Director: George Miller
Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Alyla Browne
Screenplay: George Miller, Nick Lathouris
148 mins. Rated R.

So Furiosa features a scene with a “Boomstick.” We may be living in a cinematic universe with Evil Dead.

Nearly ten years after Fury Road, we’re finally seeing the long-gestating Furiosa prequel film hitting theaters. The film, which follows a young Furiosa in the years between her childhood and introduction in George Miller’s Mad Max legacy sequel, is presented in chapter form (something I absolutely adore). We see young Furiosa (Alyla Browne, Sting) as she witnesses the death of a loved one and her incarceration at the hands of the psychotically absurd Dementus (Chris Hemsworth, Avengers: Endgame). Anya Taylor-Joy (The Menu) stars in the film as adult Furiosa.

Be forewarned, if you are looking for 2-plus hours on non-stop car-on-car spectacle violence, that is not Furiosa. While feeling like a companion piece to Fury Road, this is a very differently-structured tale, presented in a way that feels anthological, where each chapter sees a time jump and a new part of Furiosa’s journey to the character we know. It’s a clever tool because it gets over that big hurdle of origin stories, where they all feel like they have to answer every lingering question about a character and ultimately show that a character was formed over a single event that shaped every part of them. Furiosa isn’t that. This is a life lived, one where she was slowly molded over time as she interacts with the two greatest villains of her life: Dementus and Immortan Joe. I get the feeling that this film and Fury Road will only become stronger as they watched back-to-back over the coming years.

It’s also a long film, making full use of the term Saga, which may veer some viewers away, and I felt like the first portion of the film isn’t as strong as when the adult Furiosa comes into play (this by no means is meant to denigrate Alyla Browne’s performance, as she’s quite great), and we get to see flourish through her interactions with Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke, Mank), a new character who sees Furiosa’s strengths and views her as an equal for the first time in her adult life. This portion of the film was my personal favorite.

There isn’t a bad performance in the bunch, but I have to signal out the absolutely career-best acting of Chris Hemsworth. His take on Dementus is so absurdly out of place that it fits right into Miller’s madcap apocalyptic world. At times funny, while occasionally horrifying and (it’s in the name) demented, this is a new bar for an actor that always brings it. Oh yeah, and for Christmas, I would like his motorcycle chariot.

The film also features just enough references to past films to make any Mad Max fan happy, including the first reference I could find to events in the original trilogy of films from the 70s/80s, and a boatload of setups and payoffs for Fury Road, further intrinsically linking the two stories.

Furiosa is an excellent new entry of the Mad Max world, interestingly enough depicting a tale where the title character is occasionally in the backseat of her story, much like the aforementioned Road Warrior himself. It’s a lush and beautiful landscape with some newly iconic set pieces, characters, and locations that only add to the Saga of both Furiosa and Max. While it does have an unwieldy pacing that may not work for some, I was still quite impressed and entertained throughout, and I’m excited to revisit this one again.

4/5
-Kyle A. Goethe

For my review of George Miller’s Mad Max, click here.
For my review of George Miller’s Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, click here.
For my review of George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, click here.