosa since, as most people reading this likely know, that film was essentially one long car chase that didn’t have much room for traditional storytelling and demanded actors bring something else to the material. Naturally, this was done subtly during the few and far between tiny bits of downtime or sometimes through the unbelievable action.
There are more death-defying stunts, ranging from pole vaulting to perilously maneuvering across moving vehicles and now paragliding mid-chase. However, this time, the characterization is taking center stage. Don’t fret; the action that is here is still spectacular and mostly practical (the only weak spots are a couple of frustrating CGI backgrounds for sandstorms), putting just about every other recent Hollywood blockbuster to shame.
In the first of many bold choices, George Miller and company choose to spend an hour delving into the backstory of Furiosa as a child (played with silent strength and resourcefulness by Alyla Browne) before turning things over to stoic yet opportunistically fierce Anya Taylor-Joy, taking over from the previous film and exploring a more recent past smoothly connecting to Fury Road. Residing in the Green Place, which is run entirely by women, some raiders under the command of Dementus stumble across this peaceful land that is seemingly the only thriving area in the Wasteland. From water to food to greenery, they have everything in abundance that the quirky wackos left over in this world are already fighting over.
Wasting no time thrusting viewers into breathtaking, methodically constructed action set pieces (complete with day and night transitions, photography that makes clear what these characters are doing and how they are tracking one another, and, of course, the violence itself), a young Furiosa is snatched away from her sister while picking some fresh fruit and promptly draped over the side of a motorcycle (a terrifyingly dangerous and thrilling visual) as her captors flee the scene. Her mother (Charlee Fraser) immediately gives pursuit. It ends in a horrifying, visually unforgettable tragedy, with Furiosa now a prisoner of Dementus, tight-lipped on the directions to paradise.
The intelligent girl, well-versed in astral navigation, has gone mute with no intentions of telling Dementus anything. It’s also horrifying that if Furiosa isn’t going to be of some use, she can easily be disposed of as a trading bargaining chip in the immoral, soulless games men play in war. Furiosa doesn’t have a choice in the matter; she is either lugged around by Dementus as part of his crazed family or something to be sold to Citadel leader, the Immortan Joe (now played by Lachy Hulme), to be one of his many wives in the future.
Throughout this imprisonment and time of uncertainty, Furiosa is always observing. Directly told by The History Man (George Shevtsov plays this amusing wise man who seemingly solely exists to deliver knowledge to Dementus of forgotten times and concise definitions of words and objects) that the only way to survive is to make herself useful, she does just that. Specifically, Furiosa does this when a brief escape away from the Citadel (after being sold into inevitable sexual slavery) and haircut bring her back around into an undercover role within that legion.
Meanwhile, Dementus has strategically taken over other chess-piece territories, such as Gastown and Bullet Farm. The warlord also has an additional layer of sinisterness in that, while his followers show respect, they aren’t quite prepared to kill themselves on demand like the Valhalla-chasing, adrenaline-junkie warboys obeying the Immortan Joe. Dementus wants the resources but somehow becomes even more unhinged as the film progresses (occasionally dementedly funny), craving full authority over the Wasteland.
This sets the stage for gnarly vehicular carnage, exhilarating shootouts, twisted torture, and ingenious destruction, beautifully captured by Simon Duggan. George Miller and his DP are determined to make every single death stand out, whether it be a henchman flipping over a motorcycle headfirst into the sand with his legs kicking up into the air or more major characters also meeting impressionable demises. Vehicles are rolled over, and a monster truck zooms over mountainous terrain with its driver in rage-fuelled pursuit. Several overhead shots capture the expansiveness of the vast Australian deserts, while close-ups drive from the risky insanity of the stunt work team. At one point, contraptions are lifting entire vehicles with key characters hanging on for dear life, making for an incredible spectacle to behold. Tom Holkenborg has also arranged a more restrained soundtrack that infuses the chaos with a sense of dread rather than full-throttle momentum.
Anya Taylor-Joy is not lost in the shuffle, stowing away and battling underneath trucks, commandeering vehicles, proving to be a capable marksman like Furiosa’s mother while also developing a somewhat underexplored but still moving romantic dynamic with Tom Burke’s rig driver Praetorian Jack. Much more committed to character and storytelling (at least in a different way) from its predecessor, Anya Taylor-Joy successfully fleshes out the legend, even if the film’s title is slightly deceptive and more concerned with overall world-building than one character entirely, amounting to a story about a great Wasteland war. There is a moment where Furiosa loses all control, repeatedly attacking a character and demanding they bring back her family from the dead; it’s a scene that could have felt hokey in the hands of another filmmaker, but here is filled with devastating emotion, as if Anya Taylor-Joy is pulling from something personal.
Admittedly, Furiosa doesn’t move with the same verve as Fury Road. Yes, these are two completely separate approaches to a Mad Max film, but some scenes here conclude abruptly, and others go on too long. There is a slightly tighter film here, and one imagines that it could have been partially accomplished by trimming some unnecessary fan service, such as bringing back glimpses of characters from Fury Road who don’t impact the story (I love you, guitar dude, but I could have done without the nostalgia pandering). Sometimes it also feels like it’s going overboard trying to connect aspects of the two-part story and central warrior.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga takes some time to attune to; it’s not a challenging wavelength to get on per se, but one with such grander ambition that even George Miller likely ever imagined when the franchise started. The action, scope of the storytelling, and rich production values are all staggering, even if the film doesn’t necessarily feel epic during an initial viewing, which might have something to do with its impressive ability to be narratively subversive even though this is a prequel and the deliberate, sometimes messy pacing. Still, it washes over and sticks with you as enhancing connective tissue and a standalone knockout, abundantly epic in cumulative effect and upon reflection. It’s another treasure from George Miller in a career that’s already beyond greatness.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
