THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Director George Miller redefined action films as we know it when bringing back the Mad Max franchise with 2015’s Fury Road, which exceeding expectations. After surpassing financial success as well as win 6 Oscars out of 10 nominations, audiences were prepared for more of this fictional dystopian franchise. 9 years later, he did so with Furiosa.
PLOT
The 2024 film centers on the titular protagonist before ever encountering the road warrior Max Rockatansky. As a child, she grew up in the Green Place of Many Mothers, one of the last remaining areas with fresh water and agriculture in a wasteland of Australia. When seeing raiders uncover the place, she tries sabotaging their motorcycles to ensure they don’t tell others about it. But once she gets caught, she gets taken as a prize for their Biker Horde leader, Dementus. Her mother Mary would try to rescue her and as Dementus tracks her down, she is instructed to escape on her own. Refusing to abandon her mom, they are both captured and Mary is crucified in which she is forced to watch. Dementus then decides to adopt her hoping one day, she’ll lead him to the Green Place. In their travels, they find the Citadel that is ran by the warlord Immortan Joe. Dementus uses the Trojan horse strategy to gain control of Gastown, the oil refinery that supplies gasoline to the Citadel. This gets Joe’s attention to where he supplies an increased amount of supplies and water in exchange of not only adopting Furiosa as one of his new wives he would hold at his vault, but also the Horde’s Organic Mechanic (Angus Sampson) who works as a physician. Comfort is far from the child’s reach because after settling in, Joe’s muscular but dim witted son Rictus Erectus (Nathan Jones), would try to rape her until she slips from his grasp and hides long enough for him to think he disappeared. She would grow up under the disguise of a War Boy as an adult and work up the ranks to build a War Rig, an armored supply tanker used to mean to withstand Raider attacks. She plans to escape in the middle of a supply run led by Joe’s top driver Praetorian Jack, but it doesn’t go accordingly for her due to a lieutenant dubbed the Octoboss (Goran D Kleut) going rogue. She is able to help Jack at the cost of her getaway motorcycle and despite her desire to leave, he makes an offer to help her escape next time if she helps him rebuild a new crew. In the process, she gets taken under his wing under the mantle of Imperator and as they bond, they vow to escape together. Their first opportunity emerges when Joe sends plans on attacking Gastown which Dementus has nearly ruined. When he sends them to collect weapons & ammunition from the allied mining facility that is the Bullet Farm, but Dementus is able to ambush them after already taking over the farm as well. Jack & Furiosa barely escape with the latter getting her left arm injured as she gets pinned to a car. But as she escapes after severing said arm, the former is killed when getting dragged to death. As she returns to the Citadel on her own, she tells Joe what happened and strategizes with his military strategist, The People Eater (John Howard), on avoiding a trap by the Biker Horde and in turn lay their own trap on them. With the assist of War Boys as well Rictus and his unstable brother Scrotus (Josh Helman), it works and the Horde gets wiped out. Due to losing the arm that had a tattooed star map home, she shaves her head and builds herself a mechanical prosthetic before subduing Dementus in the desert. Once she gets her first tormentor to remember her, she completes her revenge by using his body to grow a peach tree from the same seed her mom gave her. After Joe promotes her to take command of a new War Rig, the film ends with her taking five of his wives and sneaking them into the tanker overnight intending to escape the Citadel and take them to the Green Place due to remembering the star map, tying into the events of Fury Road.
