Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – Movie Reviews by Ry!

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – In the Wasteland of Fury and Revenge

Through the eyes of a creative, anything is possible.  From wonder to passion, imagination provides a genuine path of escape, especially in film.  Filmmakers look to find that hook, one that will bring you in regardless of genre or story points.  For all the cliches that abound, if you can see the vision come to life, the journey can be fun.  In this review, I look at the latest entry in the Mad Max universe.  In a prequel that dances in obvious story elements, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is an intuitive escape of survival and revenge.

This is the story about Furiosa (Young version: Alyla Brown / Older Version: Anya Taylor-Joy), and her pathway of revenge against Dr. Dementus (Chris Hemsworth).  At the heart of any tale (original, sequel or prequel) is the throughline.  When it comes to ‘building a universe’, you want to see growth in characters, but an understanding of their placement in the overall world.  In this prequel, we witness the backstory of our titular character, and how her past becomes that connective tissue to the events in Mad Max: Fury Road.  The story begins with young Furiosa being captured and offered (as a prize) to Dr. Dementus.  After a series of conversational scenes, tragedy strikes and Furiosa is left with ideas of loss and revenge.  This becomes a major motivational point, leading through a series of scenes where she manipulates situations and characters until she can achieve her goal.  From here, the film becomes a bombastic journey of otherworldly moments within creative set pieces.  Like any film in this universe, the story elements are trivial when compared to its odd characters, insane world-building and over-the-top action sequence.  Within the surreal is the irony of a genuine feeling.  No matter who is the central character (of these films), you feel the power of the moments because of the raw human endeavor of survival.  Witnessing Furiosa’s rise through uncertainty brings about that hook for the audience.  You are along for the ride (no pun intended), rooting for her to enact revenge on Dr. Dementus.  The bravado of circumstance outweighs any convenient plot elements, an irony of George Miller’s (writer/director) cunning perspective on this savage wasteland.   

From Furiosa’s perspective, you witness social angst and unhinged civility, one that provides the backdrop for her personal goals.  As additional characters make their way into the story, a balance between world-building and plot driven circumstances becomes a manner of reaching the obvious end point (for the prequel).  Even within telegraph moments, we head into a third act that highlights the strength of the creatives.  Through bombastic action moments and poignant confrontations, it leads into a full circle climax and a rundown type of epilogue.  Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a prequel that manages to be another fun entry in this franchise.  If you are a fan of Mad Max, character, or action style films, this is one for you.  I can say that there is enough here to have fun on the big screen.  

Full Score – 3.5 out of 5 (Matinee)