"Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" deftly weaves breathtaking action sequences into a compelling origin story that both enhances “Mad Max: Fury Road” on repeat viewings and stands on its own.
By Kevin Slane
Toward the end of “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” the vainglorious warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) issues a challenge to Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy): “The question is, do you have it in you to make it epic?”
The line feels like one director and co-writer George Miller could have asked himself in the mirror, faced with the prospect of delivering a worthy prequel to 2015’s “Mad Max: Fury Road,” one of the best movies of the 21st century and one of the greatest action films of all time.
To get the inevitable question out of the way, “Furiosa” is not better than “Fury Road.” But that’s an impossibly high bar to clear. What “Furiosa” is, however, is the greatest prequel film ever made.
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In telling the complete tale of Imperator Furiosa (played by Charlize Theron in “Fury Road”), Miller masterfully weaves the breathtaking action sequences he is known for into a compelling origin story that both enhances “Fury Road” on repeat viewings and stands on its own.
Unlike “Fury Road,” which rarely let its foot off the gas, “Furiosa” is told at a much more deliberate pace, particularly in its first hour. The film begins in the idyllic “Green Place of Many Mothers,” where an elementary school-aged Furiosa (Alyla Browne) picks an apple from a lush green tree.
After being snatched by bandits, Furiosa’s mother (Charlee Fraser) makes a valiant but unsuccessful effort to save her daughter — while also keeping the Green Place hidden from those who would exploit it. The reason for keeping the oasis secret is made abundantly clear with the introduction of Dementus, an incredibly self-absorbed leader whose appetite for conquest cannot be sated.
Addressing his legions of bike-riding marauders in a deliberately overdone Australian accent, Hemsworth is hilarious but chilling. His grandiose speeches recall those of The Humungus from Miller’s 1981 film “Mad Max: The Road Warrior.” With his shrewd use of grievance politics to motivate his legions to “take back what’s ours,” Dementus also bears more than a passing resemblance to real-life politicians of a more recent vintage.
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As Dementus leads his troops across the desert (with a caged Furiosa in tow), he bumps up against fellow despots, including the antagonist of “Fury Road,” Immortan Joe. Not long after, Furiosa makes the leap from pre-teen to adulthood, finally giving Anya Taylor-Joy a chance to step into the titular role.
As soon as the “Queen’s Gambit” actress enters the fray, Miller puts his foot on the gas. The largest action setpiece in the film, which supposedly took more than 200 stunt workers and 78 days of filming to complete, is a masterpiece that stands toe to toe with any of the War Rig chase scenes from “Fury Road.” There’s a touch more CGI in this one than its predecessor, but the technology is used in an artful manner — another tool in Miller’s arsenal.
Despite her late introduction and limited dialogue, Taylor-Joy is a magnetic as Furiosa. Even when she cloaks herself from head-to-toe in an attempt to blend in amongst the hive of scum and villainy that surrounds her, she is inevitably spotted. Miller loves using bug-eyed reaction shots to punctuate hyper-violent moments in the “Mad Max” series; while he does return to that well briefly in the film, Taylor-Joy’s maximally expressive eyes are enough of a special effect on their own.
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Part of what made “Mad Max: Fury Road” so successful was how it built a fully-formed world through showing instead of telling. Every grotesque peasant, every deluded War Boy, and every jacked-up monster truck, taken together, formed a Hieronymous Bosch painting set in post-apocalyptic Australia.
“Furiosa” mostly resists the urge to over-explain as well. But because it is telling a much deeper, more sprawling story, there is naturally more that needs to be said. In a little over two hours, Miller effectively conveys the legend of a woman who was snatched from her mother, has been through Hell, and emerges intact, albeit with a War Rig-sized chip on her shoulder.
Upon rewatching “Fury Road” the day after “Furiosa,” the scene in which Charlize Theron’s Furiosa collapses to the ground and screams at the heavens carried so much more weight now that we’ve seen exactly how she got to that point. Enhancing one of the best films of the last decade would be reason enough to see “Furiosa.” But even on its own, the film is a masterstroke from one of the greatest living auteurs.
Rating: **** (out of 4)
“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” is in theaters May 24.
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