Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
In 2015 I was in a cinema sitting through trailers when onto the screen rolled one with loud cars, loud music and an even louder font. I was 24 and I thought I knew everything, and what I thought I knew that day was that Mad Max: Fury Road would be utter garbage. Some time later, due to positive whispers and the fact that movie tickets were about $13, I went to see it. Then I saw it twice more, each time dragging a different friend as an excuse to get back to the Wasteland. I bought the original Mad Maxes and binged them between repeat trips to the cinema. And what I discovered was a profound sense of pride in being Australian – something that had never before occurred throughout a youth spent in one of its dullest towns. In a move scarcely anticipated by even George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road became a sensation and topped many lists of the greatest action films not only of the 2010s, but of all time. As a convert it brings me further pride to say that the latest film in the franchise, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, is almost as enlightening as its older sibling.
Furiosa opens in the elusive Green Place, the now-extinct home of Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa in the previous film and that last oasis in a post-apocalyptic world where the only thing more valuable than petrol is water. The Green Place seems a mirage in the vast nothingness of outback Australia, its wind turbines almost as mythological as its horses. But it’s clear that the Vuvalini - the people who inhabit and protect the Green Place, and to whom Furiosa belongs - have been charged with the impossible task of keeping this very real sanctuary safe from the prying eyes and hands that destroyed the rest of the world. So when Young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) spots some marauders butchering Vuvalini horses, she attempts to do just that by severing the fuel tubes of their bikes. Unfortunately, she is interrupted by a man named Toe Jam (David Field) and stolen from the Green Place to be used as proof of its existence and plunderability.
The view from a modded Plymouth Valiant
Throughout the film’s two and a half hour runtime we follow Furiosa’s odyssey from displaced child under tyrannical guardians to vengeful survivor, played with perfectly simmering rage by Anya Taylor-Joy. Furiosa’s bloody and oil-stained path will cross with those of Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme replacing Hugh Keays-Byrne, who sadly passed in 2020), his repulsive sons Scrotus (Josh Helman) and Rictus (Nathan Jones), the virtuous War Rig driver Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke) and the man who took everything from her — the chariot chopper riding Dementus (Chris Hemsworth and nose). Where Fury Road is a there and back again tale covering only three days and two nights, Furiosa spans the 15 years of hard yakka that made Theron’s Furiosa an unkillable, stoic force of good capable of defeating Immortan Joe. While Furiosa lacks the thunderous, iconic quality of its predecessor it does have a more active and charismatic villain in Hemsworth’s Dementus, and offers a more nuanced look at what propels us forward when hope has left the building.
Fashion is alive and well in dystopian Australia
Reading the production notes, I learned that the screenplay for Furiosa was actually written prior to production on Fury Road as a resource that would build the world of Theron’s character and inform the choices of the cast and crew. Miller says that he views the two films as part of “one long saga” and it’s a position evident from his choice to insert scenes from Fury Road in the bookends as a sort of flashforward. While the two films are quite different in story and feel, there is an overwhelming sense that they are very much two paintings of the same world. Part of what connects the films are returning supporting characters, like John Howard’s nipple clamped People Eater, Angus Sampson’s Organic Mechanic and particularly, Nathan Jones’ Rictus Erectus, whose more sinister proclivities are unveiled here. There are the familiar vehicles like the War Rig, the V8s and the bikes but there are also new additions like Dementus’ monster truck and the great tentacled blimp belonging to the Octoboss (Goran D. Kleut) and his rogue gang of Mortifiers. And of course, there’s the desert itself; Furiosa makes a point early on to establish the upcoming events on a map of Australia and that’s because, this time, they were able to film in Broken Hill and other locations across New South Wales.
Tom Burke as Praetorian Jack and Anya Taylor-Joy as the victor of calling ‘shotgun’
While it’s lovely to have a reminder of Mad Max’s Aussie origins Furiosa owes much of its success to the new faces it brings to the Wasteland. Hired on the recommendation of Edgar Wright and an audition in which she delivered the ‘Mad as hell’ speech from Network is Anya Taylor-Joy, further proving that she is one of the most versatile and fearless actors of her generation. Sharing a ballet background with Charlize Theron provided an excellent foundation for the physicality required of Furiosa; if I had doubts upon hearing her casting, the film has allayed them. Then there’s Tom Burke, whose work with mutual Miller colleague Tilda Swinton in The Souvenir put him at the forefront of the director’s mind for Praetorian Jack. Anyone who doesn’t know that Burke is British will be none the wiser after hearing his Australian accent; he slips into the Max Rockatansky-sized hole like a glove, functioning as the one glimpse at a better world for Furiosa. And lastly (but sort of most importantly) comes Chris Hemsworth in a role that frees him from his Disney branded spandex and allows him to play with theatricality and physicality in equal measures. As Dementus he soars, countering Furiosa’s silence with excess verbosity and requests for word burgers, providing a truly engaging, at times hilarious and surprisingly layered villain who serves as a proper adversary for the woman like which hell hath no fury.
Among Furiosa’s other highlights are excellent sound design, a stunning action set piece in the third chapter ‘The Stowaway’, inventive transitional time lapse shots (particularly one involving discarded hair and branch growing out of nowhere) and a flawless expansion of provinces mentioned but never entered in Fury Road. But there are little flaws here and there that keep the film firmly in second place to its predecessor. A choice (explained here) to composite Alyla Browne’s face with Taylor-Joy’s and slowly turn up the ratio of the latter makes Young Furiosa look a little artificial in some scenes; instead of making the eventual transition from child to adult look seamless, it just seems unnecessary and distracting. The emphasis on sound design comes at the cost of Tom Holkenborg’s thunderous score in some scenes, and I was hoping instead for some new tunes. The film has a few pacing issues in the first third that make its runtime felt before it ramps up. And I’d be lying if it didn’t bother me that Furiosa’s accent changes from Australian to American after a time jump with no reasonable explanation.
Chariots of Fire and Guzzolene
Petty gripes aside, Furiosa is a film that I otherwise loved. In a Dirty Harry-esque line that will likely launch itself into the zeitgeist, one character poses “the question is, do you have it in ya to make it epic?” With the double feature of Fury Road and Furiosa now tucked under his chainmail belt buckle, George Miller has well and truly given his answer.
Verdict
☆☆☆☆½
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is in cinemas now. Take along some crazy smeg who eats schlanger.
