What a lovely day to revisit a world nine years removed from its most recent installment. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga follows the rise of imperator Furiosa from kidnapped child to right hand of Immortan Joe. The film takes place in a span of 15 -20 years following up to the very beginning of Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). In the cast for this prequel features Anna Taylor Joe (Furiosa), Alyla Browne (Child Furiosa), Chris Hemsworth ( Dementus), Tom Burke (Praetorian Jack), & Lachy Hulme (Immortan Joe). George Miller returns to direct this fifth installment in the Mad Max world. Furiosa is kidnapped from her tribe in the green place of abundance by a group of marauders led by the charismatic and brutal warlord Dementus. Furiosa’s mother attempts to rescue her from Dementus but is caught and is murdered in front of Furiosa. As Dementus continues to show his bloodthirst and need for total rule over the Wasteland, he gets involved into conflict with Immortan Joe and the two warlords get into a struggle for control of the major outposts of production for the land Bullet town and Gastown. Dementus goes to Immortan Joe to negotiate a deal to keep the two groups from continuing to fight each and maintain their areas of control while the young Furiosa stands behind him. Immortan Joe agrees to a deal but with the caveat that Furiosa must stay with him to later become one of his breeding wives. Dementus agrees to Immortan Joes terms. Once in Immortan Joes grasp, Furiosa shaves her head to disguise herself as a boy, and beings working with crews on Immortan Joes war rigs. Over the years as Furiosa grows up and learns how to operate and protect the war rig under the direction of Praetorian Jack, she begins planning her escape back to the green place where she came from as well as having her revenge on the man who took her from there. Furiosa hits the screen on an uphill battle coming on the heels of Mad Max: Fury Road a movie many consider one of the best action movies of the last ten years and a game changer in presenting a wild thrill ride with mostly practical affects. Can Furiosa stand on its own as an entertaining adventure in this sage? Let’s discuss.

If you go into Furiosa expecting something similar to Fury Road, you will be severely disappointed but that does not mean that Furiosa isn’t good because it certainly is a good movie but there are bumps in the road on this film’s journey. The standout and highest point of praise for this movie is without a doubt Chris Hemsworth as Dementus. With a prosthetic nose and a fake beard, Hemsworth chews the scenery every time he is on the screen and presents someone who is funny, intimidating, psychotic, but is also someone who has been shaped by events in the creation of the wasteland which helps you understand where he is coming from. Anna Taylor Joy plays the title character well and keeps a similar energy to how Charlize Theron played Furiosa in Fury Road. She does not have many lines of dialogue but has moments where she is able to be a bit more emotional. She is never able to overpower anyone physically but uses wits and the skills she learns from her years of being in the wasteland to survive and fight. Alyla Browne who plays the younger child version of Furiosa does a good job as well going in the beginning from happy child to someone who loses everything and becomes colder.

Where this movie separates itself from Fury Road is in which the story is presented. Where Fury Road is a nonstop action truck chase spectacle, Furiosa (literally presented as a 5-chapter story) takes its time expanding and building the world of the wasteland and giving background to characters like Furiosa, Praetorian Jack, and Dementus. But don’t think that George Miller isn’t bringing heat with some batshit action sequences. Not nearly at the same volume of Fury Road but there are a few action sequences here that are as good and one that comes in the middle of the movie that takes place for what seems 15 minutes long is one of the best action sequences to come along in some time. Costume designer Jenny Beaven, Production designer Colin Gibson, and Hair & makeup designer Lesley Vanderwalt deserve a lot of credit for the look of the world and the look the characters for this time around.

There are areas where Furiosa has its struggles in the 2 1/2-hour runtime. One area that we can most definitely say that Fury Road did better is its use of CGI. Though Fury Road is praised for its use of practical effects, it does use CGI sparingly but uses the CGI to its advantage and doesn’t make it so blatant. In Furiosa there are several scenes where it is obvious you are watching a green screen. I felt while watching some of the scenes I was watching something with CGI from the Hobbit movies. Not to say that there are plenty of moments in Furiosa that are beautifully filmed but when the CGI appears it is very distracting. Going back to Anna Taylor Joys performance, one issue I had is that because she does not speak that much there aren’t a lot of moments when her priorities are explained and at times it feels like she says she wants to do one thing but later ends up doing another. And needless to say, whenever Dementus was not on screen the movie’s energy levels decreased a lot with the exception of the movies middle epic action set piece.

Though it doesn’t equal the high of fury road, Furiosa: A Mad Max Sage still offers a entertaining story of vengeance, that expands and builds the world of the Wasteland while offering a few entertaining action sequences and an electric performance from Chris Hemsworth. 8/10.