*****HIGH-OCTANE SPOILERS!*****

The “Mad Max” films have long been an uneven mix, with George Miller’s 1979 original being a late-but-imaginative entry into 1970s high-octane exploitation films (his nihilistic answer to “Two Lane Blacktop” or “Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry”). Beginning with 1981’s “Mad Max 2” aka “The Road Warrior” (as we knew it in the States), the series began to evolve into a curious mix of action, sci-fi and high art. The sequel took widower ex-cop Max Rockatansky from that spartan, near-future revenge flick to the grandiose wastes of a vaguely-defined, post-nuclear apocalypse Australian outback. 

“The Road Warrior” radically changed the course of the franchise, with spectacular chases across vast desert plains, with even more elaborate all-practical vehicular action revving up to a near-operatic level.  And while 1985’s “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome” wasn’t particularly special (save for the late Tina Turner’s presence), the long-anticipated next movie upped its game with the adrenaline-soaked reboot/sequel, “Mad Max Fury Road” (2015). “Fury Road” mystifyingly underperformed at the box office, though it quickly and justly found the audience and recognition it deserved.  At the 2016 Oscars, “Mad Max Fury Road” won six of the ten awards for which it was nominated.

“Fury Road” reignited a franchise that’d been stalled for 30 years, with a newly recast Max (Tom Hardy replacing Mel Gibson) and a compelling new character named Furiosa (Charlize Theron) who is really the central protagonist of this so-called “Mad Max” film. Pieces of Furiosa’s backstory were teased throughout “Fury Road,” including her quest to return to near-mythical “Green Place” from which she came. “Fury Road” was structured as one long, elaborate chase film; the very essence of the chaotic, vehicular-oriented Mad Max franchise distilled into a long, almost unbroken pursuit. There was no fat to be trimmed in that movie. Now George Miller has crafted Furiosa’s backstory into a prequel misleadingly titled “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” since Mad Max himself is little more than a photo double posing by his iconic black car in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment. Make no mistake; this is Furiosa’s saga, not Max’s…

For this review, I’m skipping my usual synopsis and notes, since most of that information can be gleaned though an examination of the movie’s core characters. This is less of a traditional action movie (like its predecessor) and more a series of action-vignettes that are stitched together into chapters which tell Furiosa’s story. 

Core Characters of “Furiosa”

While there are many odd and interesting characters populating the post-apocalypse desert-scape of the film, these are the few who are arguably most critical to the story, and this review.

Furiosa Bassa (Anya Taylor-Joy, Alyla Browne)

For roughly the first hour of this two and a half hour film, the titular character is played by Alyla Browne, who plays the character during her relative innocence in the Green Place; a thriving, secret, Garden of Eden-like community hidden from the savage pillagers roaming from the nearby Wastelands.  Living with her mother and community leader Mary Jo Bassa (Charlee Fraser) and sister Valkyrie (Dylan Adonis), Furiosa’s life is forever changed when she stumbles across a group of Wasteland bikers killing one of their animals. Furiosa is then kidnapped, with her fierce mother in pursuit.  Her captured mother is later murdered by Dr. Dementus (Chris Hemsworth); the man who becomes Furiosa’s arch nemesis.  

“Lessons from the Badlands” is the chapter of the film that chronicles Furiosa’s rise from kidnapped girl to battle-hardened survivor (Anya Taylor-Joy) learning all sorts of skills to keep her from becoming part of the grotesque Immortan Joe’s harem, or one of the women resigned to being one of his milk donors. To make herself less desirable to Immortan Joe’s monstrous son, Corpus Colossus (Kenihan), she cuts off her hair, and disguises herself as a boy.  Along the way, Furiosa learns self-sufficiency and eventually meets a surprisingly kind man named Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke), who becomes both mentor and lover. 

The skills Furiosa gains along the way go towards her two goals; to avenge her mother’s murder by killing Dementus (very much echoing Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” saga), and finding her way back to the Green Place; a goal she ultimately reaches in “Fury Road,” though, as the saying goes, you can’t go home again.  Even if Furiosa reached the (intact) Green Place in this film, her experiences have left her scarred, battle-hardened and ultimately a very different person than the innocent little girl collecting fruit with her sister seen in the film’s beginning. That girl died during her desert odyssey, emerging as a deadly, one-armed avenger (who creates a new arm for herself); fully owning the implicit rage of her name.

