Begun in 1979 as the creation of Australian Writer/Director George Miler, the Mad Max film saga has morphed into one of the most beloved Action franchises ever. Starring Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky, it is about a dystopian Australia where the government no longer has the capacity to effectively protect its citizens. A skilled policeman trying to keep order on the highways, when Max takes his family to the beach for a holiday, a vicious biker gang murders his wife and child. Disillusioned by the collapse of an ordered society, Max quits his job and becomes a wanderer in the increasingly devastated wasteland.
In 1981, Mad Max 2 (The Road Warrior in the US) and 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome continued Max’s story. With George Miller again at the helm and starring Mel Gibson as Max, the societal breakdown depicted in Mad Max degenerated into a global apocalypse, which we find out in the prologue. Max, now wandering through the post-apocalyptic wasteland, meets a community of oil drillers trying to defend itself against a roving band of marauders. Civilization has shifted to a barter economy, and gladiatorial combat is a key source of entertainment. After robbers steal Max’s belongings, the local boss, Aunty (played by Tina Turner), recruits Max to fight a political rival in her “Thunderdome,” with a promise to replace his belongings if he wins.
Fast forward to Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road came thirty years later in 2015, with Tom Hardy replacing Gibson as Mad Max and Charlize Theron as his unlikely ally, Imperator Furiosa. Mad Max: Fury Road saw the remaining trappings of pre-apocalyptic civilization have given way to a system of ruthless warlords who dominate Australia’s remaining agricultural and industrial centers with their private armies. Max, still wandering the wasteland, is captured by warlord Immortan Joe but seizes the opportunity to escape when Joe’s lieutenant Furiosa attempts her own escape from Joe’s fortress. Max and Furiosa team up to fend off Joe’s army so that they can reach Furiosa’s home, from where she was kidnapped twenty years earlier.
This brings us to 2024… where we have the latest installment in the franchise called Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Released in theaters on May 24th, to VOD on June 24th, 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD on August 13th, before streaming on Max on August 16th, the fifth Mad Max film serves as a prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road.
Directed once again by George Miller, it stars Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch 2015, Split 2016) taking over for Charlize Theron as Furiosa, Chris Hemsworth (Thor 2011, Extraction 2020) as Dementus, Tom Burke (The Musketeers series, True Things 2021), Alyla Browne (Children of the Corn 2020, Sting 2024), Lachy Hulme (The Matrix Reloaded 2003, Macbeth 2006) replaces Hugh Keays-Byrne as Immortan Joe, George Shevtsov (Dead Calm 1989, Mystery Road; Origin 2022) as The History Man, the film’s narrator, John Howard reprising the People Eater, Angus Sampson reprising The Organic Mechanic, and Nathan Jones reprising Rictus Erectus. Furthermore, the cast includes Tim Burns, who was in the original Mad Max, and Jacob Tomuri, replacing Mel Gibson and Tom Hardy as Max Rockatansky.
When depicting the Wastelands, location is everything. It needs to be a character unto itself. Miller returned to his old stomping grounds in Australia for the barren, dead scenery. Awards season is coming up, and according to current predictions, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is most likely to be considered for technical awards like Production Design, Visual Effects, and possibly Best Stunts. Best Costume Design was also on that list… because Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga boasts practical and outlandish designs with its costumes. This is fun to see since there are so many factions at play.
The acting’s got an urgency to it that says – Life’s hard and probably will be short, so do whatever needs to be done to prolong yours…at all costs. Furiosa’s drive’s revenge, which she plays straight with the thirty lines she has; the rest is action. The cast’s loaded, but everybody actually has something to do or say. The only blemish that can kind of make a disconnect is Mel Gibson being replaced as Max after three movies with Tom Hardy, then Jacob Tomuri as the current Max.
At first viewing, the action looked mostly like glitchy computer graphics, especially in the third act. This can take anybody out of an otherwise good movie, making them feel like they are watching a video game. Although it was present in abundance in the third act, it was not as glitchy in the second viewing of Max.
George Miller has said he would like to do a movie set between the goings-on of the original Mad Max trilogy called Mad Max: The Wasteland, but we will have to see if the powers that be feel there is still gas in Pursuit Special. Nonetheless, you can pick up all the films in the newly released Mad Max 5-Film 4K Collector’s Edition that arrived on September 24th. A great gift for any Mad Max fan for the holidays, as it is, Cryptic Rock gives Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga 4 of 5 stars.
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