Snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers, young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) falls into the hands of a great biker horde led by the warlord Dr. Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). Sweeping through the Wasteland, they come across the Citadel, presided over by the Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme). As the two tyrants fight for dominance, now adult, Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) soon finds herself in a nonstop battle to make her way home, with assistance from Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke). This is the origin of Furiosa before her encounter and teamup with Mad Max in the previous film, "Mad Max: Fury Road".
Others to round out the cast are George Shevtsov as The History Man, John Howard as The People Eater, Angus Sampson as Organic Mechanic, Elsa Pataky as Vuvalini General, Charlee Fraser as Mary Jabassa, Nathan Jones as Rictus Erectus, Josh Helman as Scrotus, David Field as Toe Jam and David Collins as Smeg.
This was directed by the 'Mad Max King', the incomparable George Miller ("The Devil in Evening Dress" '75, "Mad Max" '79, "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior" '81, "Twilight Zone: The Movie" (segment, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet") '83, "Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome" '85, "The Witches of Eastwick" '87, "Lorenzo's Oil" '92, "Babe: Pig in the City" '98, "Happy Feet" '06, "Happy Feet Two" '11, "Mad Max: Fury Road" '15, "Three Thousand Years of Longing" '22) plus TV, shorts and a music video. This director definitely puts the fun, excitement and incredible action in his films, especially his 'Mad Max' franchise, and this film is no different. The cat-and-mouse game between Furiosa and Dementus was amazing and both actors pulled it off in spades. As with Miller behind the camera, they were over-the-top in character, but still played out the intensity the characters obtained because the were serious with their revenge. If you like this directors' brand, his "Mad Max: The Wasteland" is in production. This was equally well thought out by writers George Miller ("Mad Max" '79, "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior" '81, "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" '85, "Lorenzo's Oil" '92, "Babe" '95, "Babe: Pig in the City" '98, "Happy Feet" '06, "Happy Feet Two" '11, "Mad Max: Fury Road" '15, Three Thousand Years of Longing" '22) plus TV, a short and a video game, and Nick Lathouris ("Mad Max: Fury Road '15). These characters were written rich with amazing development. Even though Furiosa has already been in a 'Mad Max' film, the creativity of her beginnings was fresh and original, as was the character development of Dr Dementus. Hemsworth looked as though he had a fun time playing the role of Dementus. It's like the more he was hammy, the better he was. Really, the only difficulty I had with this was that there were a couple of very small places of slowness, however clearly not enough to take away any impact this was attempting to convey. And the photography by Simon Duggan asc/acs was simply amazing and could garner an Oscar nod come that time.
If you are a 'Mad Max' or George Miller aficionado, you'll be in film heaven. But even if you're not, the directing, photography and acting was incredible. Even the supporting cast was believable and one could tell it was a team effort. If you like that up, close and personal feel, this is presented in an IMAX format as well.
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: R 148mins.
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