Is Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Worth The Hype?
One of this year’s most widely anticipated films is Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the latest in the long-running post-apocalypse franchise. Starring Anya Taylor-Joy in the lead role, Furiosa debuted at Cannes and is now finally in cinemas.
The film, the fifth in the Mad Max franchise and a prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, tells the story of a young girl who is taken into captivity at an early age by a gang of bikers led by their charismatic leader (played by Chris Hemsworth), and her attempts to escape and seek revenge for the pain she’s endured.
What is Furiosa about?
Furiosa takes place in the Mad Max universe, but Max, most recently portrayed by Tom Hardy, is not who this film is about. Instead, it follows the origins of the battle-hardened Imperator Furiosa, who debuted in 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, where she was played by Charlize Theron and was hailed as an iconic new film action heroine. Though Taylor-Joy is the main star of the cast, we first meet Furiosa in this movie as a young girl, played by Alyla Browne, as the child is abducted from her mother and friends.
Even if you’re not normally into the action genre, this prequel does a great job of fleshing out one of last decade’s most acclaimed female characters.
For those not in the know, Mad Max takes place in a post-apocalypse version of Australia known as The Wasteland, where all order and society have collapsed, and barely any remnants of civilisation remain. Our young heroine lives in a place of lush green and fresh fruit, apparently the only place like this in the whole country, and it’s from here that a biker horde kidnaps her. This gang’s leader is a warlord known as Dementus, played by Hemsworth, who forms a bond with Furiosa. The actor is quite far away here from his role as Thor in the Marvel movies, and gives an impressive and engaging performance that becomes more and more unhinged as the film goes on.
Escape isn’t something that’s quick and easy for Furiosa, and the narrative spans several years as a bit of CGI wizardry is used on Browne’s face to bridge the gap between child and young adult Furiosa, before Taylor-Joy takes over for the rest of the film. As she grows older, the protagonist becomes used to the chaos and brutality of the world around her, as she gradually learns just what it takes to survive. She’s dragged into a volatile and increasingly dangerous conflict between warring factions, and bides her time time to try and seek revenge against Dementus. Moving from a helpless young child who’s only able to run away into a multi-talented survivor, Furiosa shoots, drives and fights her way through bone-rattling truck chases and battles in wasteland outposts.
As action films go, Furiosa is up there with the best, offering chase thrilling set pieces and some seriously creative filmmaking.
Is Furiosa worth seeing?
As action films go, Furiosa is up there with the best, offering chase thrilling set pieces and some seriously creative filmmaking, but personally the performances are what makes it particularly worthwhile. While it might not be an Oscar bait drama, Furiosa’s story is told in a way that sets it apart from other big blockbusters. Like Tom Hardy in Fury Road, Taylor-Joy doesn’t have a huge amount of lines in the film, instead allowing her to communicate physically and through her expressions (and the lines she does say are a spot on impersonation of Charlize Theron). Hemsworth is really a lot of fun in his role as Dementus, delivering his lines with villainous panache and feeling genuinely unpredictable as the narrative goes on.
Other highlight performances include Tom Burke as Jack, a fellow survivor who Furiosa meets, Lachy Hulme as rival warlord Immortan Joe, and Charlee Fraser as Furiosa’s mother. Even if you’re not normally into the action genre, this prequel does a great job of fleshing out one of last decade’s most acclaimed female characters and remains edge-of-your-seat throughout.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is in cinemas now. Make sure to see it in IMAX for the biggest screens and booming sound.
