Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) - Riding the Path of Vengeance - 7/10 (30/05/24)

About a decade ago, Mad Max: Fury Road was a heavily overestimated reboot of the dystopian Australian franchise that offered eye candy over substance, just like the underwhelming Dune trilogy that is currently being praised for unfathomable reasons. I'm however glad to announce that Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a significant improvement over its predecessor and overall a very good post-apocalyptic action-drama.

The story revolves around the titular heroine who is kidnapped as a child. Her mother does everything she can to save her but ends up being caught and crucified. The murderer attempts to raise Furiosa as his own daughter until he decides to sell her to a wealthy businessman. Thus begins Furiosa's insatiable quest for vengeance that will take fifteen years of her life.

This movie convinces for numerous reasons. First and foremost, the diversified settings are remarkably beautiful. Bullet Farm, the Citadel and Gas Town complete one another magnificently. The Wasteland offers enough diversity with dunes, rocks and quicksands to remain interesting throughout. The shining highlight is the remarkable oasis The Green Place as the movie shows very well why people are willing to sacrifice their lives to save this heavenly location of abundance.

Up next, the film's special effects are stunning. This starts with the way the different characters age in fifteen years. It continues with the numerous experimental engines that can be seen throughout the film. The genuine highlights are however the fighting sequences that culminate in the movie's resolution.

The acting performances are also strong. Anya Taylor-Joy convinces as gritty heroine of few words. Chris Hemsworth delivers the goods as manipulative antagonist with narcissistic tendencies. Charlee Fraser astonishes as resilient mother willing to sacrifice her life to save her daughter. This movie comes around with a memorable cast of eclectic characters.

You might now wonder why this movie hasn't received an even higher rating. Let's point out a few minor flaws for the sake of justification. First and foremost, this movie overstays its welcome with a length of one hundred forty-eight minutes. Do you remember how the first Mad Max film was only ninety-three minutes long? This is the quality standard the franchise should aim to be returning to.

Up next, the film's plot is as predictable as it gets. Dystopian science-fiction movies have been overdone in the past decade and a half and the quality of the scriptwriting has overall been on a downward spiral. In addition to that, the movie tells a most simple tale of vengeance that doesn't request any kind of intellectual effort from the viewers.

Lastly, this new film could have been connected more smoothly to the other entries in the franchise. Especially the final twenty minutes feel chaotic, disorganized and rushed. Since the makers of this film had already taken more than two hours to tell the whole story, they should have invested an additional ten to fifteen minutes to connect the dots and offer a fluid resolution.

At the end of the day, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a very good science-fiction film that should be appreciated by fans of the franchise and potential new fans alike. A new Mad Max movie is also going to be seeing the light of day in the near future. Dystopian science-fiction cinema has however become uninspired, predictable and lazy throughout the past decade and a half. Instead of pushing this franchise to excessive lengths with more prequels, reboots and sequels, the makers should bring the franchise to a captivating, honourable and respectable conclusion as soon as possible.