Before she commandeered a war rig to free the mothers of the Citadel in a daring crossing of Fury Road, Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) was first trained in the ways of the Wasteland by Dr. Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) and the ways of road war by Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke).  All of this, however, was in an effort to return to The Green Place, her home where she was long ago stolen and sold into service of the warlords of the wasteland. 

George Miller delivers Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga for Warner Brothers who premiered the film at Cannes, a prequel to his Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), placing this film close to the middle of the larger Mad Max timeline.  Nick Lathouris returns to write this new era of films with Miller, this time turning in a script for a 128-minute film, the longest in the series to date, that still delivers the high-octane action of Fury Road, but backfills in a lot of the plot that was eschewed back in 2015.  Furiosa does everything a good prequel does, partly because it has more freedom than most since its predecessor was so narratively sparse, but having come after Fury Road, the film must work itself to the bone to keep us invested in the here and now and not just fall back on our knowledge of what is to come.  Miller and Lathouris, despite these odds, fill in the context of the surrounding world of the film while still creating an exciting arc that can stand on its own.  Everything leads to Fury Road, evidenced in a pulse-pounding 90-second synthesization of the previous film across the ending credits before cutting audiences loose at the tippy-top of their cinematic high, but this is very much Furiosa’s story and she slows down for no one. 

The film opens with a young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) who is kidnapped by riders of Dementus and pursued by Furiosa’s mother, Mary Jo Bassa (Charlee Fraser), a skilled assassin and sniper.  She follows the trio of riders to Dementus’ camp, picking them off one by one, but is ultimately captured by the leader, though she refuses to give up the location of The Green Place.  This opening lays the groundwork for what is to come, and while the focus on story here is to be admired and commended, audiences can be forgiven if they are entering into this with a sense of unease.  For the first hour of this film, action is centered more on Hemsworth with Browne just off of center frame.  We understand that this is all fueling her future motivations, but making the choice to have Furiosa play a mute in solidarity of her mother’s refusal to disclose The Green Place, means that this story is being filtered through Denentus’ antics more than anything, and for a film marketed and sold on Taylor-Joy’s involvement, their headliner does not show up until the third of five chapters; it is like Marion Crane, but in reverse. 

All eyes then fall onto Hemsworth who is charged with some strange energy, here, but it fits in with the overall nature of Miller’s vision of dystopia despite being one of, if not the, most verbose characters.  In this lawless wasteland, power is held by eccentric warlords who prowl the desert in search of resources.  He is out there doing the most, but the performance quickly becomes one note as he has to continually one-up himself into wilder and wilder things, and the novelty wears off quickly as it is impossible to not think of what a force Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) was in the previous film and here we are with this children’s birthday party clown.  The performance capstone for the first half of the film culminates in a hostage exchange led by Dementus with a spring-loaded pike launching device that is inexplicably and unnecessarily attached to his nipples and in that beguiling moment we understand the actor’s inspiration for the role; it is as if he is inhabiting a Dr. Seuss antihero character à la Mike Myers or Jim Carrey but offered the freedom of an R rating and an adult audience. It is all just a kind way of saying he is doing his Marvel Schick all over again, and it is an odd choice as he sticks out like a sore thumb in the otherwise dour film, but he is such a vital aspect to the story that it would not work without this goofy to the point of incompetent, achievements through luck kind of villain.  

