FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA - Mark Reviews Movies

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Warner Bros. Pictures

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | May 23, 2024

The sheer and awesome spectacle of Mad Max: Fury Road probably couldn't have been topped, and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga does itself no favors by showing us some highlights of the previous film during this one's end credits. The filmmakers behind the last entry in the series return for this prequel, detailing how the eponymous break-out character from the earlier adventure became such a hardened warrior—even among people toughened by surviving in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

When it comes, the action of co-writer/director George Miller's movie is exactly what we expect—and mostly what we hope to see. Using a mix of practical elements—stunt performers and real vehicles, most importantly—and visual effects, this installment gives us high-speed chases and daring acts—quite dangerous, actually, from the looks of them—as massive jury-rigged trucks, muscle cars, motorcycles, and other modes of transportation speed across the Australian desert. Punctuated by pyrotechnics and car crashes and real people (or convincing digital doubles) leaping to or being tossed from those vehicles, Miller ensures we see the levels of detail and commitment required for these sequences, while also making certain that each one is comprehensible on a story level and a staging one.

The simple fact, though, is that just aren't nearly as many of those scenes in this new entry, which isn't inherently a problem. After all, Miller has been making these movies since the late 1970s, and while the 30-year break between the last of the original trilogy and his 2015 reboot certainly resulted in a burst of creativity, it's not as if the installments before this pairing were non-stop action extravaganzas. The appeal was also in the world-building, the strange inventiveness of its locales and characters, and the way each entry felt unique in some way.

None of that can be as forcefully asserted in this entry, which is intrinsically familiar, since it brings back most of the locations and many of the characters or character types from the last one. Add to that a lumbering narrative, which follows the title character from her tragic childhood to her defiant act that set the previous film in motion, and this entry becomes one of starts and stops in both storytelling and action—with a few too many stops along the way.

It doesn't help that much of Furiosa's character in this tale depends on our knowledge of who she will become. She's mostly silent here, either as a child, played by Alyla Browne, or after an uncertain number of years pass, leading to her being played by Anya Taylor-Joy. The basic premise is a revenge story, as a young Furiosa is abducted from her idyllic home in the wasteland by a gang of marauders, leading to a slow-speed, long-distance chase by Furiosa's motorcycle-riding, sniper-rifle-wielding mother (played by Charlee Fraser).

Mom is eventually killed by the demented Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), the leader of the gang, leaving Furiosa to become a captive of Dementus and, after some negotiations over resources, Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), the head of the Citadel—one of the three major fortresses of the wasteland. With all of that established or re-introduced (Gastown returns, for example), Furiosa becomes determined to kill Dementus.

It's nothing new, of course, but the simplicity of plotting within this franchise is often a strength. In this case, though, Miller and returning screenwriter Nick Lathouris' storytelling feels decidedly uncertain. The narrative is divided into chapters, is frequently choppy in its editing (fading to black to suddenly end scenes), and repeatedly makes unclear jumps forward in time, as Furiosa grows up and the politics of the wasteland shift. All of this undercuts the momentum of what's a pretty straightforward story otherwise.

Still, the action remains strong, although the three or four major setpieces of this installment aren't quite on par with even some of the smaller moments of destructive, creative, or stunt-heavy wonder of the previous film. The highlight is probably the attempted heist of a tanker truck on the infamous Fury Road, as a gang of thieves use cars and parasails being pulled by motorbikes to steal the truck. Meanwhile, Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke), a sort of proto-Max, and a group of War Boys, those pale-painted glorious-death-seekers, fend off the attackers with the truck, a harpoon gun, exploding spears, and a crane arm that can nab a motorcycle.

The use of long shots and takes here let us to admire the intricate blending of stunt work and effects, as does another sequence that sees Furiosa and Jack ambushed at the Bullett Farm. There, the geography of the quarry allows for shootouts at various ranges and Jack's truck to battle other vehicles, as well as equipment and structures. It's impressive stuff by almost any metric—except the misfortune that we know Miller and his team can do and have done even more spectacular things.

No matter how striking, the action isn't enough of a justification this time, though. The story of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is simply too cluttered with overly familiar elements, doesn't make the origin of the main character seem too important (especially since she's basically on the sidelines until the third act and we learned everything necessary about her in the last film), and offers nothing new to the world of this series. The intermittent spectacle of the movie can't make up for those shortcomings.

Back to Home

Buy Related Products