George Miller's Furiosa drives its own path through the Wasteland for an intimate story told on a massive canvas with insane visuals and characters to match.  

Furiosa A Mad Max Saga Review

Miller began this journey in 1979 when the Mel Gibson-led Mad Max landed on the big screen and introduced the world to the Wasteland and the biker gangs that called it home. Almost a decade after revisiting this franchise in Mad Max: Fury Road, Miller is back to give fans an origin story for Imperator Furiosa–a look into her life leading up to the events of Fury Road. Acting as a prequel, Furiosa is complex where Fury Road was simple. The latter being effectively one long chase scene with little dialogue that allowed the action and the world to tell the story. Furiosa on the other hand is a more intimate story told on a massive canvas.

Despite their differences, Furiosa, like Fury Road before it, shows Miller's keen eye for visual storytelling, rich world building, and characters you can't help but be fascinated with, whether they are good or evil. This time, audiences are shown the fundamentals of The Wasteland, as seen through Furiosa's determined gaze. There are politics to navigate, sacrifices to be made, and human clichés that even in a post-apocalyptic world seem to endure. It's a visual spectacle that feels wholly different from but enriches the story of Fury Road. Although it does run a bit longer than likely necessary, it draws you in for another insanely wild ride through this universe. 

Divided into chapters, the film begins when young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) is kidnapped from her home in the Green Place of Many Mothers by the charismatic and insane Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), the leader of Bike Horde. Seeing that she is clearly healthy, Dementus demands to know where she is from. When she refuses to lead him to “the place of abundance,” he decides to use her to gain power over Gas Town by trading her to Citadel leader Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme takes over for the late Hugh Keays-Byrne). Joe takes her in as a future bride but she has other ideas. Rising through the ranks to become Imperator Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy), she uses her status to search for ways to get home. Even with help from Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke), Furiosa's plans are derailed as she comes face-to-face with the man responsible for her misery– Dementus.  

The ruthlessness of the Wasteland is evident in all the visual splendor but it takes the performances of the characters to really drive it home. Taylor-Joy, as the nearly wordless Furiosa, shines bright in the harshness of this world. She imbues Furiosa with the confidence and sheer grit needed to survive in the world. Miller purposefully focuses on Taylor-Joy's gaze, as so much of her communication is through her eyes, rather than words. Taylor-Joy delivers a gripping performance as she disappears within the character, practically becoming unrecognizable. Through her expressions she conveys so much, seething rage, sorrow, and even fear. She's quiet, contemplative, but never mistake her silence for anything less than cold calculation. It's easy to see how this young woman eventually grew into the one Charlize Theron played in 2015, primal scream and all.

Furiosa needs a villain and surprisingly it's not Immortan Joe or anyone else from the previous film but Warrior Dementus. Although he has never been seen before in a film he's not entirely new. He was actually mentioned in Immortan Joe's origin story in the 2015 video game. This gives Hemsworth all the leeway to make Dementus his own and the result is a character that is shockingly ruthless and viciously delightful to watch. He's ridiculous, idealistic, and gleefully sadistic. Hemsworth swaggers around with his innate charm, drawing you innocently to his cause before shocking your sensibilities with Dementus' level of cruelty. In his own eyes he is the hero and he acts accordingly– as in he feels everything he does is beyond reproach and all for the greater good. Even when things begin to crash around him, Dementus holds tight to his “righteous” cause. He's the funny man to Taylor-Joy's seriousness and honestly I could have watched more of his cult-leader shenanigans. 

It was surprising that amidst the carnage is a story about love and how nothing can ever truly overpower it. There is the love Furiosa has for her mother and her homeland, so strong she is willing to face absolute horrors to protect it and find her way back. Then there is her connection with Praetorian Jack, another soldier of circumstances like herself. Even Dementus, in his own demented, way does what he does out of a twisted love. But this isn't some love story but rather a pointed look at how fighting for what we love can warp us in ways that are unexpected. 

Like his other sprawling epics, Miller meticulously builds out the world in a way that it tells the story of his characters without needing their input. Cinematographer Simon Duggan captures Miller's vision and all its details, both large and small. Whether it is watching time-passing via a wig stuck on a branch or an insane escape from a fortress, every inch of the screen is filled with purposeful imagery. Furiosa creates links to the other Mad Max films in a way that not only answers questions but offers exciting easter eggs that will delight fans. The landscape is as cruelly beautiful and the visceral violence is dialed up several notches, what more could you want?

The set pieces are sheer awe-inspiring and physics defying. Those big moments, when cars, trucks, and motorcycles are zipping around while gunshots and boomsticks whiz by are exhilarating. Who cares if mechanically it is all impossible? It looks freaking awesome. The escape scene is one of the many that standout during the runtime but expertly avoids the momentum killing thought that you know where this is going. Obviously she survives and escapes but Miller knows how to make you doubt your memories. It's a testament to Miller's direction as well as Taylor-Joy's performance that you find yourself holding your breath as Furiosa's life seems precariously close to ending. 

Verdict

Somehow Miller has delivered something that is more ambitious in scale than Fury Road, yet tells an intimate story that parallels Homer's Odyssey. Although it stays true to the universe it hails from, Furiosa cuts its own path through The Wasteland for a visual spectacle that exceeds expectations in so many ways. Taylor-Joy is a force of nature in the titular role while Hemsworth steals scenes left and right. It works as a standalone movie, although knowledge of the previous films (at the very least Fury Road) will enrich the whole viewing experience. This is a hero's journey told in a way that only George Miller's maximalism tendencies could accomplish.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15. It releases in theaters on May 24. The film is rated R for sequences of strong violence and grisly images with a runtime of 148 minutes.