When ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ came out in 2015, all I wanted to do was hear more about Charlize Theron’s “Imperator Furiosa” because she was arguably the best part of that film.
Little did I know that I’d get that chance in 2024 with the release of “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.”
I do have to warn that this movie attempts to tell a story in five parts with years of time skipped between each one.
And it goes without saying that there is plenty of violence in the Australian nuclear wasteland – just like with any of the other films in the Mad Max franchise.
Overall, it’s an alright film, but I feel the pacing could have been better.
Furiosa is an Australian post-apocalyptic action film directed and produced by George Miller, who wrote the screenplay with Nico Lathouris.
It is the fifth installment in the Mad Max franchise, serving as a prequel and spin-off to Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), and focuses on the Fury Road character Imperator Furiosa.
The film stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Alyla Browne as younger versions of Furiosa, with Chris Hemsworth, Lachy Hulme, John Howard, Angus Sampson, Charlee Fraser, Nathan Jones, Josh Helman, Dylan Adonis, and Tom Burke.
The movie is rated R for sequences of strong violence, and grisly images and clocks in at 148 minutes long.
Years after a global catastrophe, Australia is a radioactive wasteland and the Green Place of Many Mothers is one of the last remaining areas with fresh water and agriculture.
Raiders discover the Green Place while two kids, Furiosa (Browne) and Valkyrie (Adonis) are picking peaches.
Furiosa attempts to sabotage their motorbikes, but the raiders capture her as a prize for their leader, warlord Dementus (Hemsworth) of the Biker Horde.
Furiosa’s mother Mary Jabassa (Fraser) pursues them to the Horde’s camp, killing all but one raider.
The last raider delivers Furiosa to Dementus, but Furiosa mortally wounds him before he can reveal the Green Place’s location.
Mary sneaks into the camp and rescues Furiosa, but the Horde quickly gives chase.
Mary stays back to buy Furiosa time to escape and gives her a peach pit to remember her by, but Furiosa returns to her mother anyway.
Dementus forces Furiosa to watch her mother’s crucifixion.
Haunted by the death of his family, Dementus adopts Furiosa as his daughter, hoping that she will lead him to the Green Place.
Furiosa tattoos a star chart to the Green Place on her left arm to find her way home while in captivity.
After receiving a tip from a stranded soldier, Dementus and the Biker Horde besiege the Citadel, another Wasteland settlement with fresh water and agriculture.
They are repelled by the War Boys - the fanatical army of Citadel warlord Immortan Joe (Hulme).
Dementus changes course, using a Trojan Horse strategy to capture Gastown - an oil refinery that supplies the Citadel with gasoline.
At peace negotiations, Joe agrees to recognize Dementus’s authority over Gastown and increase its supplies of food and water in exchange for the Horde’s physician (Sampson) and Furiosa.
The only thing this film manages to do is show how she worked her way up through the ranks from slave to Imperator – outside of that, it’s just another Mad Max gang brawl that drags on for far too long.