THOUGHTS
Miller has proven patience is they to success with each film he's made and it is once again proven in a critical standpoint. While it irritates me this did not match the predecessor's box office success, it doesn't takeaway that this was another entertaining film in its own right. Miller and cowriter Nico Lathouris bring a whole other pace that is its own adrenaline that hooks you in from top to bottom. Each chase/shootout is well edited by both Margaret Sixel & Eliot Kanpman and is captured through beautiful cinematography by Simon Duggan. And of course, Junkie XL brings an exciting score to the table. It is a challenge for this series to change things up by focusing on a different lead; Putting aside the road warrior's cameo by stuntman Jacob Tomuri, it doesn't takeaway the expected atmosphere being maintained. With Furiosa officially helming the lead, it definitely is another shakeup of its own. What I think makes this one work is its unique iteration in saying life can still grow even in the darkest of times, as long as you remember the morality that'll keep you where you want to be. This is the case when following the titular protagonist who had an unwanted journey, yet made the most of it to be stronger than she prepared for. Since Charlee Fraser showed her mother Mary to be a fierce woman in her own right as she died defending her daughter, you already know Furiosa is bound to become a strong willed avenger. From breakout Alyla Browne to adult Anya Taylor Joy, neither replicate Charlize Theron's original aura but instead make their own when crafting the character. With so much pain & trauma, you would think this character would give up sooner. She never does even after losing an arm because it came to show how much determination she had in returning to what was her prosperity. It was a gamble since we know the Green Place would not stay where she remembered, it was still worth it because she still came around in extracting revenge against the man who took away her innocence. Dementus is not the first villain Chris Hemsworth ever played, but it will downright be his best for being most unhinged. He stands out because even though he had charisma in his efforts of a hostile takeover, he was too incompetent to handle the aftermath. He was more of an anarchist in his end results which proved it doesn't you should do something just because you know you can. Being self aware about this makes you respect how Immortan Joe managed things. Even though he is still a tyrant, Lachy Hulme, who replaces the late Hugh Keays Byrne, is able to show him to be one who had order in his reign. And despite having much organization, nor is he the origin of Furiosa's trauma, it doesn't condone him having enslaved women and starving the majority of his population. I like many find it poetic for Furiosa to torture Dementus the way he does because the use of the seed gets the message further across of her rebirth which she went forward with in her escape with the wives. Considering she made that final decision on her own, many would mistake she was that alone in her adult life at that point. However before Max, there was another man who saw her as an equal. Tom Burke was a great addition as Paretorian Jack because he had nobility that felt missing in the world around everyone. Due to how he lost his own family, it was easy for him to relate to Furiosa in wanting to seek freedom and wanting to help her seek it. She stuck by his side out of respect to him seeing her as an equal and nothing less. Had he not acted such, she never would've boosted her confidence to do what was the absolute to her, nor would Joe ever see her betrayal coming. Needless to say, he was the unsung hero in this story and there is nothing wrong in saying that because I'm sure Furiosa appreciates him as much as she would the aid of Max. This movie rocks, but then there are moments that confused me to the point where I still prefer Fury Road. For instance, it was cool that Mary leads a charge to rescue her daughter before going in her own, but why is there only one horse? If all those ladies were able to charge together, I don’t buy the fact there’s only one horse to ride at that point in time. And ain’t it surprising how the bike isn’t harmed after the gas shot at and caused an explosion? That should’ve damaged at least a tire if not Mary herself. It’s even a surprise Dementus doesn’t try threatening to harm Furiosa just to get her mom to tell him where the Green Place is. Even if it wouldn’t work, it would’ve been worth trying. Also, where did the white paint come from? War Boys use red flares, so it’s strange for it to be just where Dementus needs use of it to infiltrate Gas Town. If they’re from other War Boys that just got killed, that should be specified. There is even a continuity error where the star map is not on the arm of young Furiosa as she’s making her wig to avoid Rictus, which is so weird. I mean how could you miss this since due to how it returns after Rictus looks at it. I even laugh at the fact people don’t connect the dots of Furiosa being part of the work crew shortly after her disappearance as a child. Another continuity error triggers me when her bikes can’t contemplate whether or not they got horns between takes during the Bullet Farm chase. Other than that, I still think this film is worthwhile. In short, Furiosa is a great addition to the Mad Max Saga for showing there is more than one road warrior in this action franchise. If Fury Road blew you away, I think this will do the same.
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