The Mad Max franchise has an interesting history. From the guerrilla tactics used during the filming of the first chapter, where no permits were asked for nor needed to the amazing look and feel of later chapters, it is one of cinema’s most iconic series. Using mostly actual vehicles and real human-driven stunts, the films have a believability that is quite intoxicating. It’s also a series that is getting better and the latest Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga fills in quite a few gaps in the overriding story arc.
Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron in 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road gets her origin story this time out and it’s a cracker. Played by Alyla Browne (as the child) and Anya Taylor-Joy (as the young adult), the hardships endured at these early stages of her life help to inform how someone so young could have such great resolve. This is an unbelievably harsh land and her strength is more than equal to the task of survival.
The dystopian landscape that provide the backdrop for all the films seems even more brutal this time and it’s to writer/director George Miller’s consummate skills that this brutality is more implied than graphically shown. There are many startling scenes but none that cross over into being outright repulsive. This helps to make the work more inviting. You get to marvel at Furiosa’s strength and steadfast connection to the last remaining glimmers of humanity.
The series has never featured more imaginative carnage or crazier action and characters, the most fun of which is Chris Hemsworth as the manic Dr. Dementus. He chews up and spits out every scene he’s in, and he and Taylor-Joy’s inevitable showdown ends in a multifaceted way that is quite satisfying. Miller’s grasp of the characters that inhabit this wild world is still pin-sharp and this bodes well for the future of the franchise.
Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/WarnerBrosAU/
