During pre-production on Mad Max: Fury Road, director George Miller and co-writer Nico Lathouris wrote an entire backstory that chronicled Charlize Theron’s tough-as-nails Imperator Furiosa, from her lost childhood to the warrior we came to know her as in that now-unforgettable 2015 chapter. Reportedly, the actress wondered why they weren’t making her character’s origin story instead of Fury Road, as she found the former more interesting. Well, that backstory stayed with Miller and many of the same crew. And with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, it comes to fruition as both an exhilarating and immersive odyssey, and as a different kind of Mad Max story.
For one thing, we get to see locations and set pieces only spoken about in Fury Road, such as the Green Place of Many Mothers (this narrative’s Garden of Eden, with “healthy, nourished full lives”), Gastown, and the Bullet Farm. We also get to see more of the Citadel, a younger--and a bit more sympathetic?--Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme replaces the late Hugh Keyes-Burne), and earlier versions of his massive War Rig. We also get a genuine sense of how strong Furiosa is--like mother, like daughter. The Wasteland, meanwhile, is as savage, brutal, and dangerous of an environment as we’ve seen by far in this franchise. (Plus, you would not want to be a War Boy. Just saying.)
Anya Taylor-Joy steps into the titular role like her signature mechanical arm and makes it all her own; her eyes, stares, and quiet rage saying everything. Although the actress doesn't technically show up until halfway through the movie (Alyla Browne plays Furiosa as a child), what an entrance it is! And what a risk on the filmmakers' parts. Tom Burke is equally terrific as her partner Praetorian Jack. But Furiosa is also a rare case where the main villain steals the show. And with the big-nosed, sadistic warlord Dementus, Marvel veteran Chris Hemsworth (almost unrecognizable) has never been more against-type, nor so broad, colorful, or sick. The dynamic between Hemsworth and Taylor-Joy leads to several moments that’ll leave you breathless.
One of Miller's specialties is the power of stories, of history, and of mythology. With this film, there is not only a battle for power and control (cue Dementus against Immortan Joe), but also a fight for Furiosa to get back home and to preserve what little she has left of where she came from. (She carries a tree seed throughout.) In fact, there are very few characters in this story who believe there is something better out there than all the madness around them, while everyone else argues that such places no longer exist--or at least want to pilfer and overtake whatever abundance they can get for their own personal gain. Praetorian Jack is one of the few characters to exemplify somebody fighting for something greater. (“Even as the world fell, my parents fought to be warriors for a virtuous cause.”)
But while Fury Road had a redemptive arc or two, Furiosa is essentially a slow-burn revenge thriller. (Furiosa was forced to watch her mother murdered right in front of her.) Sure, it literally rides off into the sunset. But it heads toward the sun while it’s still hot, and slowly, quietly comes to a boiling point. The result, like Tom Holkenborg's subtle and intense score and the film's thunderous sound design, is heart-pounding and jaw-dropping. And graphic, nnot just because of Furiosa’s severed arm. One truly gross scene involves maggots and decomposing limbs in creepy underground tunnels. There are also grim scenes of torture and psychological tension, leaving a lot to the imagination.
Furiosa also seems a bit more dialogue-heavy (then again, so were the 1979 original and 1985’s Beyond Thunderdome). Its two-and-a-half-hour runtime may try the patience of viewers used to fast action and crazy stunts (which this movie has plenty of), but I give Miller and company credit for presenting a different, more layered, and subversive kind of Mad Max. The chapter titles help make it feel like a piece of classic literature or ancient mythology. Its narrative structure, amazingly, comes full circle, from white to black, from innocence to antiheroism, if you will. The film does fall short in some of its visuals, half of which are clearly CGI panoramas; ditto massive crowd shots and insane car crashes (perhaps due to safety concerns from the last movie).
Still, the effect is nothing short of gripping and exhilarating. For someone in his 80s (so are Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola), George Miller remains as skilled and crafty a filmmaker as he’s ever been. He really understands, and knows how to create, cinema. I guess all that's left is that pre-Fury Road backstory he and Lathouris wrote for Max Rockatansky, titled Mad Max: The Wasteland. We'll see. Remember that.
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