Director George Miller (Mad Max, Happy Feet) blew audiences and critics away with his return to his gritty, Australian set Mad Max franchise with the 2015 reboot, Mad Max: Fury Road.
That film once again followed protagonist Max Rockatansky (now played by Tom Hardy in a post Mel Gibson tenure), the last survivor of his family living as a scavenger in the desert wasteland. His autonomy is interrupted when he’s captured by Immortan Joe’s minions in the opening act.
Max’s imprisonment and daring escape sends him on a journey which pairs him with Charlize Theron’s one-armed warrior, Furiosa. This shaved-head warrior with intense eyes and a mechanical arm was the breakout character of the film, thanks to Theron’s performance and the character’s altruistic mission to save the captive wives of Immortan Joe.
Furiosa launches her daring escape plan while driving the war rig, a lengthy semi-truck fortified to handle hauling food, bullets, and gasoline across the wasteland. When things don’t go as planned, Furiosa forges an alliance with Max as they try to outrun the ruthless warlord Immortan Joe his henchmen.
The action-packed, high-speed chase through the Wasteland ultimatley takes a 180, as Furoisa and Max drive the war rig back toward the Citadel now that it’s left unguarded by all of Immortan Joe’s forces currently pursuing Furiosa’s war rig.
Over the five films and forty-five years (and prior to Furiosa), Mad Max: Fury Road was the most celebrated, collecting Academy Award nominations and wins for many of the below the line artisans.
However, 2024’s Furiosa is by far the most emotionally rich narrative produced under the franchise banner. This prequel follows the character of Furiosa introduced in Miller’s last film, from her childhood beginnings to adulthood. With Theron too old for the part, Furiosa is portrayed with incredible talent by Alyla Browne and Anya Taylor-Joy.
Five dense chapters of narrative deliver the most complex look at a protagonist within Miller’s post apocalyptic world. Everything about the film feels like an epic Greek tale, spun with a greater focus on themes and character than the driving
The opening frames are black screen which has off screen voice over of a medley of various news bulletins and radio announcements, outlining the series of events that led to the Australian apocalyptic landscape which we find in the opening frames of the film.
The opening film sees Browne’s young child version of Furiosa picking fruit from a tree in the bountiful vegetative area known as “The Green Place,” an oasis of plant life amid the desert wasteland which is kept a secret by a society of bad ass warrior women.
A foraging biker gang arrives to the Green Place and they are overjoyed with the abundance of food present. Furiosa wisely attempts to sabotage their bikes so that they cannot flee and tell their gang members about it.
Furiosa is tragically captured and her warrior mother, played by Charlee Fraser, ventures out into the wasteland to eliminate the surviving biker gang members, in order to protect the secret that is the Green Place and retrieve her daughter.
This is the first of many incredible set pieces, filled with crazed stunts and adrenaline, but like most of Furiosa, the audience has an incredible investment in the action because of emotional investment and stakes surrounding this mother and daughter bond.
Furiosa’s mother speeds over sand dunes and fights through a sandstorm, killing all but one of the bikers who delivers young Furiosa to the hideout belonging to cunning leader of the gang, Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). Hemsworth’s Dementus is part carnival barker, part nipple pierced sadist, and part cunning strategist with his own past filled with personal pain and loss (the teddy bear worn on his hip is a nice visual reminder throughout the film).
Furiosa’s mother kills one of the gang but spares a female gang member while rescuing her daughter. This is a tragic choice as the spared woman quickly alerts the gang to the fleeing pair. Cornered after a short pursuit, Furiosa’s mother sends her daughter off and chooses to stand her ground and sacrifice herself for her daughter.
A tragic flaw that is revisited later in the film, Furiosa is unable to abandon those close to her. She turns back to go to her mother where she finds Dementus brutally torturing her and then Dementus takes her as a slave.
This is the beginning of a decade-plus feud between Furiosa and Dementus, forever linked in anger and grief… a victim that grew into a victimizing force. The dynamic is elevated by both incredibly capable actresses portraying Furiosa and Hemsworth’s Oscar worthy turn as Dementus. The film’s trailer, attached below, does little to highlight the nuance and craftsmanship that Hemsworth puts into the role in collaboration with Miller.
Alyla Browne carries the first hour of the film as young Furiosa, building the groundwork for Taylor-Joy’s take over as Furiosa once the character is traded to a younger Immortan Joe in the Citadel.
Taylor-Joy’s Furiosa travels the wasteland with Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke)on an oil run which becomes an epic attack from another gang. The two surive the attack and forge a bond, as Jack realizes Furiosa is a woman trying to pass as a male and he gives her his trust in keeping her secret, along with respect.
Burke’s Mad Max-adjacent character of Jack has minimal screen time, but Burke brings a real presence to the role and there’s no denying the strong chemistry with Taylor-Joy. Furiosa is hoping to one day return to “The Green Place” paradise via the tattooed map of stars on her forearm.
Meanwhile, Dementus’ wit, callousness, and cold calculations have led to the take over of bullet town, in addition to controlling gas town. Dementus is a real rival to Immortan Joe and seemingly the one force he isn’t prepared for is Furiosa.
Furiosa once again is face with a chance to escape danger but it would require leaving Jack to certain death. Once again, she can’t turn her back on someone who has been there for her and her best intentions almost get the two of them to escape.
Instead, they’re caught and Jack is killed while Furiosa is able to escape by cutting off her arm with the map to “The Green Place.” At this stage, Furiosa is soley focused on the elimination of Dementus and the revenge for her mother and Jack. At the same time, she’s witness the mistreatment of the “wives” of Immortan Joe and she’s already realizing that something must be done about this injustice (sewing the seeds for Fury Road).
However, the audience is deeply invested in Furiosa’s revenge and once she beings using her long rifle to eliminate Dementus’ men, it is a captivating final chapter to the tale.
Dementus’ final moments upon capture give the most insight into his own personal pain, the emotional ties to the teddy bear from a lost family, and his feelings on Furiosa and her life’s journey of revenge.
Miller does an incredible job directing the actors in the climax, brilliantly captured by Simon Duggan whose work as Director of Photography is stunning throughout the picture landscape, highlighting the brilliant production design as well as the intensely choreographed moments of action.
There is much to be said of Furiosa thematically, with ties to the garden of Eden in the Bible to Dementus’ fate of being the base of a tree planted from a seed held onto by Furiosa for the entirety of the film.
Longtime Miller collaborator Tom Holkenborg, gets a break from the propulsive score as his lighter touch is shown in the final moments of the film.
While many seem to prefer the predecessor and its more lively elements (the guitar-playing, flame-throwing mad man comes to mind), I cannot help but feel the richness of the narrative, from emotional investment and tragic flaws spread across fully realized, three-dimensional characters, Furiosa stands as the cream of the crop among Miller’s wasteland tales.
Letter Grade: A