‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ REVIEW: Planting the Seeds of Hope
‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ REVIEW: Planting the Seeds of Hope
Furiosa hides herself away from a wall of flames | Still taken from the Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’s Official Trailer on YouTube
The memory of witnessing the historic Fury Road for the first time on the big screen is still vivid to me. I was fresh out of high school back then, riddled with fear and apprehension about what the future might entail, but also a couple of thousand pesos richer from the graduation gifts I received from my relatives.
To alleviate the anxieties brought about by the uncertainties of looming university life, I used the graduation gifts I received to spend the entire summer watching movies in cinemas. However, it wouldn’t take long before that plan was immediately derailed by what might be the best action blockbuster of that year, if not, of all time.
And it was glorious. No other action film has made me utter “Holy shit,” or any of its colorful variants under my breath more than Mad Max: Fury Road. Its vibrant and chaotic vision of a turbo-charged post-apocalyptic wasteland is so immaculately envisioned that it can only be conceived by a madman.
It was populated by road warriors, kamakrazee war boys, and theatrical wasteland dwellers bearing outlandish names such as Slit, Rictus Erectus, The People Eater, The Bullet Farmer, and more, all amidst a barrage of high-octane action.
By the time the Doof Warrior enters the frame to shred his flame-spitting electric guitar into battle, I was completely enraptured by all of the madness. It was, as Rictus Erectus would say, “Perfect. Perfect in every way.”
As soon as the credits rolled, I felt the urge to see it again. And so I did, multiple times in fact. Next thing I knew, my plan had gone kaput and the graduation gift money was gone, all of it spent on Fury Road tickets. I never regretted going broke over it, though. In a time when Hollywood was dominated by young adult sci-fi action films desperate to start a franchise of their own and action films starring a geriatric Irishman who pisses himself when drunk, it was a stand-out cinematic experience quite like no other.
So, when Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga was announced, the question that lingered in my mind was this: does George Miller still have it in him to make it epic? Can it soar to the heights that Fury Road has reached? The answer to both questions is a resounding yes, though not in the way you might expect.
Instead of trying to live up to the impossibly high standard set by the first film, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga forges a new path for itself, shedding the relentless pace of Fury Road for a more intimate and soulful symphony of vengeance that elevates the emotional gravity of its predecessor.
Less of a straightforward action vehicle and more of a character study focusing on fan-favorite Furiosa, George Miller traces the iconic character’s backstory with rigorous fervor and calculated control. This journey into the heart of darkness adds more fuel to the fire burning inside Charlize Theron’s Furiosa as she fights tooth and nail to reclaim the hope that has evaded her throughout her life.
I always thought that a prequel to one of the best action films of the 21st century was unnecessary, but now, I can’t imagine Fury Road without Furiosa.
Mary Jabassa and a young Furiosa ride away on a motorcycle | Still taken from the Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’s Official Trailer on YouTube.
Continuing the myth-making of wasteland hopegivers, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga follows Furiosa’s (Anya Taylor-Joy) decades-long quest to get home to the Green Place of Many Mothers and take revenge on Dementus, a warlord who ripped her childhood and magnificent mother, Mary Jabassa (Charlee Fraser), away from her.
Her journey home is further complicated when a conflict arises between Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme) and Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), plunging the wastelands of what was once central Australia into total chaos.
Miller continuously mines the almost barren wasteland for more eccentric characters to introduce to the mix, an approach that proves to be a simple but rather effective method of expanding the world than just simply making the action bigger or over-explaining the “hows” prior to Fury Road.
The ambitious and creative action set-pieces in Furiosa, set to the pulse-pounding, didgeridoo-laden score from Junkie XL, are still as intense and thrilling as the ones we have previously witnessed in Fury Road. The emotionally-charged Bullet Farm sequence is excellent proof of that. Additionally, we still see the intricate world of jacked-up vehicles and eclectic post-apocalypse aesthetics that made the reboot so iconic and visually striking.
However, by introducing Dementus and his demented biker horde, along with their brutality and incessant throttling as they maraud the dunes and deserts in search of precious resources, we gain a clearer glimpse of the depth of despair and anarchy that the people of the Wasteland find themselves in.
Fully embodying chaos, Dementus and his gang make the despotic rule of Immortan Joe appear like an effective bureaucracy preventing the Wasteland from eating itself. Their presence intensifies a world where humanity has gone rogue, terrorizing itself. It's a world that is truly hopeless, one that violently robbed Furiosa of her childhood and transformed Dementus into an agent of chaos.
Chris Hemsworth as Dementus | Still taken from the Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’s Official Trailer on YouTube
Chris Hemsworth revels in that chaos as Dementus, delivering a standout performance that will finally bury the "Who is the best Chris?" debate into its grave (where it rightfully belongs). He embodies the power-hungry and relentless nature typical of the franchise's villains.
However, what sets Dementus apart from the likes of Fury Road’s Immortan Joe or The Road Warrior’s Humungus are the tragic nuances of humanity that Hemsworth masterfully infuses beneath the character's maniacal and sometimes humorous exterior.
In a pivotal scene showcasing what little humanity is left in Dementus, we witness him enact a cruel punishment on Furiosa as retribution for her interference in his plans to dominate the Wasteland. As the day and the punishment wear on, we witness a different side of him, visibly shaken by the cruelties he has inflicted on others.
This prompts him to halt the madness around him and, with mournful resignation, utter the word "Lord..." under his breath, as if pleading to any god who might listen to take away the suffering that has drained them of all life and hope. It’s a humanizing moment for an unredeemable man, exposing him as a mere human being who has succumbed to the cruelties of the Wasteland and harbors self-loathing for it.
And in the face of the chaos that Dementus represents, we find the darkest of angels: Furiosa herself. Torn away from the place of abundance she calls home, she will stop at nothing in finding her way back. Though this would prove to be her undoing, it also serves as the impetus for her metamorphosis into the Furiosa that we meet in Fury Road.
Furiosa completes her transformation | Image taken from the the official @MadMaxMovie X account
Anya Taylor-Joy's portrayal of Furiosa commands the film, despite sparse dialogue, conveying the character's seething rage and desperate search for what was lost through the quiet intensity of her eyes. Her performance adds a significant amount of depth and vulnerability to the already brilliant groundwork laid out by Charlize Theron.
Furiosa’s odyssey reminds me a lot of Lee Geum-ja’s in Park Chan-wook’s Sympathy For Lady Vengeance. Both were wronged and silenced into submission by cruel men who left nothing but destruction in their path. Their quest for revenge leaves them both broken, in their own ways, leading them down the very same paths as the ones that ravaged their light but at the same time, affording them a new stake in life beyond vengeance.
And Dementus was right about one thing: Furiosa is one of the “already dead”. But out of the ashes, she rises as a person born anew. The realization of this shifts her gears away from becoming an anti-seed planted to kill everyone and everything. Instead, she becomes a seed of hope, rooting herself in the poisonous lands of the Wasteland, hoping that one day uncorrupted fruits will bore from her sacrifice and reclaim what she had lost.
The penultimate journey that Furiosa would embark on before her historic drive on the Fury Road would be long and treacherous. But for now, her quest home inevitably puts her resolve to the ultimate test, culminating in an unforgettable mythical coda that elevates the emotional heft of Charlize Theron’s Furiosa’s lengthy and difficult fight to reclaim hope in a sea of hopelessness, cementing her name as one to be remembered.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is now showing in cinemas nationwide.
