Directed by George Miller
Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Lachy Hulme, Tom Burke, and Alyla Browne

Furiosa’s first steps in this origin story and both prequel & spin-off to Mad Max: Fury Road has the bar set very high before those steps are even taken. This character was first introduced in Fury Road and was brilliantly portrayed by the equally brilliant Charlize Theron. That film won 6 of the 10 Academy Awards ® it was nominated for, a first for the Mad Max series, and remains one of the greatest action films of all time, still ranked in IMDBs top 200 films. Not to mention under its belt also exists some of Australia’s most classic films, that like its creator George Miller, are globally recognised and embraced. 

It’s fair to say the weight of expectation on Furiosa’s shoulders are as heavy as it gets for an action film. A weight to be carried without the character of Max and shifted to the high-profile casting of Anya Taylor-Joy in the titular role, an actress who has already proven her versatility and competence in previous projects.

Broken down in 5 chapters, Furiosa maintains the post-apocalyptic Australian Wasteland setting of the Mad Max saga with a young Furiosa (played by seriously talented youngster Alyla Browne, best known for portraying young Alice Hart in the excellent Amazon series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart) being taken by a gang who belong to Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). Dementus and his people are aware that Furiosa comes from “a place of abundance” and they intend to utilise her to locate this heaven. But if young Furiosa is anything like the adult Furiosa we know and love from Fury Road, and you can bet your bottom dollar she is, then good luck to any and all of them extracting what they want from her. 

My sincere apologies if it appears I am truncating my own synopsis of the film. Truth is, it takes a considerable amount of the 148-minute running time, the longest yet for a Mad Max feature, for Furiosa to form a firm plot trajectory and once it establishes one, the remainder of it becomes very much foreseeable. Revealing further specifics would only be of disadvantage to all parties.

One thing that can be guaranteed in Furiosa is its top-end camerawork that marvellously captures its sweeping down under locations and accompanies these with prominent and powerful sound effects and mixing. All of these Oscar ® nominated and winning production components in Mad Max: Fury Road once again have the same visual and visceral prowess in Furiosa, even if this time it takes longer to truly be consumed by them. That’s not to imply this action film goes action-free early on. Rather, it utilises the majority of its mammoth $343.2 million (US $233 million) spend, the most ever for a film production in Australia, on a small handful of sublime set-piece sequences throughout the last two thirds or so. 

Taking into consideration what I stated earlier, it is imperative that Furiosa gets off to a soaring and searing start. It is immediately captivating, always highly entertaining, and there is plenty to enjoy, such as Chris Hemsworth’s appearance and performance as antagonist Dementus. Compared to its predecessor, however, that feeling of something missing or just not quite functioning as intended to make this fifth instalment in the Mad Max franchise truly fire on all cylinders lingers throughout an elongated first third. Epic and enthralling are two words I’d comfortably use to describe Mad Max: Fury Road yet can’t quite apply to Furiosa in its entirety. I worked overtime trying to figure out just why that might be. Expectation is absolutely one reason. The expectation too that while this is an origin film for the titular character, I found it took considerable time after its intro for that to truly rise to the fore. Therefore, perhaps I should say be alert but not alarmed that young Furiosa is background for quite a lot of the first hour. Due to this and the fact that young Furiosa is the closest thing we have to a protagonist in the picture during that time, the film again takes considerable time to build anticipation. Perhaps these are some of the most valid and understandable reasons Furiosa just isn’t quite at the same very high level as Fury Road.

Let these sentiments though result in a reduction of expectation and not a redaction to your watch list please. George Miller already had the script for Furiosa completed before Mad Max: Fury Road was filmed, so making this character the powerful Imperator she becomes is not merely money-making or profiteering exercise. She means business and so does George. 

Furiosa is showing in cinemas across Australia from May 23rd.

Moviedoc thanks Universal and Warner Bros. Pictures for the invitation to the screening of this film.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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