This prequel to Charlize Theron’s Furiosa in Fury Road may not have all the punch of the 2015 installment. But it still has enough spectacular stunts with exacting action camera work from all angles to keep you riveted. However, it does become a bit repetitive.
Director George Miller once again takes us back to the Dystopian world of Mad Max. While much of Furiosa might seem familiar to Fury Road fans, Anya Taylor-Joy and her younger self, played by Alyla Browne, bring the powerful, silent, wide-eyed, determination of classic film heroes.
Miller, and co-writer Nico Lathouris construct the script in chapters starting with young Furiosa (Browne) abducted from her idyllic homeland of peace and abundance known as The Green Place. This is a secret oasis apart from the desolate, parched, inhospitable planet, which is the result of generations of war, pollution and contagion.
Furiosa’s kidnappers are a collection of biker thugs led by Dementus, played with flamboyant over-the-top villainy by a very hammy Chris Hemsworth. He’s almost cartoonish. In a nod to the character’s name and to Ben Hur, Dementus even leads his troops piloting a chariot attached to three huge motorcycles.
The thrust of Furiosa’s pain and need for revenge comes when her mother Mary (Charlee Fraser) is captured trying to save her daughter and is tortured and killed in front of a crowd right before the little girl’s eyes. Her mother makes Furiosa promise to get back to the homeland, no matter what. Dementus keeps the young Furiosa and treats her like a prized possession, even giving her his own deceased daughter’s teddy bear.
With this as the prologue, Miller sets Furiosa on a path of survival with a desperate need to punish Dementus who has his own quest. He is hellbent on conquering the other desert strongholds so he can become the supreme ruler.
Dementus goes up against the skeletonesque villain of Fury Road Immortan Joe (Lacey Hulme), the dictator of The Citadel. When he fails, Dementus turns to Gas Town, the source of Immortan Joe’s fuel. Dementus uses Furiosa as a bargaining chip, giving her to Joe who intends to use her as a breeder, referencing back to the Fury Road story. Furiosa manages to escape the frightening advances of Immortan Joe’s equally ugly sons, Rictus Erectus (Nathan Jones) and Scrotus, (Josh Herman), both with monikers that made us laugh. Furiosa cuts her hair, pretending to be a boy to fool those she works along with, while growing into a strong, silent warrior.
It’s a full forty minutes into the movie before we see the fully adult Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy). Director Miller and his effects team ingeniously use CGI to gradually infuse Alyla Browne’s young face with increasing elements of Taylor-Joy’s characteristics to morph and evolve it into the adult Furiosa.
She and her co-driver Praetorian Jack (Tom Burket) add romantic chemistry amidst all the noise, yelling, crashing of vehicles, bending metal, gunfire and explosions.
The action and fighting, as expected is bloody, brutal and gory, shot in Australian vistas of sand not unlike those seen in Dune, also around and through massive rock formations in Australia. Cinematographer Simon Duggan and Editors Eliot Knapman and Margaret Sixel had their work cut out for them piecing George Miller’s non-stop action together from stunt coordinator Guy Norris with visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson for this long epic installment.
The other primary visual elements of the film are all the thunderous vehicles, motorcycles, cars and trucks who become characters themselves. One stand-out is a muscle version of a 1960’s Plymouth Valiant that teams up with Furiosa in a frantic race against death in the dunes. Anya Taylor-Joy had to do some pretty tricky driving, and the actress doesn’t even have a driver’s license! Kudos to the makeup department for making Taylor-Joy’s pale, fine facial structure look dark and bad ass with that dark forehead. Her big, wide glassy eyes made her look intimidating enough.
At 79, George Miller is an auteur adding another layer of over-the-top excitement to a franchise jam packed with high powered machines. This furious 2 and half hour ride leaves indelible tracks.
Warner Bros. 2 Hours 28 Minutes R
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