4 min readMay 23, 2024 09:41 PM IST
In ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Charlize Theron comprehensively busted the myth that a big-budget actioner couldn’t be helmed by a woman, and gave us a hero for the ages. Operating without an arm, fleeing across a post-apocalyptic desert with a group of women, she towered over the sand-blasted landscape, and the movie, the fourth in the Mad Max franchise.
Being a huge fan of the 2015 film, I’d been waiting breathlessly for the prequel, ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’, which premiered in Cannes last week. The backstory of a favourite character is always an exciting proposition, especially after George Miller had created such a propulsive yet felt blockbuster, a tough combination to pull off, and even more so with humans having to compete against giant vehicles– one of the signature tracks of the Mad Max franchise– racing through large vistas.
But sadly, this new ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ is a colossal bore. All the crashing and banging, the fleet of odd-bods, including masked creatures wearing strange uniforms, the convoys criss-crossing the desert pockmarked with caves and cliffs, is just a lot of noise, signifying less than nothing.
We are back in the familiar post-apocalyptic world in which water and gas is scarce, and where law and order has completely disintegrated. Gangs roam about freely, and battles keep breaking out. There is one oasis called the Green Place, where a young Furiosa is being raised by her mother (Fraser) amidst peace and quiet.
Things kick into high gear when young Furiosa is abducted, and driven full-tilt into the camp lorded over by the wild-eyed Dementus (Hemsworth) who stomps about in a cape adorned by a tiny teddy bear. With Hemsworth hamming it up for all he’s worth, you think there will be some fun and games to be had, but things plummet soon, and keep going south.
For one, Taylor-Joy’s doe-eyed Furiosa takes time to get into her stride. An interminable hour goes by before we see the girl who is the reason for the new film. Before that, we have Dementus and his gang going up against the fearsome warlord Immortan Joe (Hulme) and his Citadel, flush with food and water. A great deal of uninteresting scurrying and scuffling takes place in this fortress-like structure, and when Furiosa does break free, hooking up with Praetorian Jack (Burke), you again feel a glimmer of hope. But no, the film goes right back to the grinding and groaning of an endless line of vehicles. Poor Taylor-Joy, for all her huffing and puffing, never does catch enough breaks.
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For another, it’s hard to get the fabulous Theron out of our heads. As a hero of mythic proportions– woman-saviour-fighter, a fount of feminine energy– you can’t get better. Nothing in this pale prequel matches up, despite all its pedal-to-the-metal forays, and it comes off as a monumental dud.
Furiosa A Mad Max Saga movie cast: Anna Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Lachy Hulme, Charlee Fraser
Furiosa A Mad Max Saga movie director: George Miller
Furiosa A Mad Max Saga movie rating: One star
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has hit screens in India.