Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – REVIEW

I have to be clear about something here: I don’t think Mad Max is my cup of tea. Leading up to the latest installment, I decided to not only re-watch Mad Max: Fury Road but also watch the Mel Gibson-starring trilogy of movies for the first time. Outside of The Road Warrior, which I thought was good fun, the original and Beyond Thunderdome were just plain bad in my eyes. I also understand that Fury Road feels completely different when compared to the original three movies, but I just adore the overall energy of Fury Road that the entries before it, understandably, lack. That’s not to say that I wasn’t excited for Furiosa, an origin story/prequel to Fury Road. However, in both good ways and bad ways, it wasn’t what I was expecting.

As the world fell and Australia became The Wasteland, a young girl is snatched from the Green Place and falls into the hands of a Biker Horde led by Dementus, a warlord. He goes to war with The Immortan Joe, another warlord of The Wasteland. While the two tyrants fight for dominance over the span of years, the young girl known as Furiosa must survive throughout the many trials of The Wasteland to find her way home. I know that was a bit of a lore dump there, but Furiosa is probably the most backstory-heavy entry in the whole franchise so far. While I think that the world of The Wasteland is primed to be explored outside of Max and Furiosa, it felt strangely small in this. It’s not the biggest deal in the world, but we were really only limited to three locations throughout the whole movie, along with the roads that connect them. It’s more of a nitpick than anything, but the worldbuilding ended up making it more intimate. Maybe that was intentional, but it just didn’t click in my head. I also feel that way about the overall structure and general pacing of the movie. It deliberately has a slower pace to match the worldbuilding that’s here, but I think it mainly just dragged the movie on for me. It also feels just a little bit too long, clocking in at barely two-and-a-half hours. I personally would’ve trimmed it down a bit, but again, more of a nitpick than anything. There are undoubtedly great elements of this, though.

It does go without saying that, like Fury Road before it, nearly everything on the technical side is spectacular. The action sequences are insanely well-executed and Furiosa is worth a watch for that alone, especially in a theater. Not to spoil, but my favorite bit includes parachutes and a contraption called the Bommy-Knocker. There’s also a lot of great little freaks here, like Scrotus (who got a big laugh from the audience when he said his name) Chumbucket, Pissboy, and Rictus Erectus, who actually was in Fury Road. As for Furiosa herself, now played mostly by Anya Taylor-Joy and replacing original actor Charlize Theron, I really enjoyed this younger version of her. Taylor-Joy’s Furiosa feels much more feral than Theron’s, even with almost no dialogue when she’s introduced to the movie around 45 minutes in. That being said, Alyla Browne also killed it as child and teenage Furiosa. George Miller had said that in the transition to Browne to Taylor-Joy, they used CGI and AI elements (*NOT GENERATIVE AI*) to blend in Anya Taylor-Joy’s features with Alyla Browne’s features as Furiosa grew up throughout the movie, and it honestly fully convinced me. I’m still not even sure what Taylor-Joy’s first scene was, it was very impressive.

The huge highlight for me, though, even standing tall above the action pieces, is Chris Hemsworth as the movie’s villain, Dementus. I’ve been wanting Hemsworth to play more antagonistic roles for a while now, mainly since I saw him as a very charming cult leader in Bad Times at the El Royale, so for me, Hemsworth just started to lean into the full-on derangement of an unhinged, apocalyptic warlord-wannabe and it looked like he was having a lot of fun, which translated perfectly to me having so much fun watching him whenever he was on screen. That’s the definition of a great villain to watch: someone who is irredeemable but you don’t want to take your eyes off them. Hemsworth nails it.





As much as I thought this was fun, I think I’m Mad Max-ed out for a while. While I did enjoy Furiosa and would probably recommend it, I’m not head-over-heels for it like I’ve seen some other people be. I do hope that this isn’t the last we see of the world of The Wasteland, mainly because I’m genuinely curious to see more of it. Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth kill it, George Miller’s direction oozes with adrenaline, and the action pieces are wonderful, but see above: Mad Max isn’t my cup of tea. That could change in a few years, like a lot of opinions do, but I respect the ambition of Furiosa.

♡

Furiosa is now playing in theaters and is also up for pre-order on digital platforms, with a physical release expected for later this summer. Later in the year (most likely in the early fall), it will join the other Mad Max movies on MAX, fittingly.