Ivan Radford | On 06, Jul 2024

Director: George Miller
Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Alyla Browne, Lachy Hulme

“Where are you going, so full of hope? There is no hope.” Those are the words of the warlord, Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. They set the scene for this prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, which followed Imperator Furiosa (played by Charlize Theron) as she harnessed hope to fuel a furious dash towards freedom. The result was a jaw-dropping blockbuster that stripped Furiosa’s story down to raw parts and strapped in for the ride. Her solo outing boldly does the exact opposite.

George Miller’s Fury Road was a two-hour epic about someone driving in one direction, then turning around and driving back again without pausing for breath. Furiosa spans more than a decade and takes its time to show us more of her, her life and the ravaged world that threatens to engulf her. We begin in the legendary Green Place, where the young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) is raised by her mother and the collective of Many Mothers. It is a place of abundance, of verdant vegetation and communal support. But that changes when she is kidnapped by the cronies of Dementus – and is dragged into a turf war between his biker gang and the imposing dictatorship of Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme, replacing Hugh Keays-Byrne from Fury Road).

Immortan Joe’s Citadel will need no introduction to Fury Road viewers, but Miller seizes this opportunity to expand the Mad Max universe still further, as we are introduced to Gas Town and Bullet Farm, the two strongholds that maintain the Citadel’s resources and power. With Dementus wanting a piece of the pie for himself, and Furiosa wanting revenge, what unfolds is a squabble that’s rooted in hatred and pain – it manages the impossible feat of taking Fury Road to an even darker place.

Splitting things up into chapters, the sprawling tale charts the impact of that politics of hate upon people, and the meaningless futility that endless retaliation spawns. “I’m bored,” tellingly remarks Dementus, after watching someone being tortured for hours, before nonetheless continuing his campaign of violent nonsense.

Chris Hemsworth is clearly having a ball getting the chance to play a villain, and he’s exceptional at it, turning the grinning, buffoonish charm that made his Thor so loveable into something unnervingly chaotic. Combined with his hulking physical presence (and a teddy bear permanently strapped to his waist), he’s a worthy match for Immortan Joe, if it weren’t for the fact that he’s as incompetent as he is self-serving.

In a sea of so many loud supporting characters, such as Scrotus, Smeg, The Octobuss and Pissboy, Tom Burke quietly steals scenes as Praetorian Jack, the man whose job it is to drive Joe’s rig to stock up on supplies. He’s a rare compassionate figure in this desolate wasteland, and his steely moral backbone subtly influences Furiosa’s own stoic resilience and kindness.

The scenes when jack and Furiosa are together are the film’s best, as they seamlessly fight together in a manner reminiscent of Mad Max and Furiosa in Fury Road – Miller has lost none of his eye for the satisfaction of marrying barnstorming set pieces with character-driven action.

He’s also still got the same knack for carnage on a mind-boggling scale. Furiosa’s action sequences lack the surprise – and some of the colourful spectacle – of Fury Road, but there is still some immense work on display, combining vehicles, limbs, animals and cuddly toys to choreograph some larger-than-life mayhem. There’s something exciting about seeing Miller continuing to find new ways to explore the sand box he started back in the 1970s – little touches such as the History Man, covered in tattoos like a walking text box, add to the morbid fascination of his broken dystopia.

It’s Furiosa herself, though, that’s the real anchor for this outing, and Miller benefits from having two excellent leads: Alyla Browne is a spy and calculating figure, who balances childhood trauma with Furiosa’s gradually assembled strength and emotional armour, while Anya Taylor-Joy gamely throws herself into every set piece going, her wide eyes carrying that depth forwards and storing it up for what we know will come next. The result is a blockbuster that plants a seed of hope in darkness, ready for the future, and leaves you wanting to watch where she’s going all over again.

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