Forty-five years ago George Miller (Lorenzo's Oil) and Byron Kennedy (The Devil in Evening Dress) created a post-apocalyptic world where all manner of inhumane behavior ruled. It was a vast wasteland where few controlled the limited available resources and survival of the fittest was the mantra. Ruthlessness and lawlessness were abundant and the harsh desert climate swallowed all manner of people and creatures alive. Starring Mel Gibson (Lethal Weapon), Mad Max was a box office success but divided critics. This Memorial Day weekend the fifth installment in the franchise, Furious: A Mad Max Saga, will hit theaters.
In the Wasteland nothing grows. All one can see is sand stretching out in all directions. Besides a few pockets of colonies overseen by warlords, it is the emptiness of nothing. However, there is a far-off region of abundance where the ground is lush and green and fruit grows on trees. A young Furiosa (Alyla Browne; Three Thousand Years of Longing) lives there with her mother and her younger sister and is among the inhabitants who guard their paradise with their lives. But when Furiosa is taken, her mother chases after the kidnappers to free her daughter and to keep the secret from getting out.
Years later, working in disguise at the Citadel, Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy; The Queen's Gambit) stows away on the gas tanker in hopes of finding and killing Dementus (Chris Hemsworth; Thor) whose gang killed her mother. Found and taken by Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke; The Wonder), Furiosa plans her revenge but is caught in a war between Dementus, Immortal Joe (Lachy Hulme; Offspring), and The Bullet Farmer (Lee Perry; Happy Feet). Determined she chases Dementus through the sand, exacts her vengeance, and escapes the Citadel with Joe's wives.
While most of the Mad Max franchise has little in the way of plot and character development, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is the rare exception. From the beginning, we understand why Furiosa is motivated to stay alive while watching the "politics" play out around her. Miller and Kennedy's script has human emotion surrounded by the usual anger and degradation found in the other Mad Max films. However, there is still the usual action, explosions, and blood and gore that audiences have come to expect from these movies. Miller, who also directs this latest installment, remains faithful to the franchise while still managing to come up with new and inventive ways to torture and blow up people and places.
What makes this movie even more interesting is the cast, specifically Taylor-Joy. While Charlize Theron (Atomic Blonde) was simply a stone-cold bitch as the adult Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road, Taylor-Joy infuses the character with layer upon layer of experiences that shape her into the person she becomes. From feeling the emotions that come with loss and grief to those prevalent when one is scared or brazen, etc., she is the whole package. Hemsworth starts off the film as a leader but eventually deteriorates into a madman whose plan crumbles before his eyes.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has its good points but some bad ones as well. For starters, it is too long. You've seen one desert chase seen, you've pretty much seen them all so Miller could have trimmed a few minutes here and there and still had the same film. The special effects are also less than stellar taking the audience out of the action on more than one occasion. Luckily, many fans of the franchise won't let those distractions bother them too much.
It seems after all these years and five films, we finally have an actual story intertwined with the action. This development makes the movie better than most of the rest of the franchise and, especially for fans, makes it a worthwhile option for movie-going this holiday weekend.
Grade: B