Note: Both Anya Taylor-Joy and her younger costar Alyla Browne step right into the role first inhabited by Oscar-winner Charlize Theron; formidable shoes, to say the least.  While Taylor-Joy is a rising star known primarily for her role in “The Queen’s Gambit,” this was the first role I’ve ever seen her in, and she easily matches Theron’s intensity.  She assumes the role with the same automatic authority we saw when Tom Hardy took over as Mad Max from Mel Gibson in “Mad Max: Fury Road” (even if Max was not really the central protagonist of that film).

Mary Jo Bassa (Charlee Fraser)

The leader of Green Place is also Furiosa’s mother, Mary Jo Bassa (Charlee Fraser).  Mary Jo is—like most survivors living in post-apocalypse Australia—much tougher and more resourceful than she initially appears.  That resourcefulness is put to the test when her daughter Furiosa is kidnapped by the renegade biker horde led by Dementus.  Killing several of Dementus’ clan and stealing one of their motorcycles, Mary Jo eventually finds the clan’s camp, and infiltrates using the dead biker’s skull mask and outfit.  Mary Jo eventually rescues her daughter, and allows her to escape using the stolen motorcycle; but at the cost of her own life. Furiosa witnesses her mother’s murder, which puts her on an eventual collision course with Dementus, whom she’s determined to put down.

Note: Charlee Fraser is both younger (28) and less experienced than I’d imagined. In fact, “Furiosa” is only her second film credit (her first being the recent rom-com, “Anyone but You”).  Fraser comes from a background as a fashion model, but given her onscreen intensity and Sigourney Weaver-like maternal rage, I just assumed she was a veteran actress. Her casting is typical of the often unconventional mix of Oscar winners and amateurs alike seen in George Miller’s films.

Dementus (Chris Hemsworth)

While “Fury Road” villain Immortan Joe does return for this prequel, the object of Furiosa’s rage in this story is a biker clan leader named Dementus, played by Chris Hemsworth (“Star Trek” {2009}, “Thor”). Dementus is methodically targeted over the years by Furiosa, whose mother he savagely murdered in front of her when she was a little girl; making him a walking dead man. Under his leadership, Dementus and his motorcycle horde come to rule over Gas Town, though not for long. Eventually, Dementus faces his comeuppance at Furiosa’s hands (real and mechanical) in a most novel way; a way that’s very much in keeping with Furiosa’s roots in the Green Place (I’ll leave it at that). While Dementus remains a cold-blooded and savage killer, that villainy is often contrasted by his buffoonish side, which helps to create a more dimensional and less one-note nemesis.

Note: Handsome Chris Hemworth has been considerably downgraded with a prosthetic nose, darker eyes, wrinkles, graying hair and other bits to tone down the “Thor” star’s natural good looks.  The name “Dr. Dementus” sounds like an inspired homage to a 1980s radio program called “Doctor Demento” (Barry Hansen) in the United States, which played parodic songs and virtually launched the career of singing comedian Weird Al Yankovic (“Another One Rides the Bus,” “Eat It,” etc). Not sure if this was intentional, but some viewers of a certain age might have to suppress a giggle whenever the character’s name is spoken aloud.

Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke)

Learning to survive in the Citadel by disguising herself as a boy, Furiosa stows away aboard a Citadel tanker which she hopes will take her in the direction of the Green Place.  When the tanker and its convoy are ambushed by Dementus’ Biker Horde, Furiosa is forced out of her hiding place in order to help the tanker and its driver survive. That driver is Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke), a surprisingly sympathetic man who takes Furiosa under his wing, and shows her the only genuine kindness she’s ever known since she was kidnapped as a child. Unfortunately, during a climactic raid on Dementus’ Gas Town, Jack is killed—just as Furiosa’s mother was killed right in front of her. The implicit romance between Furiosa and Jack gives this film surprising heart; an element often missing from this uncompromisingly brutal franchise. 

Note: Actor Tom Burke is a British actor known primarily for TV roles, and in this film, he has a manner and look that vaguely echoes the younger Mel Gibson’s interpretation of Max Rockatansky. In fact, Burke himself would’ve been an interesting choice to play that character, had Tom Hardy taken the role in 2015’s “Fury Road.” That the dark-haired, leather-clad trucker brings Max to mind also gives an arguable reason why Furiosa later comes to ally herself with Max in “Fury Road.”  