Thankfully, though, this just-shy-of-half-way scene also welcomes back Immortan Joe, with Lachy Hulme stepping into the role after Keyas-Bryne’s passing in 2020.  Hulme embodies the black-and-white pure evil that defines Miller’s world while also leaning into the more stylized craft of it all, too.  He is ruthless and threatening and we find ourselves cheering in our seats when he enters the narrative, but there is still a huge gap between the Furiosa we met on Fury Road and the one we see here.  This is because Miller does not give Taylor-Joy much in the way to work with despite being the title character of the film.  She is also hampered by the fact that we know where this story is heading. We know what she will learn, that she will survive, and also who will not live to the end because of their absence in Fury Road, but the story is still engaging in the moment and we can largely enjoy the action without feeling like we already know the outcome.  It is also a very unique style of action filmmaking where the star is almost the least important part of the stunt work showcase.  It is Furiosa’s story, but we are here for the car chases and the massive explosions.  Her name does not carry the same gravitas as Ethan Hunt, James Bond, or any of the headlining Marvel characters.  This also marks one of Taylor-Joy’s largest, leading roles and it is a little frustrating just how little she gets to do here, and as she is mute the story shies away from involving her in much of the palace intrigue, as well even though the actress is well suited for those conniving scenes.  So much of her role is reactionary, and while it fits into the larger arc of her character that we met in Fury Road, as the no-nonsense, take-the-lead force embodied by Charlize Theron, we can not help but want a little more here for Taylor-Joy who fills the character with passion, but by the nature of the script, we seldom get to see that same level of ambition. 

What sets Furiosa apart is that it does seem like Miller is trying to expand the world and deepen the character dynamics, so everything is not so starkly good vs evil.  One of the more successful examples of this is in Praetorian Jack, the driver of the newly commissioned, two-tank War Rig of Immortan Joe’s that would solidify his grip over the wasteland.  The dynamic between Jack and Furiosa is not enough to be called a romance but more than just a professional acquaintanceship; there is a real respect and unspoken understanding shared between them, but both characters speak so few words that it is a struggle for us as an audience to really connect with them in a deep or meaningful way.  We are left wanting more because almost too much is left unsaid and offscreen.  The relationship forms almost instantaneously and then it increases even more rapidly so that when they share a moment on the eve of war, it seems both shocking and expected at the same time.  Burke, however, brings a bit of kindness into the barren and brutal world, separate from the avenging spirit of Furiosa whose noble actions and moral compass are all guided by eye for an eye justice, but her involvement with him is not enough to eclipse her ultimate goal of returning to The Green Place, so all the work in setting up his stakes is for naught. 

While Furiosa is certainly more plot-driven than Fury Road, there are also extended set pieces as road war rages on across the Wasteland. Tom Holkenborg returns to the franchise with a percussive score that marks time as the War Rig makes its way through the sands and the War Boy’s ride alongside. Mixed with Simon Duggan’s surprisingly steady camera that captures the action often in wide view, editors Eliot Knapman and Margaret Sixel legibly assemble the chase sequences. These sequences last for 10, sometimes 15 minutes at a time, and they feature almost no dialogue, so it plays out like a silent film but instead of black and white or color tinting, we are treated to a glorious palate of reds and oranges staining a blue sky. It is not just the silent nature of the chase that reminds us of the set pieces of old, but the tangibility of it all, as well. With stunts coordinated by Guy Norris and fights choreographed by Richard Norton, Furiosa oscillates from high speed, driving action and brutal hand-to-hand combat with whatever mechanical scrap can be scrounged up in the moment and turned into a weapon. The real illusion, though, is that so much of the film is dressed in CGI, a massive undertaking from London-based effects house DNEG. They adhere to the specific style and vision that Miller laid out for them so be it something as simple as tinkering with the color of the skies and sand to integrating the massive explosions into the frame with the actors, everything looks as one. It is the magic of cinema at work. 

Furiosa is, beyond just a prequel that continues the story, a film that marks yet another transitory moment in the franchise. It contains all the same hallmarks that made Fury Road so beloved to the point where it can almost be seen as derivative of itself, but it also fleshes out this world and contextualizes its characters in a way that can also almost be said to betray what made Fury Road so unique. Which side of the fence one falls will be determined by how they reacted to Fury Road; was it a masterpiece or was it a little thin? Furiosa is subject to that same scrutiny, but Miller undeniably gives us more here to latch on to as he sets up enough little arcs throughout the film to keep us engaged and learning about this world that is still figuring out its hierarchy post-apocalypse.  It certainly delivers on taking a cult beloved 80s property, defying all odds and creating one of the most pointed to action films of the 2010s, and now with Furiosa racing onto screens, Mad Max really does feel like a Saga.