Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Movie review - Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy shine in Millers thrilling prequel (By Shayen Unadkat)

 The eagerly anticipated ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ swings into cinemas this Friday, May 24th, after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received a six-minute standing ovation and rave reviews from critics. Having gotten an early scoop, I can definitely confirm that this movie lives (for the most part) up to the hype set by the esteemed festival, and there are plenty of reasons for this.

For starters, this franchise continues to balance stellar action sequences with immense character development and insight. This is a study of the growth of Furiosa, from a young girl who struggles with the loss of her mother to a fearsome wasteland warrior seeking revenge, and to what we know of her in ‘Fury Road’ (including how she lost her arm). It shows the stages that lead to this in great detail, which I truly appreciate about this film. While this might not be as big of a case for some supporting characters, we can still see complexity in each one. More specifically, Hemsworth’s Dementus is a huge standout. Again, his backstory could have been explored a little more to gain more insight into his character, but apart from this, he is one of the most menacing and unlikable (in a good way) antagonists to hit the big screen in the last couple of years. As audience members, Miller makes us hate him—and when he is battling in pulsating action scenes, we are on the edge of our seats. The portrayal of the character elevates this even further. Hemsworth is fantastic in this film and is the standout when it comes to performances, being the primary reason why we see how menacing and intimidating the character of Dementus has been written. Anya Taylor-Joy, too, does a commendable job as the titular character.

In terms of visuals, this movie might have some moments where you can feel the slight unrealism of some action sequences, but ultimately, this new installment to the ‘Mad Max’ franchise is awe-inspiring to look at. As for the action sequences, it’s no ‘Fury Road,’ and at times we could have had more unique sequences, but what we get is thrilling. Though, this film is not perfect and suffers from a few narrative issues that stop this prequel from advancing to something on the level of ‘Fury Road.’

To begin, this film in hindsight is pretty predictable. There are not many surprises in terms of Furiosa's journey, and the ending especially can feel slightly underdeveloped and underwhelming because it relies on exposition to fully wrap it up. 

In addition to this, it’s also too long. The 2-hour and 30-minute runtime doesn’t fly by like a breeze, and you can genuinely feel how prolonged it gets sometimes. If I were to go back and watch the film again, I would definitely find a few scenes that did not need to be as long as they are to propel the plot forward. Some action sequences should have definitely been shortened to instead throw the budget towards a more thrilling finale and wrap up the prequel in more of a ‘closing’ fashion. This also affects the film’s structure too, as I can totally see the argument of this film’s 3rd act being rushed, similar to ‘Dune: Part Two.’ However, if we see through the film’s structural issues, ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ remains a cinematic blast. Miller yet again cooks up a visual treat in the form of a prequel that explores the titular character in depth through a well-crafted amalgamation of action and character development. You’ll honestly be mad not to see this movie in the cinema—it’s fun cranked up to the max.

OVERALL SCORE: 8.2/10 - DEFINITE RECOMMEND