STARRING: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, and Alyla Browne. Written by George Miller and Nico Lathouris, directed by George Miller. Cinematography by Simon Duggan, music by Tom Holkenborg. Budget $168 million. Running time 148 minutes.
The main thing wrong with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, indeed the only thing wrong with it, and it's a biggie, is that it came after Mad Max: Fury Road and because of that it's instantly compared to it, which is a shame because sadly it doesn't quite match its predecessor. And whereas the previous film, to which this is a prequel, is a worthy 10/10 without question, FAMMS is only a 9.
The fifth film in the saga, all written and directed by one man, George Miller, the series shows no sign of slowing, indeed if anything it seems to be getting more relentless, faster and definitely more textured.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga gives us the origin story of, hmmm, Furiosa played in the previous film, with perfection, by Charlize Theron, this time round it's Anya Taylor-Joy filling in the years from her abduction from the Green Place to the time she helped Immortan Joe's slave wives escape from the Citadel. And whereas the last film had a plot that ran from A to B and back to A in a line so perfectly straight it made the horizon look curved, this one is far more nuanced and layered, there's dialogue and arcs that span 15 years and the scope of it is used to flesh out the worlds of the Citadel, Bullet Farm and Gastown.
Starting off with the abduction of a young Furiosa and the failed rescue mission of her mother, the girl soon becomes the property of Chris Hemsworth's Dementus the warlord leader of the Biker Horde that's sweeping across the wasteland. Forced to watch her mother tortured to death Furiosa becomes mute and is ultimately traded to Immortan Joe as one of his brides, however she escapes and joins the ranks of the Warboys working her way up the ranks until she's piloting one of the huge war rigs, all the time she's plotting her dreadful revenge.
The film told in short stories segments feels in scope like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. It's epic in a scale that's simply staggering and yet sadly can't match the utter uniqueness of Fury Road. We've seen it all already and despite a simply superb and extended chase and battle on the road that lasts for well over 20 minutes but feels like seconds, it just doesn't catch match the sheer uniquness of MMFR's incredible vehicular battles.
Despite relying more on CGI than the previous outing, indeed some of the human animations are a little shonky this is regardless, an incredible film, made by a man with vision and a style all of his own. This is a film that deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible, it's a film that demands respect and its a prequel that for once brings more to the character by revealing what they went through to become the character we know. This is though, a savage and brutal film with some truly vicious and nasty moments, life is short in the wasteland and death seems to be as painful and ugly as it is possible to be. The action is relentless and truly breath-taking and the vehicles quite, quite spectacular.
Miller has crafted a world that is true to its own mythology, a culture built on cars, rubber, tarmac and vehicular destruction, the language of cars and the love of chrome propel this film and rivals Star War's Jedi waffle in terms of daftness, and yet seems all to plausible.
The cast is also superb and Hemsworth, unrecognisable under the makeup is amazing. Damn it, Jim, every one in it and involved with this film are amazing!
Once again I can't really fault this, apart from the sin of being a sequel, it was a deeply satisfying and fantastic visual spectacle that kept me on the edge of my seat and in rapt attention and once again I cannot wait to go and see it again.
9/10
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