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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has to add those extra four words, so you don’t spend the duration wondering, “Why has this been sold on the name of Mad Max, when he’s not in it?”
Well, so they can still take your money.
That said, there is a Mad Max (Jacob Tomuri) in there somewhere, but he was never referred to, and I only realised he was part of this when his name came up in the credits.
Anyhoo, for a plot, the economy is in the toilet, so the Tories have clearly had their hand in the till, again, there’s a very basic revenge tale in this – the details of which I won’t spoil, and the film is broken up into five chapters, for extra pompousness – each lasting around 25-30 minutes, opening with Chapter 1: The Pole of Inaccessibility… The what now?
Early on, we see Furiosa as a teenage girl (Alyla Browne – The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart) kidnapped by some bad guys on motorbikes – and I figured you can tell why this is going to last two-and-a-half-hours, when she’s kidnapped, gets rescued, gets kidnapped again… and so on.
However, given that she gets hold of a knife, why didn’t she use it to stab them, and then head off on the bike? That made no sense. But no, she just tries to run. Didn’t she realise that their bikes can outpace her?
This is a place where lawlessness and sadistic violence rule – so, modern-day Britain, where humans put their heads together in the same way that apes do in Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes, there are snipers in the desert, and so many sand dunes, that as vehicles drove one way across the desert, I kept expecting Zendaya to zoom past them while riding a giant sandworm!
Thor, sorry, Dr. Dementus (Chris Hemsworth – Thor: Love And Thunder), wants to know the town from where she hails, as it’s apparently a place of “abundance”, given that they haven’t got a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out, and need to buy and sell goods and services.
He wants to take over Gastown, the Second Fortress of the Wasteland, where women are kidnapped to make babies, like a harem, leading to those women who escaped in Mad Max Fury Road, including Zoe Kravitz.
On the plus side, there’s a great vehicle chase about halfway through – while she’s teamed up with Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke – Living), and I laughed at the War Boy with an arrow bolt stuck in his head, but those characters are all whitened up like the opposite of The Black And White Minstrel Show, yet still haven’t been cancelled in this universe.
However, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga looks very stylish, but doesn’t have much of a story for its overlong running time and is quite dull in the main.
Chris Hemsworth comes across as a Cockney Aussie, Chapters 2 to 5 are labelled Lessons From The Wasteland, The Stowaway, Homeward and Beyond Vengeance, but these don’t really matter a jot and aren’t necessary. Plus, there’s a man with one eye, but doesn’t cover the other one up, so you’re always aware of the fact CGI is required to maintain that.
As for our titular heroine in the guise of Anya Taylor-Joy (The Super Mario Bros Movie), she doesn’t turn up until chapter 3, about an hour into the proceedings. She’s probably the best thing about this, but the rest of the cast are mostly sleepwalking through their scripts.
Check out the video below to see what’s in the mid-credits and post-credits scenes, but with just NINE people in my Bank Holiday Monday lunchtime screening, bear in mind that it’s no surprise that this film has underperformed at the box office. The budget of $168m means that it’ll need to amass approximately $500m just to break even, since that is three times the basic budget, but takes promotion into account.
In the US, it’s taken $25.5 million in its opening weekend, and $32 million over the first four days, making it the lowest-grossing film to finish in first over the Memorial Day weekend since Casper ($22 million in 1995; $43.2 million when adjusted to 2024 prices), according to Wikipedia.
As of Monday May 27th, it’s taken $64.8m worldwide. Another blockbuster flop!
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD, ahead of its release date TBA.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 148 minutes
Release date: May 24th 2024
Studio: Warner Bros
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (ARRIRAW (6.5K), Redcode RAW (8K), Spherical)
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 4/10
Director: George Miller
Producers: George Miller, Doug Mitchell
Screenplay: George Miller, Nick Lathouris
Music: Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL)
Cast:
Furiosa: Anya Taylor-Joy
Dr. Dementus: Chris Hemsworth
Praetorian Jack: Tom Burke
Young Furiosa: Alyla Browne
The History Man: George Shevtsov
Immortan Joe / Rizzdale Pell: Lachy Hulme
The Peopler Eater: John Howard
Organic Mechanic: Angus Sampson
Mary Jabassa: Charlee Fraser
Vuvalini General / Mr Norton: Elsa Pataky
Rictus Erectus: Nathan Jones
Scrotus: Josh Helman
Toe Jam: David Field
Vulture: Rahel Romahn
Smeg: David Collins
The Octoboss: Goran Kleut
Big Jilly: CJ Bloomfield
Fang: Matuse
Mr. Harley: Ian Roberts
Mr. Davidson: Guy Spence
Squint: Rob Jones
Black Thumb: Clarence Ryan
Hungry Eyes: Tim Burns
Snapper: Tim Rogers
Sad Eyes: Florence Mezzara
War Pup: Quaden Bayles
Guardian of Gastown: Peter Stephens
The Dogman / Mad Max: Jacob Tomuri
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.