‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ Review: An Abundance of Cinema

Australian filmmaker George Miller has a varied output as a writer and director. However, his most culturally immersive work is the Mad Max series. It is a world he has returned to multiple times over many years, but the recent entries come closest to its fullest potential. Furiosa stands next to Fury Road as the best in this franchise, with incredible characters in a strong story and even stronger visuals.

The Mad Max saga began in 1979. The original Mad Max starred Mel Gibson as a young cop trying to help maintain law in a world where society has collapsed and wars over fuel and fresh water are on the horizon. Criminal biker gangs wreak havoc on others just trying to survive. Max’s wife and infant son are caught in the middle when he works against them. It was an efficient low-budget revenge thriller. The Road Warrior added a stronger action element a few years later as Miller really started to flesh out his post-apocalyptic world. The other entries in the series became more explicit about the nuclear aspect of what happened to society. Fury Road was a return to the story in 2015 after 30 years away, and a whole new visual confidence came with it.

Now, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga fills in the background for one of the franchise’s best characters. And it does so with style and good performances from Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth. It’s one of the best action films so far this year.

“She comes from a place of abundance.”

After the first film, the Mad Max story became various versions of Max coming across groups of people who need help, fighting for them, and then going on his way. During Fury Road, Max (now played by Tom Hardy) crossed paths with Furiosa (Charlize Theron). She was helping a group of women escape from the Citadel. That’s one of the few places in the Wasteland where clean water can be found, and Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) had set himself up as ruler of this desert fortress. Including forcing young women to bear his children. That’s why they were leaving.

Max and Furiosa proved to be an effective team, and Furiosa was a deeply interesting female character who had more story to tell. This film fulfills at least part of that potential by showing us how she came to be at the Citadel. It is a compelling story. Since the nuclear fallout, most people have become half-lifes but Furiosa lived in a healthy, green place as a child. Some followers of roving warlord Dementus (Hemsworth) find the place and kidnap Furiosa. She refuses to take them back to her home after Dementus kills her mother, but he finds the Citadel instead. He makes a peace deal with Immortan Joe. Leaving Furiosa there is part of it.

But Dementus has no intention to honor the deal. He wants to control the Citadel and the rest of the Wasteland too. He wants all of it. Furiosa has become a young adult (now played by Taylor-Joy) before he makes his move, though, and she has intentions of her own. Like revenge on Dementus. Just like Max wanted revenge on the criminals who took the lives of his family. The movie draws more than one parallel between Furiosa and Max. (Almost as if setting up Furiosa as the hero to carry on after Max, perhaps?)

“Do ya have it in ya make it epic?”

Aside from the introduction of Furiosa, Fury Road also brought this franchise to new heights in terms of visuals. Cinematographer Simon Duggan picks up here where that film left off, making the world look cohesive and distinct. The way the color palette of the image is completely different for day and night in the desert locations is striking. The Mad Max films have always succeeded in exciting car chase sequences, and this one looks particularly good while doing so. The other action beats work, as well. And though a lot of them take place in the same locations with a lot of the same characters as in Fury Road, they feel like their own thing.

Anya Taylor-Joy has big shoes to fill as Furiosa after Charlize Theron, but she does it. She handles both the physical and emotional demands of the role with ease. The surprise in the cast for some will be Hemsworth’s unhinged bad guy. Dementus is perhaps the strongest villain of this series, and Hemsworth lets loose. Behind a prosthetic nose and grungy long hair, he is genuinely menacing and unpredictable. As the child Furiosa, Alyla Browne excels as well, much as she did in the recent drama series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart. This film truly has a wonderful match of characters to the actors playing them.

Furiosa’s past adds an incredible layer to watching Fury Road, but it also feels like it belongs in the same world with Max’s earlier stories. It is a rich addition to the world that Miller has created, and I hope it doesn’t take 9 more years before we see more of it on screen. Hope is a theme Miller uses at the forefront of Furiosa’s story, and I think there is more of it to tell. Maybe with Max as well, maybe not. Either way, Furiosa is a thrilling cinematic experience, and I want to visit its influential post-apocalyptic world again someday.

4 1/2 stars out of 5

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is in theaters now.