Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Cert - 15, Run-time - 2 hours 28 minutes

Director - George Miller

Kidnapped as a child (Alyla Browne), Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) seeks vengeance on Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), who risks destroying what remains in the wasteland.

We've visited the wasteland of George Miller's Mad Max franchise a number of times before. However, in the two-hour car chase that was Fury Road it was given a new visually rich and chaotic energy. Now acquainted with this iteration of the wasteland Miller's prequel for Charlize Theron's Furiosa (now portrayed by Anya Taylor-Joy) allows for more close-up detail.

The mould of Fury Road may very well have made for a 12 certificate, Miller aimed for an American PG-13. However, its intensity gained a rightful 15/ R. Furiosa is a film made for the latter ratings. The close-ups emphasise the darkness of the wasteland, the grisly fight for survival faced in the empty land of sand dunes.

Yet, it also brings further personality to the once briefly seen locations; such as the Citadel, the Bullet Farm and Gas Town. Each brought to life with the same technical details which made Fury Road such an intense, immersive experience.

A number of creatives return here to create equally detailed costumes, vehicles and more. It's the latter location which Chris Hemsworth's power-hungry Dementus takes over and threatens to destroy what remains in the wasteland. With other wasteland leaders needing to take him down, Furiosa is ready to be the one to do it - seeking revenge for the death of her mother at the hands of Dementus, who kidnapped her as a child.

Furiosa's vengeance is her drive. Trapped in a meticulously designed world of hopelessness she's trying to reach the path where she can create her hopeful future. Taylor-Joy says very little over the course of the film, she doesn't appear for over an hour. Although, unlike Tom Hardy's Max Rockatansky this eventually proves to very much be Furiosa's film.

While a much more narratively driven film there's still room for a number of extended action sequences. Capturing a similar car chase catharsis with plenty of practical stunt-work and breathless tension. We may not be thrown head-first into this world again, but we are into the explosive stretches of action full of as much detail as the more dialogue-driven scenes. Heightened by them as each shows the threat of Hemsworth's crazed villain.

Starting as background for Charlize Theron to deepen her brilliant performance in Fury Road, Furiosa arrives on the big screen with just as much stunning detail and plenty of thrills. More narratively focused, there's a good deal to like about the details shown and discussed in the once briefly-glimpsed locations in this struggling dystopia.

In nine years George Miller and his team have lost no energy or flair. Fleshing out the wasteland in a slightly different style without feeling like exclusively world-building or fan service. This is an action-packed, visually-immense tale that knows it needs to tell its story and does with great strength from its interconnected world and characters.

Five stars