Oh what a film. What a lovely film! Director George Miller returns to the wasteland with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the most balls-out and inventive action extravaganza since his own Mad Max: Fury Road from 2015. With his latest, Miller is up to his masterful old tricks of inventive world-building and putting every other modern action picture to shame.

The fifth installment in the finest collection of post apocalyptic action pictures ever crafted finds Furiosa as a young girl (played by Alyla Browne) living in the oasis known as “The Green Place”, the once tree and fruit-filled lands where she was born. Immediately abducted by a band of motorcycle-riding marauders, young Furiosa is taken from her Eden and, at too young of an age, learns to survive in a world ravaged by pain and death.

Her abductors are part of a desert clan ruled by Dementus (a wildly evil Chris Hemsworth). Wearing a deceptive smile, this man strives to be a warrior king of the wastelands as he roams the highways, leading his savage biker hoard and riding a chariot drawn by three roaring motorcycles rather than horses. As the villain goes from Dr. Dementus to Dark Dementus, a fantastic Hemsworth portrays the power mad savagery of a broken soul who has been morally corrupted by the fall of society.

Dementus and his clan find their own enemy in Immortan Joe, this time played by Lachy Hulme, as original actor Hugh Keays-Byrne died in 2020. The character (brought to the saga in Mad Max: Fury Road) is the strongest leader of the three clans. Immortan Joe rules the water, The People Eater (John Howard) rules Gastown, and The Bullet Farmer (Lee Perry) oversees The Bullet Farm. As Dementus makes his declaration to gain sole control of the lands, an all out war begins, with Furiosa caught in the middle.

The film is divided into five chapters and spans 15 years. Anya Taylor-Joy stars as the older Furiosa and has minimal dialogue. With her face mostly covered for a good portion of her screen time, Miller allows the actress to use her uniquely entrancing eyes, which convey more emotions than paragraphs of dialogue. As he did so well with Max Rockatansky, Miller gets to the humanity that burns within the character by focusing on Furiosa’s expressive optic globes, which are truly the window to her character’s soul. Taylor-Joy’s great work is both subtle and powerful and gives life to the beginnings of this resilient warrior.

Miller and his co-screenwriter Nick Lathouris have created the richest story of all the Mad Max pictures. Furiosa’s is an expansive tale to tell and is seamlessly woven into the saga’s history; the character coming of age as the world falls deeper into chaos. George Miller is a master storyteller and proves it again here with this expansive entry.

As with every insanely inventive chapter in the series, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is full-on, engine-roaring, madness that grabs the audience and refuses to let go. Along with creating Furiosa’s epic story, Miller takes no prisoners when crafting his breathtaking action set pieces; each one absolutely jaw-dropping in their execution.

One of the standouts finds Furiosa in, on, and under the first incarnation of the War Rig, Charlize Theron’s makeshift vehicle from Fury Road. Piloted by her mentor, the Max-like Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke), the rig finds itself under siege by the type of wasteland warriors driving machines of mayhem that only George Miller can make consistently fresh. This time, the threats not only come from all sides, but from the air. The marauders fly through the skies, parasailing down like giant black birds of chaos propelled by huge fans. While using some unavoidable CGI, the scene (and every action sequence in the film) is a fearlessly crafted orgy of roaring engines, bloody violence, and insane stunt work where cars and bodies are smashed into oblivion. While the assistance of computer generated effects makes one miss the director’s use of the practical in the first three Max pictures, Miller uses the technique properly. He colors his backgrounds while taking advantage of the CGI tools in some scenes that would have killed even the most seasoned stunt person.

With the Mad Max pictures, spectacle is the name of the game, but never at the expense of story. Each entry finds Miller a cinematic journeyman who strives to create action film art. This film proves he hasn’t lost that creative spark, as there is something poetic amongst the madness. As was Max before her, Furiosa is an innocent thrust into a world that has lost its soul. Bearing witness to her mother’s murder (by Dementus), Furiosa’s path is set as childhood gives way to vengeance and rage. Miller masterfully finds the emotional resonance in her story.

As tanker trucks, motorcycles, souped-up cars, and parasails color the desolate highways fighting battles of bullets and fire, Simon Duggan’s cinematography captures everything with a glorious berserker beauty. Tom Holkenborg’s pounding score retools some of his compositions from Fury Road while expanding the soundscape to even stronger epic levels. Both men (and the phenomenal work of editors Margaret Sixel and Elliot Knapman) deserve recognition come Oscar time.

George Miller has a distinctive visual language that has rightfully kept him as one of our most inventive filmmakers. Be it action, drama, horror, comedy, or animation, the director always swings for the fences and assures every picture he helms is a rewardingly unique experience.

With Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, George Miller wants to dazzle the audience with action scenes that will blow you away while presenting an involving dramatic tale peppered with pointed observations about our world. The director, his crew and cast, and especially his world-class stunt teams succeed on every single level. This is a propulsive and muscular action epic for the ages and a striking work of action film art.

 

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Written by Nick Lathouris & George Miller

Directed by George Miller

Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Alyla Browne, Lachy Hulme, George Shevtsov, Natahn Jones, Angus Simpson

PG-13, 148 Minutes, Warner Brothers, Kennedy-Miller-Mitchell