It seems like just yesterday I heard that the modern Mad Max franchise was getting a sequel, or in this case, a prequel to the events of Mad Max: Fury Road. Apparently not many people knew about it since it only opened with $32 million with a budget of roughly $168 million making it one of the worst Memorial Day openings ever. This was shocking to me seeing how much it was advertised and how well received Mad Max: Fury Road was. However, Fury Road only opened with $45.4 million and went on to gross more than $376 million worldwide. With that being said, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga should definitely be getting more love from the fans.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a revenge story that gives us a glimpse of what Furiosa’s life was like before she was the Imperator of the Citadel. The antagonist of this movie is Dementus (played by Chris Hemsworth), and he is more ruthless than Immortan Joe, the main antagonist in the first movie. Furiosa is from the Green Place with Many Mothers or “place of abundance” as they liked to call it and she was stolen by Dementus’ forces at a young age. Of course, during the apocalypse, groups are always trying to find a way to survive and trying to find out where she was from was Dementus’ only goal. We also got to see the different towns and how they all worked together in this prequel too. We finally get to see Gastown and the Bullet Farm.
I rewatched Fury Road the day prior to seeing Furiosa and I forgot how much I loved this universe. I have seen my fair share of post-apocalyptic and dystopian movies and TV shows, and the Mad Max series is one of the only ones in my opinion that can accurately describe a post-apocalyptic world. Nothing else really comes close in showing the utter insanity that ensues years after a world ending event.
Instantly, the acting caught my eye, and I am sure everyone else in the theater. For me personally, this is arguably Chris Hemsworth’s best role and performance. He is obviously most well-known for portraying Thor, the god of Thunder in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as a few other projects. I was pretty skeptical about this because I have always seen him as Thor and it’s hard to unsee it. However, he did such a great job as the main antagonist of Furiosa, that sometimes I forgot all his other past acting jobs and just focused on this one. It is also not often we see him as the main villain in a movie which was also great to see.
Anya Taylor-joy was also superb. She has starred in a lot of horror projects but also dabbles in some other genres and honestly, I am all for it. I am a huge fan of hers and interested to see if they continue Furiosa’s legacy in future Mad Max movies.
I saw this movie in IMAX, which I don’t usually do unless it is a big movie like Oppenheimer and Dune Part 2. Let me tell you, this was a game changer. I don’t think the car scenes and action sequences would have been as impactful if I saw it in a regular theater. Of course, it wouldn’t take away from the film too much, but I would definitely recommend seeing it in the IMAX experience.
This movie’s chase scenes are addicting. Like Fury Road, George Miller creates these sequences with such detail that my eyes were glued on the scene the entire time. I enjoyed that he just didn’t recreate the same ones but made them different and put more of a twist on them. One of the only critiques I had with this movie was that there weren’t enough of them. There was plenty of action but not enough chase scenes, which made the first one so good. There were some dialogue scenes that were a little forced and rushed for them to try and fit this story within two and a half hours (which is plenty long) but kind of wished they expanded on the actual place Furiosa came from rather than only showing it for less than five minutes.
Final Thoughts:
Furiosa was an excellent continuation of the Mad Max Universe. Everything about the acting, story and visuals were amazing. I do wish they explained and showed more of the “place of abundance” and the civilization that was there, which makes me like Fury Road more than this one but that doesn’t take away how rewatchable this film is going to be and how I am hoping it’ll hold up to its predecessor.
4.5/5
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Watching movies to me, is like entering another world. Some people can sit down and watch a 2 hour long film but others prefer to binge watch a tv show that has 40 minute long episodes. For me, well I love both. I am a huge fan of fantasy movies such as Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars and Harry Potter, though I tend to stray to different genres here and there, mainly historical dramas and 80s slashers. When I am not watching movies, I’m either at the gym, the mountains, or working as a veterinary technician.
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MY FAVORITE MOVIES:
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
There Will Be Blood
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
The Last of the Mohicans
Schindler’s List