The worst thing a prequel (or spin-off) can do is put a familiar character on a forced march towards inevitability, setting up a story we already know without providing further insight or illuminating insights into someone we’ve already met before. The worst thing a sequel can do is laboriously recreate the highlights of its predecessor, but without the shock and pleasure of novelty. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga he is guilty of both of these sins.
The director – and co-screenwriter – George Miller is perhaps the most virtuoso choreographer of automotive chaos of this generation, but this time he clashes with an author he cannot beat: himself, having created in 2015 Mad Max: Fury Roadone of the most astonishingly exciting and imaginative epics of the 21st century. We have already traveled this path extensivelyand none of the 79-year-old filmmaker’s many talents can overcome the sense of familiarity that he’s already done everything we see on screen today, and better.
The way Charlize Theron played her in Fury Road, Furiosa was an exciting addition to the ‘canon’ of action cinema, a character with a troubled past but still holding out hope for a better future. It’s entirely possible that a prequel could have delved into this complex woman and revealed new nuances, but George Miller and co-writer Nico Lathouris they don’t seem particularly interested in fleshing out his story.
The young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) is torn from the Green Place and held captive by the evil Dementos (Chris Hemsworth), and in no time the film takes us back to the Citadel and Gastown, to Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme) and the War Boys.
When Furiosa grows up, they become… Anya Taylor-Joyit is clear that the film he doesn’t have many ideas about the character outside of his desire to return home and take revenge on Dementos (can that be enough?).
George Miller was evidently eager to get the team back together – according to IMDb, as many as 137 cast and crew members who worked on Fury Road they are back for Furiosabut the director must have promised them easier shots than those of the very difficult production of Fury Roadtold in Kyle Buchanan’s fascinating 2022 book ‘Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max’.
While in the previous chapter almost all the stunts and special effects were in fact practical and analogue (and therefore as difficult as possible), Furiosa he often includes computer graphics animations (not always exceptional, as in the case of the flames) and evident green-screen work; these shortcuts may have meant easier shooting days, but they highlight another aspect of how the shadow of Fury Road looms inexorably over the final result.
However, anyone who buys a ticket with the sole aim of seeing spectacular car and motorcycle chases will certainly have them, with editor Margaret Sixel once again transforms elaborate action sequences into adrenaline-pumping ballets.
Whether it’s the War Rig being attacked by land and air or an ambush that turns into a shootout, Furiosa’s big action scenes are effective, even if the narrative or the worldbuilding.
The costumes by Jenny Beavan and the production design by Colin Gibson (both Oscar winners for Fury Road) easily steal the scene, while the actors do what they can with the material at their disposal. The Furiosa by Anya Taylor-Joy he doesn’t have the physique du rôle and doesn’t talk much, but his expressive eyes say a lot. Dementos, however, is not as interesting a villain as Immortan Joe: the latter may be the incarnation of Evil, but at least he is a master in the field of strategy and manipulation, while the new villain is just a braggart with a prosthetic nose who too often he moves on the edge of the grotesque, one step away from the Thor seen in Guardians of the Galaxy.
In short, in the pantheon of sequels directed by George Miller, Furiosa ranks closest to Happy Feet 2 than to the triumphant Babe goes to town. It’s hard to surpass perfection; and that’s why we’ve never seen a Fifth (or Third?) Power. Let’s be satisfied, ed let’s avoid seeing something that isn’t thereas the sequences of Fury Road along the credits.