The History Man (George Shevtsov)

Given the breakdown of mass communications across the world in the Millerverse’s post-apocalypse, historical events survive as they did in primitive societies; with an oral historian, whose job it is to keep an oral/written record of the tribe, which will be passed on to their own living successor in time.  In this film, the History Man (George Shevtsov) performs those duties for his brutal boss, Dementus, until he eventually finds his way to the Citadel by the film’s end, following a brutal war between the Citadel, Gas Town and the Bullet Farm—which is chronicled via montage and the History Man’s narration. 

Note: The surprisingly benevolent and mild-mannered History Man (perhaps one of the last truly educated people left in the world) narrates at various points throughout “Furiosa,” just as 1981’s “The Road Warrior” was similarly narrated by an unseen older version of the unnamed “Feral Kid” (Emil Minty, voice of Harold Baigent); a half-wild young boy befriended by Mel Gibson’s Max.

Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme)

The Citadel’s fantastically selfish, megalomaniacal leader Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme) returns for the prequel, as his Citadel becomes Furiosa’s base of operations while she plots her revenge against Dementus and her eventual trip back to the Green Place. It’s under the constant threat of rape from Immortan Joe’s brutal son Corpus Colossus (a returning Quentin Kenihan) that Furiosa chooses to hide her femininity and live as a mute boy, until her eventual acquired skills increase her value to the nightmarishly sexist Citadel community; offering her a role beyond that of concubine or walking milk supply. 

Note: Actor Lachy Hulme assumes the role of Immortan Joe after the 2020 passing of actor Hugh Keays-Byrne, who played the role in 2015’s “Fury Road.” Byrne also costarred in the original “Mad Max” (1979), where he played the vicious “Toecutter,” leader of the gang that killed Mad Max’s wife and child. Actor Lachy Hulme assumes the role in the sequel; a switch that’s greatly aided by the character’s customized oxygen mask, translucent chest plate, elaborate makeup and wig. Despite the accoutrements aiding the switch, Hulme so effortlessly transforms into Immortan Joe that it’s easy for casual observers not to even notice that the role had been recast. Unlike previous Mad Max films, “Furiosa” keeps greater continuity with its predecessor; allowing for more consistency and greater world-building than we saw in the earlier 1979-1985 trilogy.

Summing It Up

Writer/director George Miller’s “Furiosa” is certainly a worthy prequel to “Mad Max: Fury Road,” complementing its predecessor much in the same way that “Kill Bill Part 2” filled in the backstory left wide open from “Kill Bill Part 1.” “Mad Max: Fury Road” was a seamless, balls-to-the-wall action flick, while this new film is more contemplative and deliberately epic.  The contrast in pacing is a critical difference between the two films; some may find this new, less frenetic pace to be taxing, no matter how well it fills in Furiosa’s backstory. Clocking in at two hours and 28 minutes, the film can be a bit of a chore to sit through.

In addition to filling in the title character’s origins, “Furiosa” also provides a lot more structure to the long-running series’ vaguely defined universe. Given the original Mad Max universe’s sketchy-at-best continuity and lack of parameters, “Furiosa” gives us a greater sense of geography and interconnectedness, aided by narration and chapter cards, as well. With “Furiosa,” Miller’s insane, post-apocalypse landscape becomes a more clearly established place; however nightmarish. The film’s final scene also dovetails nicely with the beginning of “Fury Road.”

Furiosa is ably channeled through Anya Taylor-Joy (“The Queen’s Gambit”), and the character’s lore is far more interesting than her two-dimensional predecessor Max Rockatansky, who was little more than an archetypal ronin. Here’s hoping any new sequels to “Furiosa” will be more accurately labeled as “A Furiosa Saga.”  Chris Hemsworth is somehow comically threatening as the movie’s big bad Dementus, and his final comeuppance is satisfyingly (and grotesquely) novel. Tom Burke’s Praetorian Jack offers Furiosa the only kindness she’s ever seen outside of the Green Place, and their bond gives this film an unexpected heart usually lacking in this otherwise hellish universe.

So, is “Furiosa” better than “Fury Road,”? Not quite, but it’s certainly a worthwhile prequel, even if it runs a little long compared to the nonstop thrill ride that was “Fury Road.” Strictly speaking, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” didn’t really need to exist, but now that it does, it ably closes the character’s circle. Both films make solid companions to one another. With this chapter of the saga in the rearview mirror, the post-apocalypse Millerverse can now move forward; assuming this horrific world has anywhere left to go, beyond an increasing nasty hellscape. If this wildly anarchic series is not killed by its own surprisingly poor box office, it will have to run out of gas and ammo eventually.