By Lucas Castillo ’25
RAMSEY, NJ – Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a worthy successor to Mad Max: Fury Road. Is it better than its predecessor? No, but it’s not that far off. The first film is definitely more concise and has a tighter focus, but besides that – and a few other problems – Furiosa is by no means bad in comparison. It’s a good sequel/prequel that only adds to the original, which is refreshing, giving that we live in a time when soulless, empty, and sometimes offensive sequels that are tied to old movies, merely to make a quick buck, are abundant.
One part that kind of bothered me about the film was Furiosa’s arc, that of finding her way home after being kidnapped. Now, in Fury Road, this journey and arc is completed, with her finding her people and “the green place”, and that fact leaves this prequel in a weird spot. It needs to set up this conflict and show her journey leading up to its resolution, but it can’t actually resolve it without stepping all over the toes of Fury Road. This problem leads people who have not watched any of the Mad Max films, or at least Fury Road, unsatisfied with the film’s open-ended conclusion. Thefilmmakers attempt to remedy this by playing clips of Fury Road during the credits, but it just feels like it’s not enough. I don’t blame the filmmakers for this, as they really couldn’t do anything about it, but it is a problem with the film nonetheless.
I only have one problem with the plot, and to accurately express my confusion with this one point, I am going to need to dive into spoiler territory, so, for whatever reason, if you don’t want any spoilers, just skip this paragraph. Alright, when she first cut off all of her hair and pretended to be a boy among the workers, why didn’t Immortan Joe send out a search party for her? It’s not like he wouldn’t have noticed that she was gone for more than a decade. In any case, he seemed quite …fond of her when she was first traded to him, per his request. This logical leap, in particular, bothers me because the fact that she can just go by undetected as a worker is the only reason why she is even given the opportunity to become a warrior in the first place and is hence the reason why she exists as the character that we know at all. The film’s plot is pretty seamless in spite of this simple yet glaring inconsistency.
The directing for the movie was honestly really good. It shared the same chaotic and manic energy of its predecessor, while also maintaining the audience’s focus among the chaotic set pieces. Furiosa herself, portrayed by Anya Taylor-Joy, was a great protagonist, with her being very sympathetic and easy to root for, as well as having an emotionally investing arc that is satisfying in one way or another. Seeing how Furiosa became the character that we saw in Fury Road, while also getting further development with the character in other ways, outside of the initial film, was a great premise for the film. The biggest one of these stories was her thirst for vengeance against Dementus. The similarities that this movie draws between its two main characters is fairly interesting, albeit, not particularly groundbreaking. I do like that the two of them are similar in the way that they try to cope with their grief, and to almost fill the void that their grief left, with either power and abundance, or with vengeance and justice. Speaking of Dementus, Chris Hemsworth’s character, while not being a particularly threatening villain, puts up enough of a challenge, both physically and psychologically, to our main protagonist, that he stands to be both a memorable character and villain, in a sea of personalities.
Chris Hemsworth’s charismatic and comical portrayal of the character was awesome and led the character to lead whichever scene he was in. It almost made you forget how much of a lying, greedy, and weaselly piece of depraved humanity he is throughout the movie. His outlandish behavior is a great foil to Furiosa’s serious and more quiet demeanor. Anya Taylor-Joy also did a good job with her role, portraying a jaded and darker side of Furiosa’s character that was not really explored in Fury Road.
If you are one of those people who likes maggots, dismemberment, general blood, gore, and disturbing imagery, then this is your kind of movie. Having only watched Fury Road to prepare for the film – which is quite tepid in comparison and honestly could have been PG-13 with mild tweaking – I was not expecting them to lean into more R-rated content with this entry. Now, it is Mad Max, and the unsettling visuals are to be expected, but I drew the line at the maggot scene – that was unnecessary. Again, for anyone who likes that sort of stuff, you’ll be fine, but for those who are adverse to grotesque imagery, I would steer clear of this film. The costume and set design for the film perfectly fit it into the world of Mad Max: Fury Road, with so many different characters, groups, and locations either being perfectly emulated or composed that fit in so perfectly with the world that was already established. The work done on Immortan Joe’s costume was so good that I honestly thought that it was the original actor reprising his role.
One of the stylistic choices for the film that I did not expect, or really see anywhere else, was the dividing of the movie into five different chapters, with each giving a premise to the different parts of Furiosa’s journey. I like how it sort of organizes the film and gives its story some structure, as without these little checkpoints, its long runtime would have felt even longer and more drawn out. Coupled with the light foreshadowing and stylistic diversity that these title cards provide, I believe that, while being an unexpected development, they were absolutely a welcome one. The movie moves along at a brisk pace, if not dragging on in a few places for too long. This movie could have honestly been twenty to thirty minutes shorter, if you cut down a few of the action scenes and removed the maggot scene altogether. The movie also has a few abrupt time jumps that, while being good and coherent on paper, are hamfisted into the story with barely any explanation or warning – such as when it’s established that Furiosa needs to prove herself and train to be able to go off and find her home, then, like a scene later, after one fight scene, she’s deemed ready?! Apparently, a lot of time and a few missions passed in between those scenes it did not show. This issue, frankly, isn’t that bad, but it does suck the immersion out of the film for a few moments, before you forget about it and move on.
Overall, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a good movie, with a few issues here and there. It is a fine successor to Mad Max Fury Road, which adds to that preexisting world and elevates it with further context. Was it necessary? No, but it was enjoyable and awesome. With that being said, in my personal, and all but factual, opinion, I would rate this movie a 8 out of 10. Go see it now!
