‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ Review – Anya Taylor-Joy’s Shine Stolen By Costars
It’s been almost 10 years since Mad Max: Fury Road was released in theaters, and there’s still a polarized reaction to it. Some viewers agree that it is one of the greatest action movies of a generation with so many memorable moments. Others just can’t help but ask why Max is barely a presence in his own movie.
People strongly defended the notion that Mad Max: Fury Road was essentially a bait-and-switch that introduced the female character of Furiosa, who was the true protagonist of the movie. Years were spent gaslighting people into believing that they were crazy for thinking that Fury Road was all about replacing Max with Furiosa.
Well, here we are almost 10 years later and George Miller is back with another film that has nothing to do with Mad Max. Except this time, instead of bringing back Charlize Theron who portrayed the character nearly a decade ago, this new entry in the Mad Max series is an origin story starring a much younger Anya Taylor-Joy in a film where there’s virtually no talking from our title character.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga begins with a young furiosa and her sister Valkyrie living in their home, that is subtly called Green Place of Many Mothers. Furiosa’s mother, Mary Jo, loses her life attempting to protect the existence of The Green Place from the warlord Dementus, played by Chris Hemsworth, and his biker hoard.
As the years progress, Dementus and the bikers attempt the uprising against the citadel leader of Immortan Joe and the War Boys. The battle between the two sides leads to a devastating assault on Dementus’ army.
Dementus demands food of the water in exchange for not destroying Gastown, but Joe demands to take Furiosa as one of his wives in order to make the deal. Disguising herself as a boy, to prevent herself being sexually assaulted by Joe’s son, Furiosa spends years in the wasteland.
As she becomes a road warrior to protect the shipment of gasoline, she receives an opportunity to exact vengeance against Dementus for murdering her mother.
One of the biggest knocks on Mad Max: Fury Road was that it was pure action and not much story. Director George Miller tried to defend that film by arguing that dialogue in a movie is overrated. As mentioned earlier, Anya Taylor-Joy has roughly 30 lines of dialogue throughout the entire movie — which clocks in at nearly a two and a half hours of runtime.
But just because her character doesn’t speak, doesn’t mean there is an interaction between other characters. What Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga does is try to correct the mistake of having too much action, by focusing a little bit more on the story behind the rise of Furiosa as a character.
The audience discovers how she ends up with Immortan Joe to begin with, the land that she came from, and the origin story behind her shaved head and missing arm.
While there’s certainly a tone down approach to the action, there is far more character and story development — making this effort, a polar opposite of Fury Road. That creative decision could turn off those who are looking for a high-octane action movie that matched the first one.
Taylor-Joy’s presence in the film is not the selling point in the movie, despite her being the title character. She doesn’t even appear until nearly an hour into the run time for this movie. Performance-wise, she is outshined by her younger counterpart paid by Alyla Browne.
The man who does the heavy lifting for most of this film is Chris Hemsworth in the role of Demuentus. The character is very withdrawn in his introduction. As the story progresses, he becomes slightly more over the top, as the reality of a post apocalyptic world begins to set, all the laws are thrown out of the window for the sake of survival and resources.
The cinematography of this film matches the original by creating a barren wasteland that is visually stunning on screen, especially if you’re watching on IMAX, it does more to add to the world-building; even more so than the original movie.
Although this film gets a lot right, you have to ask the question, will this satisfy casual moviegoers who were not enthralled with Mad Max: Fury Road nearly a decade ago?
Much of the film is fan service to the 2015 movie. However, if you’re a fan of the original Mad Max you’re once again going to receive a film that feels completely despondent from the ‘eighties’80s franchise that led us to this point in the first place.
The movie certainly has elements to a story that is made for “modern audiences.” At its core, the film is about a group of women struggling to overcome a male dominated society. And that message mirrors what we saw in Fury Road.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is certainly a positive addition to the franchise for those who want to learn more about the Mad Max world without Mad Max. As condescending as that sounds, it doesn’t take away from the fact that the film is a solid action adventure that does his job by pleasing its audience.
NEXT: ‘Babes’ Review – The Worst Movie You’ll Watch This Year… Hopefully
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024), Warner Bros. Pictures
PROS
- Practical effects.
- Cinematography.
CONS
- Storytelling.
- Anya Taylor-Joy.
- Toothless prequel.
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