Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
After mankind just about destroyed itself and the planet which sustained it, a female led, ecologically minded microcosm of Australian society lives with an abundance of water and fruit trees. But when one of their children, a young girl (Alyla Browne, "Three Thousand Years of Longing"), is kidnapped by bikers seeking favor with warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), her mother, Mary Jabassa (Charlee Fraser, "Anyone But You") wages a war she will lose but her daughter will take up with a vengeance in “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.”
Laura's Review: B+
After his powerhouse return to his “Mad Max” roots with “Fury Road, cowriter (with Nick Lathouris, "Mad Max: Fury Road")/director George Miller returns with that film’s central character’s origin story and perhaps a larger message – that men destroy and women renew. This latest isn’t as strong as the last, its story of Dementus trying to achieve power over Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme, replacing Hugh Keays-Byrne) and the Wasteland sometimes muddled. The Furiosa character is also more effectively played by young Browne than Anya Taylor-Joy, who we see replace her as she disguises herself as a boy while, oddly, the two men who fought over her possession don’t appear to notice she’s missing.
Dementus, who Hemsworth plays as a bit of a buffoon (if a sadistic one) with long hair, a beard, a hooked nose and a teddy bear talisman attached to his flowing robes, behaves fatherly to the young girl presented to him. When he fails to coax the location of her ‘place of abundance,’ he demands the girl be fed, given water and be allowed to rest. But when her mother arrives hell-bent on retrieving her (and taking out quite a few of Dementus’s men in the process), the façade drops, Dementus forcing Furiosa to watch her mother’s torture and death as a means of ‘toughening her up.’ He will deem her his daughter and keep her caged as they travel, The History Man (George Shevtsov, "Three Thousand Years of Longing"), a tattooed elder, continually trying to convince her to become indispensible to Dementus. She is unmoved.
Dementus is determined to capture Immortan Joe’s Citadel, one of the Wasteland’s three fortresses (he’ll go after the others, Gas Town and the Bullet Farm, as well), but their initial confrontation will end with Immortan Joe demanding Dementus’ ‘daughter’ to be added to his bridal harem. She will cut off her long hair, creating a wig with candle wax which will astonish Joe’s son Rictus Erectus (Nathan Jones, "Mad Max: Fury Road" with Josh Helman playing his brother Scrotus) when it comes off in his hand and lands on an outgrowth, a cutaway Miller uses to show the passage of time. Furiosa reappears as a presumably mute war rig mechanic where her skills are recognized by its driver, Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke, "The Souvenir"), who will be drawn into her dream of returning to her verdant oasis.
In addition to its Wasteland locations, the Mad Max world is largely established by its vehicles and their drivers, Furiosa’s mother setting off on horseback before capturing a thunder bike, Dementus tooling around in a chariot led by three riderless motorcycles. The film’s centerpiece action scene is a marvel, Furiosa riding beneath Praetorian Jack’s rig repairing it on the fly as it is defended on top by white-painted War Boys from both bikers and the paragliding bombers they eject into the sky. This is the scene where Furiosa and Jack initially bond and it is worth the price of admission.
Burke is a wonderful addition here, perhaps this film’s Max stand-in as a character with some humanity and perhaps a touch of romantic yearning. Anya Taylor-Jones has few speaking lines, and when she does speak appears to be channeling Theron’s deeper voice, but she’s more of a symbol here than a flesh and blood character. That would be her younger incarnation, Browne, a ferocious and precious little girl determined to return to the world her mother helped create.
With its talk of stars and vast horizon of golden dunes, “Furiosa” recalls not only “Dune” but “Star Wars.” Tech credits, including Simon Duggan’s ("Hacksaw Ridge") cinematography, editing, sound and Tom Holkenborg’s ("Mad Max: Fury Road") score are as exceptional as one would expect. As the film reaches its finale, Miller, who had outlined this script as a basis for “Fury Road,” throws brief snippets of that film among this one’s closing credits, closing the loop between the two. “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” may be the first of the franchise not to feature Mad Max himself, but his world awaits him as this film is sure to inspire many to rewatch the one which preceded it.
Robin's Review: B
Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) was taken from the Green Place of Many Mothers and ended up in the clutches of warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). But, a rival gang, led by Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), is bent on waging war and she must fight to survive in “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.”
If you remember, as I do, about Dr. George Miller and his introduction to what became the first film in the Mad Max franchise, “Mad Max (1979),” you are now seeing a very different animal, indeed. (If you do the math, the series began 55 years ago!)
What began as a low-budget concept about one man’s loss and revenge for his brutally murdered wife against an evil bike gang evolved into “The Road Warrior (1911)” and “Beyond the Thunder dome (1985)” and all the rest, culminating in “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.”
Do not expect a complex, well thought out story that has nuance and texture. Do expect nearly two-and-a-half-hours of very loud bombast, machine guns, flamethrowers and bombs as we jump from one badass desert chase to another with the good guys – in the form of young Furiosa – battling the bad guys (everyone else in the flick, almost).
Expect to see copious CGI effects throughout, as you would expect on a budget of $186000000, but (and this pleases me) we also get some really good stunt work from the huge crew of stunt men and women, As I said, this sucker is nearly 2.5 hours runtime, a number that usually makes me cringe. Here, I did not check the time until two hours had elapses – pretty good for me.
Miller has gone from coherently and linearly defines story and character – Mel Gibson became rich from the franchise and defined the strong silent type of hero. We do not have that here – except we have another strong silent type in Anya Taylor-Joy’s Furiosa, who had only about 30 lines of dialog. She gets to voice such bon mots as “Come with me,” “We’re good,” and, most important, “I want my mother and my childhood back!” Otherwise, Chris Hemsworth gets the bulk of the comedy and the best lines.
As, expected, there is an epilogue that is reminiscent of “Mad Max: Fury Road” and Charlize Theron as an older and even more badass Furiosa. I think the franchise will continue as long as Dr, George Miller lives and far beyond.
Warner Brothers releases "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" in theaters on 5/24/24.
