Furiosa Movie Review

George Miller knocks it out of the park with rich prequel 4 and half out of 5

George Millers crafts an epic revenge action movie that really flushes out this amazing character of Furiosa from fury road while telling a satisfying story in its own right. It’s another example that a prequel can be not only good but great fleshing out the wasteland of Mad Max introducing a great villain in Dementus and having terrific action sequences in the ballpark of fury road which is almost an impossible task to live up to. The silent hero who doesn’t talk much continues to be a great hallmark of the Mad Max franchise and continues to show how George Miller is a genius at visual storytelling and how he is so great at casting great actors who don’t need a lot of dialogue to convey what they are feeling.

As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home. This is one of my favorite films of the year for many reasons the first one is George Miller expands the world of Mad Max really flushing out the different factions fighting over resources while seeing where Furiosa came from before Fury Road making you love her even more as a character. The choices Miller makes are so creative and interesting like have guys parashoot during an intense chase scene, the different color palate’s he chooses like the opening chase is light blue or when Furiosa’s mother rescues her the orange is so vibrant which really pops. Miller does a great job with the pacing he balances the jump from the young Furiosa to the Anya Taylor Joy so well its seamless and the progression of the story as well as her character arc really suck you in to care about her then you are on the journey with her.

The performances in the film are great starting with 2 actresses who play Furiosa Alyla Browne and Anya Taylor Joy are fantastic. Browne playing the child version does a great job of the laying the groundwork for Joy to take over she brings a strength that is unique for a kid she shows no fear as well as you see how resourceful she can be on the fly and how much she loves her mother which makes you want her to get her revenge. Anya Taylor Joy is magnificent she had big shoes to fill after what Charlize Theron was able to do in Fury Road and she does in spades she has such piercing eyes which conveys all the emotions she is feeling which is vital since her character doesn’t have a lot of dialogue. She can go from this badass made of steel with simmering rage to vulnerability particularly with Tom Burks character Jack who is a great character who is like Max which explains why Furiosa will be able to trust Max in Fury Road. Chris Hemsworth is a scene stealer in the movie as the villain Dementus having this bluster to make him seem more powerful than he really is and does not have the respect and devotion of his gang like Immortal joe does which you clearly see when they come into conflict when negotiating. What makes this character great is he has a layer of brokenness and that comes out when Furiosa confronts him at the end and talks about how his daughters were killed since then he has had no hope his humanity died with them.

The editing of this film is well done not quite as perfect as Fury Road, but you can tell the film was edited by genius the pacing and the way action scenes are cut together you can tell what is where everyone is and it’s not like marvel movies where it’s just rushed CGI garbage. The score for the film by Junkie XL is quite good gives the action and emotional scenes more heft to bring those scenes to life like when Furiosa and Jack are having a heartfelt conversation and Jack says he wants to help her get back home it really hit hard for me. Something I love in all the Mad Max films is the costume and make up designs they are so creative, unique, and joyfully weird that pop put at you when you’re watching the films.

Final thoughts on Furiosa are I love this film so much which makes me so sad that it did not do well at the box office but I’m confident it will be discovered and be loved by many fans for years to come. George Miler continues to be a marvel directing a film like this at almost 80 years old but feeling like it was a 30-year-old and another example of a great prequel between this and first omen it’s been a great year for Prequels, I give this film 4 and half out of 5.