It’s My Birthday (ok date of publish is the day after) and Summer blockbuster season is in full swing with the next instalment in the Mad Max franchise, with the Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Furiosa is a prequel to the 2015 action classic Mad Max: Fury Road and tells the story of the breakout character from that movie portrayed there by Charlize Theron. Furiosa is the fifth instalment in the Mad Max franchise and is its first spin-off, focusing on a character other than the titular character. It is an Australian post-apocalypse action adventure movie distributed by Warner Bros Pictures. The movie was directed, co-written, and co-produced by George Miller, who collaborated on the screenplay with Nico Lathouris. The movie stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemthsworth, Tom Burke, Ayla Browne, and Lachy Hulme. “As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.” (Synopsis from Letterboxed).
I’ll start off by saying that this movie continues and solidifies the idea that these movies (post the first Mad Max movie) are tales from the wasteland. Stories and legends told by people in the wasteland of the adventures of the main characters. This one is a little different in that we know where Furiosa’s (Taylor-Joy) story is heading as this is a prequel and essentially leads right into Fury Road. I think it works a lot in the movie’s favour as it gives it this epic feel, and even allows it to play with what happens at a certain point in the movie. I have to say I really enjoyed the way this movie told its story as well as the story it told. It really gets into Furiosa’s motivations and how she becomes the person she becomes in Fury Road. The only issue I have with her story in this movie Is that I do wish we got to see more of her with Imortan Joe (Hulme) and more of why she does what she eventually does in Fury Road.
One thing that does work a lot for this movie is her relationship with the main antagonist, Dr Dementus (Hemsworth). Their story throughout the movie is great and serves for her main motivation of getting revenge on him for the things he does. Dementus is a great foil for his rival Imortan Joe. He’s a warlord that possesses more visual physical power than Joe and his allies do, while he doesn’t have the loyalty that Joe does from his followers. Their different ways of control and rule are interesting to watch. It makes for a fun back and forth once the stuff hits the fan and the battle between the two warlords begin. Hemsthworth is having so much fun in this role and does an amazing job of portraying this character. You can really see how much he’s been wanting to do a Mad Max movie. Anya Taylor-Joy does an incredible job as the titular Furiosa, showing us different sides of the character than we’ve seen in the past. She also gets to do a lot of physical stuff which is great. Ayla Browne also does a great job as the Younger Furiosa in the early stages of the movie. Taylor-Joy’s chemistry with the Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke) is great and believable. Jack is a pretty cool character and was calm and collected through all the crazy stuff that happens around him. He kind of serves of a bit of a Mad Max-ish character for this movie (since the character isn’t in the movie). I only wish that he was in the movie for a bit longer than he actually was just to give us more time with him and too see more of his relationship bloom with Furiosa. The other performances and characters are all great as well.
The action in this movie is incredible. George Miller continues to be a master of action with this movie. The chase sequences continue to be great and suspenseful and creative. The camerawork and editing in this movie is also great. It was an also a little experimental. I feel like Miller was experimenting and playing around with a bunch of things in this movie. The effects are mostly good throughout the movie, though there are times where they are a little noticeable. At least more noticeable than they were in Fury Road, which is interesting as I think they might have a similar amount of VFX usage. The sets and costume design are all great. The costuming on the villains can be a little funny and silly at times, though that just normal for the Mad Max movies anyways. I don’t know why but I really felt that the villain groups in this movie felt a bit like a Power Rangers or Super Sentai villain group. I mean Dementus rides around on a chariot pulled by three motorcycles. The score is great and fits the tone of the movie well.
Over-all thus was a great ride and a fun movie to spend the weekend with. It tells a good story, has great action and great characters. It might not be as good as the movie it’s a prequel to, but it’s still in the best of the franchise. I give this movie two-thumbs up ! It is well-worth watching in the theatre, and even more worth watching when it eventually comes to your preferred way of watching movies.
Andy's Thoughts 