Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Rating

Director

George Miller

Screenplay

George Miller, Nick Lathouris

Length

2h 28m

Starring

Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Alyla Browne, George Shevtsov, Lachy Hulme, John Howard, Angus Sampson, Charlee Fraser, Elsa Pataky, Nathan Jones, Josh Helman, David Feld, Rahel Romahn, David Collins, Goran D. Kleut

MPAA Rating

R

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Review

On the strength of a single character from the last Mad Max entry, Furiosa was born, a Mad Max saga that tells us something new about a world with fathomless depths.

In Mad Max: Fury Road, Charlize Theron brought to life the compelling Furiosa, a tough-as-nails Imperator serving the cult leader Immortan Joe (now played by Lachy Hulme after the death of Fury Road star Hugh Keays-Byrne). Attempting to explain how she came to the point of serving the demented Immortan, the audience is taken back to her childhood where young Furiosa (Alyla Bloom) is captured by raiders who attempt to sell her off for riches to the appropriately-named Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), a war band leader who wants to take over the empire ruled by Joe. As an adult (Anya Taylor-Joy), Furiosa is used as a pawn and traded to Joe so that Dementus can gain control control of one of his provinces. Furiosa escapes her designated role as a “wife” to Joe by disguising herself and working her way up through the ranks of his mechanics instead, longing for the day she will be able to escape outright and bring justice to Dementus.

When delving into the backstory of a world he created, writer-director George Miller has immense leeway to craft the exact story he wants. Sticking to various themes related to the post-apocalyptic wasteland of Australia, he explores resource scarcity, war lord terror, forced sexual servitude, and the search for safety in an incredibly unsafe world. His films always get at these heady themes with aplomb and there’s little here that doesn’t expand and enhance his Mad Max universe. The film has a few sour notes, namely the lengthy scene between Dementus and Furiosa that caps the film’s third act. However, the rest of the film hews closely to his idea that words are often too much to express what can be easily conveyed through body language, narrative depth, and emotional resonance.

To help his cause is a trio of impressive actors delivering strong, near-peak work. At the core of this is Taylor-Joy. While there are structural differences between her and Theron’s faces, Taylor-Joy manages to build upon the foundations of what made Theron’s performance so outstanding and give it a treatment of her own that is understated and compelling. Hemsworth on the other hand is playing Dementus to the hilt, giving him many of the personality traits of a successful cult leader. Using friendliness to disarm his opponents while an underlying vein of deception and malice feeds intermittently into his demeanor. A good villain needs to be modestly relatable but also somewhat human and Hemsworth does a tremendous job letting those concepts through while not completely going off the deep end.

The final part of this triptych is Tom Burke as Praetorian Jack. As the commander of the most successful war rig in Immortan Joe’s fleet, he is initially impressed with Furiosa’s nerve and pluck, surviving and thriving in a world of contrived contrition and sniveling obeisance. His is a quiet, unassuming performance much like Taylor-Joy’s, which makes him the perfect father figure to the burgeoning road warrior. His is a performance similar to that of Tom Hardy’s in Fury Road, one that allows his scene partner to thrive while not blending into the background.

It’s hard to imagine where Miller will go from here. Furiosa feels like a one-off, though it’s possible he could squeeze in a sequel between the events of this film and the prior. However, I don’t expect he will go to this well again. It’s fascinating to see where this film went and despite its mediocre ending, it was nevertheless an enjoyable ride and hopefully Miller can find his way to give us other stories in this intriguing universe.

Review Written

April 2, 2025