Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
Let me be upfront about something: I never quite clicked with Fury Road. I know that puts me in a minority, and I know the reaction I get when I say it. But it's true. I found it relentless in a way that felt exhausting rather than exhilarating, a film so committed to its own momentum that it forgot to give me a reason to care. So when I sat down with Furiosa, my expectations were cautious at best. Which makes it all the more pleasing to tell you: I genuinely liked this one. A lot, actually.
The difference, for me, comes down to story. Furiosa has one. A proper one, with a beginning, a middle, an end, and stakes that actually mean something because you understand what's been lost and what's being fought for. There's a journey here with purpose behind it, not just geography to tear across. The characters feel like they exist when the camera isn't pointing at them, which is a low bar, maybe, but it's one the previous film struggled to clear for me. George Miller has clearly taken the space that a prequel format allows and used it to actually build something rather than just detonate it.
The action, when it comes, is brilliant. And crucially, it earns its place. These sequences feel like the product of genuine dramatic tension rather than spectacle for its own sake. I also noticed, with real relief, that the sped-up camera style that bothered me so much in Fury Road is used very sparingly here. It always pulled me out of the moment before, that slightly hyper-real, almost cartoonish flicker. Here it barely registers, and the film is better for it.
That said, I won't pretend it's flawless, because it isn't. The world still skews video-gamey in a way I find mildly alienating. We're talking more Borderlands than the gritty, sun-bleached Australia I remember loving in Mad Max or Mad Max 2. There's a heightened absurdity to the production design that I've made my peace with, but it does occasionally tip into silliness. And the character names. Look, I'll just say it: some of them are absolutely ridiculous. You spend a chunk of the film mentally juggling names that sound like they were generated by someone who got bored halfway through writing a fantasy novel. Once you accept the tone and stop fighting it, you're fine. But that adjustment takes a little time.
Anya Taylor-Joy is quietly fierce in the lead. She doesn't say a great deal, but she doesn't need to. There's a stillness to her performance that carries weight, a kind of coiled determination that makes sense given everything Furiosa has been through by the time we meet her. The villains are decent, occasionally more than decent, and the pacing, while the film is undeniably long, never feels self-indulgent. Miller keeps things moving in a way that respects your time even when he's asking a lot of it.
One thing I want to flag before I wrap up, because it genuinely mattered to me: Praetorian Jack is, in my view, a far better "Max" than Tom Hardy ever managed in Fury Road. He's got that weary, quietly capable energy that feels true to the spirit of the original character, even though he's not technically Max at all. It's a footnote in the grand scheme of the film, but it landed for me in a way I didn't expect.
Furiosa is a really solid entry in the saga. Flawed, yes. Occasionally daft with its names and its neon-tinged aesthetic. But coherent, visceral, and emotionally grounded in a way Fury Road simply wasn't, at least not for me. There's a proper adventure here if you're willing to meet it halfway. I walked away satisfied, which is genuinely more than I could say last time. Worth your time, whether you're already invested in this world or just after a decent action film with a bit more substance than you might expect.
Three and a half stars.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2024 | Watched: 2026-06-07
Where to watch
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