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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - Review Thread

• : 87% (31 Reviews)

  • Critics Consensus: Retroactively enriching Fury Road with greater emotional heft if not quite matching it in propulsive throttle, Furiosa is another glorious swerve in mastermind George Miller's breathless race towards cinematic Valhalla.

• : 83 (25 Reviews)

Reviews:

:

Nine years later comes a prequel, Furosia: A Mad Max Saga, and Miller, now seemingly ageless at 79 (he was 34 when the first one came out) has perhaps given birth to the greatest Max yet, a wheels-up, rock-and-rolling epic that delivers the origin story of the title character Charlize Theron picked up in Fury Road when she was about 26.

(60):

Anya Taylor-Joy is a fierce presence in the title role and Chris Hemsworth is clearly having fun as a gonzo Wasteland warlord, but the mythmaking lacks muscle, just as the action mostly lacks the visual poetry of its predecessor.

(60):

“Furiosa,” like “Beyond Thunderdome,” wants to be something loftier than an action blowout, but the movie is naggingly episodic, and though it’s got two indomitable villains, neither one quite becomes the delirious badass you want.

(10/10):

George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga weaves a hero’s journey of epic proportions, ushering in a powerful reflection on what it means to live and love in a dying world.

(100):

The chassis may look familiar but there is a very different engine driving Furiosa from that of Fury Road: it’s a rich, sprawling epic that only strengthens and deepens the Max-mythology. It shall ride eternal!

(100):

Brilliant and unmissable.

(100):

Director George Miller combines speed, grace and explosive violence, emulating Sam Peckinpah westerns and even, at times, the work of Charles Dickens – Furiosa is a bit like a young Artful Dodger, using her wits and courage to stay alive.

(100):

The film may handle differently to its predecessor, but it’s clearly been tuned by the same engineers. After the pared-down drag racer, here comes the juggernaut.

(4/5):

‘My childhood! My mother! I want them back!” With this howl of anguish, young Furiosa, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, sets the tone of vengeful rage that runs through George Miller’s immersive, spectacular prequel to his .

(A-):

How do we brave the world’s cruelties? By refusing to become them ourselves. Such an internally combusting prequel might seem like a strange lead-in to a movie that spit fire in every direction, but don’t you worry:  still has what it takes to make it epic.

(10/10):

Miller is fluent in the universal language of "this kicks ass," conducting a symphony of flamethrowers, explosives, burnt rubber, twisted metal, blood, sweat, and gasoline. Bullets double as percussive instruments, engines roar like a choir, and both Anya Taylor-Joy and Tom Burke, who plays War Rig leader Praetorian Jack, share the first chair position. "Furiosa" will undoubtedly go down as one of — if not the — greatest prequel films ever made. Not only does it stand on its own as a masterful action-adventure blockbuster, but it also exemplifies Miller's thesis as a whole: that survival "in extremis" reveals the true essence of a person. "Fury Road" is an even better movie because of "Furiosa," and George Miller has gifted the world with his magnum opus. Witness him.

(90):

Furiosa runs on a high-octane philosophical perspective that finds hope in a hopeless place. Also, a lot of cars go fast and sh*t blows up. It’s a win-win.

(4/5):

Is Furiosa as magnificent as Fury Road? No, though not because it’s the first Mad Max movie without Max, whose absence barely registers. At 140 minutes minus credits, it’s a touch unwieldy, while its lament for the inevitability of war and the emptiness of revenge feels hollow given the giddy excitement it stirs from just these things. But what can’t be disputed is that Miller, the Mad genius, has done it again, once more refusing to simply repeat himself and instead choosing to kick up dust rather than gather it as he forges a new path through the Wasteland in often spectacular fashion.

(75):

So tip your the greasy, dusty, battered hat to George Miller, who is pulling off some kind of ridiculous feat by turning these grungy action movies into a grand saga.

(85):

So even as Furiosa is inevitably compared with Fury Road, both positively and negatively, put your trust in Miller’s weird, wild filmmaking.

(7/10):

At the end of the day, perhaps if Furiosa was released first, plunging us into Furiosa's introduction without knowing where she'd end up, the film would have had a stronger impact. But because it is a prequel, it will struggle under the shadow of a film that is technically and cinematically superior. Held up by Alyla Browne and Anya Taylor-Joy as stellar leads, Furiosa can be inspiring at the best of times — an Edmond Dantès-level story about revenge. But, at the worst of times, the film feels as bloated and unwieldy as The People Eater, dragged down by too many ideas. Does the good outweigh the bad? Just barely, but not enough to dethrone its predecessor.

Synopsis:

Set 15 to 20 years before the events of Mad Max: Fury Road, as the world falls apart, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and into the hands of a Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. While two Tyrants war for dominance over the Citadel, Furiosa survives many trials as she plots a way back home through the Wasteland.

Directed by George Miller

Cast:

• Anya Taylor-Joy as Imperator Furiosa

  • Alyla Browne as young Furiosa

• Chris Hemsworth as Dementus, the warlord leader of the Bike Horde which abducted Furiosa.

• Tom Burke as Praetorian Jack

• Lachy Hulme as Immortan Joe / Rizzdale Pell

• Goran D. Kleut as The Octoboss

• Nathan Jones as Rictus Erectus

• Josh Helman as Scrotus

• John Howard as The People Eater

• Angus Sampson as The Organic Mechanic

• Charlee Fraser as Mary Jo Bassa, Furiosa's mother

• Quaden Bayles

• Daniel Webber as War Boy