McDaniel
“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” is one of the most enriching prequels I’ve seen, adding emotional depth to franchise characters and detail to its worldbuilding, all while maintaining the style and action that fans have loved since director George Miller’s “Mad Max” saga debuted in 1979.
The 2024 addition is an adrenaline-fueled ride, showing Furiosa’s life before Charlize Theron takes over the story in 2015’s “Fury Road.”
“Furiosa” shows the titular character’s younger years — a girl born into a hidden paradise of greenery and water, snatched by a biker horde and raised by the warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) among the deprived and mutated of the Wasteland.
After Dementus is forced to throw young Furiosa into a business trade with Immortan Joe, the leader of the Citadel, she manages to escape and blend in as just another brute until she grows into adulthood.
Enter Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays the majority of the role in silence, with a quiet intensity that portrays years of rage boiling over, as she seeks revenge on Dementus and her way back home.
The pre-movie trivia points out that Miller pegged Taylor-Joy for the role after seeing her in “Last Night in Soho.” Per usual, his instincts were right; she is incredible in this physical role of the buzz-headed fighter, Furiosa.
Hemsworth’s Dementus is a surprisingly complex villain. The dude is evil, possessing the necessary brutality of a Wasteland ruler. Yet deep beneath the surface, beaten down by a cruel world, there are glimpses of humanity. He carries a teddy bear around, more than once mentions a family that was taken from him, and at times shows affection toward Furiosa.
Then again, he did make her watch as he brutally killed her mother. Like I said, complex.
The big-name stars are spectacular, but the Wasteland they live in is equally captivating. The Citadel, Bullet Farm, and Gastown are the main compounds in the Wasteland’s “power triangle” where gas and bullets are as valuable as food and water. Each base has its own distinct look and feel, and provides essential resources to the Wasteland.
Each is also home to epic “Mad Max” action sequences, with post-apocalyptic weapons racking up quite the death toll from those trademark vehicles drifting through the desert.
I’ll admit, the first four movies in this franchise tend to blend together in a cloud of cars and sand in my memory.
“Furiosa” changes things. It’s the rare prequel that makes me want to dive back in and give the horribly wonderful Wasteland another go.
4/5
Scott McDaniel is an assistant professor of journalism at Franklin College. He lives in Bargersville with his wife and three kids.
