Wonderful news – Furiosa is that rarest of things – a prequel that elevates and enhances the classic film it leads into. After you see Furisoa, you can never see Fury Road as standalone movie again. It is absolutely the completion of the Furiosa arc, and works much better that way than on its own. Max is just another guy she meets in her epic, and that’s ok.
This is the fifth film from George Miller that’s set in the world of Mad Max – a post-apocalyptic Australia in which civilisation has collapsed at the only valuable commodities are food, water, bullets and ‘guzzoline’, used to power the raiding vehicles that various tribes use to assert dominance over each other in the vast barren landscape. Nonetheless, it’s actually the perfect jumping-on point, serving as it does as a prequel to the best-of-the-rest, Fury Road, and requiring no prior knowledge from the audience.
Furiosa traces the journey of the titular heroine as she is torn from her idyllic ‘Green Place’ as a child (Alyla Browne, later Anya Taylor-Joy) and thrust into the brutal reality of survival in the wastelands. Unlike Fury Road, which took place over a matter of just a few days, Furiosa has a years-long narrative that takes her from capture by Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) to Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme, taking over from the sadly departed Hugh Keays-Byrne), journeying from the Wasteland to each of the great fortresses that punctuate it: The Citadel, The Gas Town and The Bullet Farm.
George Miller’s direction is once again kinetic and revved-up, yet punctuated moments of poignant introspection. The film’s pacing can seem relentless, although the episodic structure, time jumps and ellipses mean it does sometimes feel a bit endless on a first watch. At one points there’s a 40-day war that Miller simply ellides. But this all allows for both high-octane chases and character-driven storytelling.
Miller is as ever concerned with immersive, dusty ,beaten-up world-building, flamboyant grotesques and taciturn heroes, and innovative cinematography. The combination of of practical effects with stunning CGI delivers on spectacle, although the balance has clearly shifted a little more towards CGI than was the case with Fury Road. John Seale’ ‘s cinematography is breathtaking, capturing the stark beauty of the wastelands and the chaos of battle with equal finesse. The bleak yellows, desolate browns and fiery reds underscores the film’s harsh setting and the frequent wide shots emphasizes the vastness of the landscape, while close-ups capture the intensity of Furiosa’s emotional journey.
Early chapters show Furiosa as a young girl, and so Anya Taylor-Joy doesn’t take on the role until about a third of the way into the film. Nevertheless, she is compelling in the part, embodying the character’s strength, vulnerability, and determination as she transforms from a naive young girl to a hardened warrior. The supporting cast are if anything even better, with highlights including Tom Burke as the sullen/beatific Praetorian Jack (this film’s stoic Max-equivalent), and Chris Hemsworth as manic desert warlord Dementus. This is, if anything, the best Hemsworth has ever been, playing it broad yet nuanced, eating up the dereset with panache deranged yet with a strangely vulnerable core.
The adrenaline-soaked soundtrack from Tom Holkenborg (aka Junkie XL) powers the mayhem along, all the way to to the morning of Fury Road itself. These two films are now simply part of one long story, and it’s hard to image treating them individually any more than you would look at The Godfather Part 2 in isolation. Furiosa is so good is makes the best action film of the 21st century into its third act – and gets away with it, shiny and chrome. What a wonderful day!
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is on release in the US from May 23 and in the UK from May 24.
Whitlock&Pope 