9Years after Fury Road, George Miller returns to Cannes with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. But how good is the sci-fi action thriller with Dune 2 star Anya Taylor-Joy?
The Mad Max series leaves Max Rockatansky behind and he is not missed for a second in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. George Miller’s new film tells the prequel to Fury Road, following in big footsteps in the post-apocalyptic irradiated sands of the Australian outback. Instead of parking a Fury Road 2 at our feet, the 148-minute action opus starring Anya Taylor-Joy (Dune: Part Two) and Chris Hemsworth (Thor 4: Love and Thunder) takes a different narrative direction.
In Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Anya Taylor-Joy burns with vengeance
The story of Mad Max: Fury Road takes place over the course of a few days. The whole movie was conceived as a chase, like reading (and devouring) a book from the last pages onwards. In Furiosa, the previous chapters are opened up, spanning a period of 15 years before the final film. Miller thus consistently opposes the attempt to recreate his action triumph from 2015.
Watch the trailer for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga:
Together with co-writer Nico Lathouris, Miller travels back to young Furiosa, who is stolen from her family’s oasis. She falls into the clutches of the warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), who causes terror with a chariot pulled by 3 motorcycles and a horde of biker bros. Dementus lives up to his name and attracts the wrath of little Furiosa with a particularly brutal act. From now on, there is nothing in her head but the desire for revenge. Dementus’ conflict with the rival warlord Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme) comes at just the right time for her.
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The only weakness of Furiosa has to do with Chris Hemsworth
Which sums up the somewhat weaker part of Furiosa. In the first half, we explore the end-time fortresses and their rulers with Furiosa, who trade resources such as water, oil and pistol bullets with each other.
It’s an interesting extension of the Fury Road vision, but one that basically multiplies Immortan Joe’s citadel from the last movie without drawing any deeper insights from it. These distractions around the competition of Dementus and Immortan Joe distract from the essentials and that starts with F and ends with uriosa.
(Chris Hemsworth in Fury Road)
This is only really noticeable when, after about an hour, Anya Taylor-Joy takes the place of Alyla Browne, who plays the young version of the heroine. In Fury Road, the character was brought to life by Charlize Theron. As if on cue, Taylor-Joy’s performance unleashes an action sequence lasting around 15 to 20 minutes, in which a tanker loaded with cabbages and potatoes drives from A to B.
Anyone who has seen Fury Road knows what George Miller and his team can conjure up from such ingredients. Furiosa (the movie) fires us up with plenty of chrome-plated steel and some admirably moronic action ideas. And incidentally tells the beginnings of a little mentoring and love story between Furiosa (the heroine) and truck driver/Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke).
