Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

In many ways George Miller’s reinvention of Mad Max is an unlikely blockbuster Hollywood franchise. 2015’s Fury Road breathed new life into a story that began as a post-apocalyptic Aussie B-movie and sequels of peak 80s/90s action excess.

The latest installment, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, tells us the origins of Charlize Theron’s one-armed breakout character, Furiosa, now played by Anya Taylor-Joy (and as a child by Alyla Browne). In the opening act, she is dragged from her home, a secret paradise-like oasis in the wastelands of post-apocalyptic Australia by minions working for cult leader-like biker warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). Forced to watch her mother tortured to death after trying to rescue her, Furiosa becomes a captive mascot to Dementus, who hopes one day she will succumb to his charms and lead him to her home.

Amid their hunt, they come to the Citadel stronghold of the first movie and its own cultish leader Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), to whom Furiosa is gifted as a “wife” (in fact more of a broodmare). She escapes her fate with a vicious cunning she later uses to become a key lieutenant to Praetorian Jack  (Tom Burke), the crack driver of the War Rig that precipates the vital trade of vegetables, water, oil, and weapons between Joe’s Citadel, a Dementus-controlled Gas Town, and the aptly named Bullet Town.

Furiosa is a very different film to Fury Road – its scope is wider both in time and place – spanning around 15 years and broadening the world of the wasteland. That doesn’t mean, however, Miller has lost his balletic nose for spectacular action; just this time there’s a darker, mystic soul to the story that primarily plays out between Furiosa and Dementus, with the latter driven mad by the loss of his own loved ones and desiring a love/hate relationship she is determined not to reciprocate.

Hemsworth in fact, arguably steals the show as Dementus – despite Taylor-Joy and Burke having great chemistry that veers between mentor and mentee and something more romantic. The Thor actor memorably played a cult leader in Bad Times at the El Royale, and channels a comic unhingedness here to similar effect.

There’s also a lot visually and thematically that pays homage to the two original Mad Max sequels, and Beyond Thunderdome in particular.

At almost two and a half hours it perhaps lacks the tightness of the last instalment but that’s worth it thanks to Miller’s visual inventiveness in realising his world.

Mark Worgan

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is released nationwide on 24^th May 2024.

Read more reviews from our Cannes Film Festival 2024 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Cannes Film Festival website here.

Watch the trailer for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga here: