Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Relentlessness is what sets Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga a notch above its overpraised sequel, Mad Max: Fury Road.
While director/co-writer George Miller’s connected films are very much of a piece, and Fury Road is no slouch in the action department, the prequel’s episodic structure delivers even more high-octane thrills with help from a villain improbably more despicable than Immortan Joe.
That antagonist would be Dementus, played with sickening charm by Chris Hemsworth, an unlikely casting choice who nevertheless twists his Thor appeals to insidious, MAGA-tastic ends. A consistent presence throughout the film, this false messiah enters early as preteen Furiosa (Alyla Browne, Three Thousand Years of Longing) is captured and brought to his camp, trying her damndest to keep her edenic “place of plenty” home a secret.
This opening chapter enhances Fury Road’s glimpses of Furiosa coming from a tribe of powerful warrior women with Mary Jabassa (Charlee Fraser, Anyone But You) showing off the badassery of her people as she attempts to free young Furiosa from Dementus’ clutches.
Rather than disrupt Furiosa’s momentum, the segmented storytelling instead gives viewers a few seconds to catch their breath before being thrown into the middle of the next already-in-progress action sequence. This is a film that refuses to sit still — to an even greater extent than Fury Road — and when it finally takes a momentary pause from its visual and sonic onslaught about an hour in, the silence is jarring. We’re talking an A Quiet Place-level shift where moviegoers are suddenly hyper-aware of every tiny noise in the auditorium.
Such energy is rooted in a similar jerky, comic visual style as Fury Road, yet elevated by a greater diversity of set pieces. And though the ramped-up special effects take some getting used to, they allow Miller to accomplish far more in the imagination department.
Getting to those stunning stretches, however, involves a bit of a logistical gap as Furiosa, now held captive at Immortan Joe’s Citadel, cuts her hair, escapes meatheaded Rictus Erectus (Nathan Jones), and reemerges an ambiguous amount of time later as a War Boy. Though it’s assumed her faux mute existence keeps her safe, there’s nevertheless a narrative leap that’s consistent with the overall vague laws governing Citadel hierarchy and promotion.
The rise of Furiosa (now masterfully played by Anya Taylor-Joy) from War Boy to gas rig driver (where it’s clear to all that she’s a woman) suggests anyone can climb through the ranks via brave deeds and consistent good work. But regardless of the bootstrap-pulling rules that got her there, the important thing is that she gets to work alongside Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke, Mank), resulting in adventures that tip the scales for Furiosa being the five-film series’ strongest installment.
With Dementus having wormed his way into management of Gas Town yet unable to maintain control of the various factions that compose his cult, the Wasteland is particularly hostile and the anarchy yields a tremendous central set piece featuring aerial marauders that exceeds any sequence in Fury Road.
Additional intense stretches arise, expertly conducted by Miller like the maestro that he is and fortified by a rich emotional bond between Furiosa and Jack — plus an intense desire to see Dementus defeated, even if it means our heroes going back under the thumb of Immortan Joe.
Calling it all “feel-good” may be somewhat of an embellishment, but the sense of thorough gratification resonating through viewers as they exit Furiousa is nothing short of euphoric.
Grade: A-minus. Rated R. Now playing at AMC River Hills 10, Asheville Pizza & Brewing Co., Carolina Cinemark, and Regal Biltmore Grande.
(Photo: Warner Bros.)
