Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

As I entered the cinema to see George Miller’s latest movie, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, on its opening weekend, my expectations were certainly high following a recent rewatch of Mad Max: Fury Road and given the cast here is led by Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth.

As things began it was looking good as, following a bit of a scene setting audio montage over the opening credits to establish the post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max (which felt worryingly nearer than in previous instalments), we immediately met a young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) and it wasn’t long before the story her older self had loosely told in preceding film was under way with a gang of marauding bikers kidnapping her from ‘the place of abundance’ and her mother setting off, hot on their heels.

Taylor-Joy

After what felt like a scene setting opening ‘chapter’ (as the film is sub-divided) where we also meet the gang leader/warlord Demntus (Chris Hemsworth with a oddly disconcerting false nose, but otherwise looking a little too much like Thor), we continue following young Furiosa’s story for what I can’t help but think feels a little too long.

While this does a great job of establishing the world of ‘The Wasteland’, from The Citadel to Gastown to The Bullet Farm (all nicely expanded on from Fury Road) and it’s unique cast of grotesque gangs and warlords including a returning Immortan Joe (Lacey Hulme), The Bullet Farmer (Lee Perry), The People Eater (John Howard) and more, as well as showing us the situation Furiosa ends up in, and is for the most part undeniably visually fantastic, it does take a good while to get going and I couldn’t help but feel Miller could have taken some advice from vintage film producer, Hal Roach, and ‘cut to the chase’ a little sooner.

Hemsworth

Once it does though, following a great montage where we see the construction of a spectacular new ’War Rig’ road train, things don’t really let up and manage to do more than just repeat the epic vehicular mayhem of Fury Road.

Unfortunately, in this, they lose something of the joie de vivre that film possessed as the balance between real stunts and CGI appears to lean a little too heavily to the latter, and everything here is tinged with an extra darkness given its overarching revenge storyline which is sometimes at odds with the almost cartoonish grotesqueness of some of the characters.

War Rig

As it heads toward its ultimate denouement this does all level up but it feels like it’s been quite an effort to get there and, at this point, it really does own its name as a ‘saga’ in the classic sense which does, at least, leave things on a high.

At two and a half hours there’s no denying this was more ‘epic’ than most post-apocalyptic sci-fi actioners and, on top of everything else, I couldn’t help but think it could have been improved by either being cut to a more manageable length or, preferably, taking something like the Kill Bill approach and being split in two.

Nathan Jones, Josh Helman, Hulme and Howard

All this said, it does largely look terrific both in terms of stunning desert landscapes and brilliantly designed vehicles and characters, while both Taylor-Joy (as the older Furiosa) and Hemsworth get their characters across in Miller’s unique ‘dialogue light’ approach very well.

For Hemsworth this comes in the form of clearly having a great time stretching his villainous muscles after so long as an Avenger, while Taylor-Joy’s face is brilliantly expressive and her physicality is second to none both in the action sequences and the quieter, more story focussed, moments.

Biker Horde

Ultimately maybe it’s that my expectations for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga were somewhat misaligned, or that it’s going to take another watch to get the mood of the film (something I’m more than willing to give it) but ultimately I enjoyed the experience and I was left hoping we get another film in the series so that, if Miller is wrapping it up, he can do so on the real explosive high the series deserves.