Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga opens in theaters May 24. This review is part of IGN's coverage of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
“Tonight, we dance to Darwin,” the charming warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) proclaims ahead of a brutal punishment. Motorbikes are mounted. They leave dust and blood in their wake. This is the Wasteland, the post-apocalyptic desert setting of George Miller’s beloved Mad Max series. But Miller’s latest film is the Wasteland seen differently – its inner workings, politics, and structures of survival filtered through the perspective of a young Furiosa, the tough-as-nails hero introduced in 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road. In Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the titular hero (Anya Taylor-Joy) is our guide on a journey home. And with Miller’s impeccable worldbuilding, sharp directorial eye, and smart casting, this masterpiece of a prequel makes us feel like we’re riding right alongside her.
Survival of the fittest is the law of the Wasteland, though no Mad Max movie has expressed it as poignantly as Furiosa. Through the capability and strength Miller gives the future imperator, there’s no denying she’s both mentally and physically equipped for the worst of struggles. Both the confidence Taylor-Joy projects and the way Miller chooses to frame his star – with a focus on her strong, unflinching gaze – give us the sense that she’s accustomed to the harsh ways of the new world (even if she longs for the old one she was ripped from). Building on Charlize Theron’s quiet, contemplative turn as Furiosa in Fury Road, Taylor-Joy burns as bright as the desert sun in a nearly wordless role. She disappears inside Furiosa, and using the character’s sheer willpower she builds a tragically beautiful foundation that’s hushed yet powerful. Furiosa’s quest to return to the lush oasis of The Green Place of Many Mothers is an epic – and it still feels that way, even though we know from Fury Road that she won’t reach her destination. Taylor-Joy’s fierce, cunning, and completely gripping performance is up to that task.
Hemsworth is also in fine form. One moment, he’s swaying us with his MCU-bred magnetism; the next, he’s repelling us with Dementus’ cruelty. The warlord who imprisons Furiosa is proof that Hemsworth should be playing more villains, especially those who allow him to revel in the many faces of evil. On the supporting side, Charlee Fraser is on fire as Furiosa’s mother, Mary Jabassa, taking no prisoners (literally and figuratively) in her fight to keep her daughter from harm. Fraser has nearly the same round, doe-like eyes as Taylor-Joy, which not only connects their characters visually, but also bolsters attachment to Mary. Tom Burke, playing legendary War Rig Master Praetorian Jack, matches Taylor-Joy’s sense of silent dedication and crushing loyalty with a performance that feels hardened but not hollow – the product of a life lived in chaos.
Both films are tied together so seamlessly that the satisfaction of it just melts off the screen.
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Miller’s knack for worldbuilding is on full display and gorgeously photographed by The Great Gatsby cinematographer Simon Duggan. He and the director band together to create vibrant and striking imagery that tells Furiosa’s story as well as the words in Miller and Nico Lathouris’ script. Dementus becomes covered in red flare dust early on, seemingly signifying where his arc is headed. Later, a wig crafted by a young Furiosa becomes stuck on a tree branch during a death-defying escape; Miller holds on the hairpiece as time accelerates around it and the branch grows and blossoms. One lingering shot puts all of the events of Furiosa in perspective alongside Fury Road, tying both films together so seamlessly that the satisfaction of it just melts off the screen.
Junkie XL’s rollicking score performs a similar function with its callbacks to the themes of Fury Road; Furiosa elegantly builds tangible links to the other Mad Max films to give us the full scope of the Wasteland and its inhabitants, offering satisfying answers to many burning questions along the way. (If you’re an avid fan, you’ll know which to anticipate).
This isn’t a Fast & Furious movie – it’s not all about one-upping what came before until it becomes a cartoon.
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That escape scene is one of the many thrilling action sequences that keep this two-and-a-half-hour movie running on all cylinders – the kind of excitement that helps Furiosa dodge the “we all know where this is headed” problems of other prequels. The outrageous stunts of Fury Road set a new standard for action filmmaking, as well as sky-high expectations for any subsequent Mad Max movies, and while Furiosa doesn’t outdo its predecessor’s wall-to-wall car chases, it’s not necessarily trying to. This isn’t a Fast & Furious movie – it’s not all about one-upping what came before until it becomes a cartoon. Instead, its action is just as effective as Fury Road’s, when things ramp up, they bury the needle on the speedometer. What did we say about Mad Max: Fury Road?
One of the five “chapters” of the story is entirely dedicated to a rip-roaring fight on wheels that gives us a front-row view of Furiosa’s determination and focus. Taylor-Joy is utterly transfixing in this scene, and even knowing that her character will survive both the fight and the film, there’s still a sense of peril as she clings to the undercarriage of a giant war rig. This chapter, and much of the rest of Furiosa, doesn’t let you out of the chokehold until the drivers hit the brakes.
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Later, when the rivalry between Dementus and his fellow warlord Immortan Joe escalates, Miller finds shocking new ways to depict the conflict. When they squabble, it’s their many followers who do the fighting (again sidestepping the fact that we know Joe will live to see Fury Road). The practical staging and visual effects of a high-octane ambush in Dementus’ territory – and a raid on Joe’s turf – work in tandem to create a bold, distinctly Mad Max spectacle. Cars and trucks savagely barrel down the blockades of a fortress, structures crumble underneath running feet, and gunshots whiz by at practically every moment. Miller is still moving as fast as ever, and it’s exhilarating to be in his passenger seat.
Despite all its violence, the driving force of Furiosa is love.
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The biggest surprise up the director’s sleeve: Despite all its violence – the man quartered by revving motorbikes, the woman tortured at the stake – the driving force of Furiosa is love. The protagonist yearning for her motherland, her unexpected connection with Praetorian Jack, even Dementus’ impulses to rule as he does all spring from a vast emotional landscape. With that, Miller expertly shows us that when we fight for love, we must be prepared for the side effects and consequences. For Dementus and Immortan Joe it’s the thirst for power; for Furiosa, it’s the shedding of who she knows herself to be.
Toward the end, when we’re well acquainted with all that’s plagued Furiosa, one character speaks of her with reverence: “That is the darkest of angels, the fifth rider of the apocalypse.” Thanks to this film, we now know how and why Furiosa was forced to become the show-stealer we meet in Fury Road. The miracle here is that Miller and his team have packed in enough eye-popping derring-do, captivating acting, and, yes, heart, to make the next step in her journey feel almost incidental. It helps that they’ve done so much to integrate Furiosa into the larger Mad Max saga. But this is a triumph with enough gut and gumption to stand entirely on its own.
