“Furiosa,” the prequel that “Mad Max: Fury Road” needed

Nine years ago, it came out Mad Max: Fury Road. A crazy film that entered the annals of the best action films of the 2010s. Today, its prequel is released in theaters, but does it live up to its predecessor?

What was once a trilogy is now a saga. Started in 1979 with Mad Maxfollowed by Mad Max 2: The Challenge in 1981 and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome In 1984, the trilogy not only revealed the face of Mel Gibson to the world, it also defined all the post-apocalyptic aesthetics of contemporary cinema.

Taking up the codes of punk, BDSM and bikers in a desolate world where clans of cannibals, sects and gangs of looters clash in endless deserts for gasoline and water, the saga Mad Max is best known for its chases based on modified vehicles that spit flames, its studded leather looks and its impressive stunts. Mad MaxIt is a cult “eighties” saga from the mind of Australian director George Miller and his associate Byron Kennedy, who, sadly, died in 1983 in a helicopter accident during the production of the third part.

A mourning experience for George Miller, who will take three decades to bring to fruition a long-written project: Mad Max; Fury Road. A highly anticipated film that will take its audience by surprise.

_{Another famous post-apo saga:}

The character of Max Rockatansky formerly played by Mel Gibson is replaced by Tom Hardi and the entire film takes place in a truck during an insane two-hour chase. A scenario reduced to the simplest which allows to offer a tension and a rhythm rarely equaled in the Hollywood landscape, to such an extent that the feature film is today considered a monument among film buffs.

The biggest surprise of this Mad Max: Fury Road, was the introduction of the character of Furiosa, played by actress Charlize Theron. A supposedly secondary figure who turned out to be the main heroine, relegating the character of Max to a second knife who will only come to his aid, like a western hero. A radical choice which will not have pleased a whole fringe of fragile masculinists at all, but which will make Furiosa a truly feminist icona fascinating character and above all the great success of the film.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga therefore goes back to the origins of the character, bringing all the story depth that was missing from Fury Road. The film will thus return to the myth of this heroine, from her stolen childhood, to her social ascension.in a story of survival and revenge spanning several decades.

It’s in the guise of Anya Taylor-Joy (The lady’s game), who reprises the role of Charlize Theron, bringing the origins of Furiosa to life in an epic fresco that makes Mad Max: Fury Road a conclusion.

A feminist blockbuster

In five chapters, we discover what was briefly told in the previous film. In an Australia that has become a vast desert, young Furiosa lives in a green Eden, within a matriarchal utopia from which she will be kidnapped by a gang of bikers.

This gang is led by a histrionic and bloodthirsty leader named Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) whose expansionist desires will lead him straight into open war with another warlord: Immortan Joe. Young Furiosa, as a bargaining chip, will find herself in the service of this despot for years, with the sole objective of taking revenge on Demetus, responsible for the death of her mother.

A Mad Max without Max, but who proposes, as for each part, a totally different film. George Miller recounts the origin of his character with the background note of the question of female survival in a world dominated by savagery where men are used as cannon fodder and women as sexual slaves, reduced to their simple power of reproduction and dressed in chastity belts to ensure the paternity of their master.

The Immortan Joe empire that Dementus covets is made up of three large centers respectively ensuring the supply of food, gasoline and ammunition for each of them. The Citadel, Petroville and the Bullet Mill are connected by a road, the “Fury Road”, where raider attacks are legion. This post-apocalyptic society built on the ruins of the Old World uses the remaining resources as instruments of domination.

With the rest of humanity having no use for the warlords, they have no choice but to live huddled in holes, feeding on the worms that eat the dead. The film, without ever showing it explicitly, is of incredible violence whose darkness is as dark as oil.

So, from a childhood in a cage to becoming a road warrior capable of piloting supply trucks prey to all kinds of attacksFuriosa will endure, harden and build a legend worthy of the myths until she rises to the rank of “Imperator”a position as warlord with the powerful Immortan Joe which will allow him to escape.

The story here takes on a mythological dimension and does the opposite of what accomplished Fury Road. The film takes the time to develop its story, which it punctuates with scenes of great spectacle. Just like him (and Mad Max 2), the film features a chase with a truck targeted by highway pirates. A sequence, which, as in the time of Fury Roadis a lesson in editing, dynamism and action, and that alone is worth the price of a movie ticket.

_{Speaking of stuntmen…}

Chris Hemsworth in great shape

If Chris Hemsworth had accustomed us to playing heroes, helped by his iconic role as Thor, here he embodies a counter-use score which works wonders. The Australian actor returned to his original accent for this role of a histrionic warlord who is as sympathetic as he is terrifying. Here he plays a sort of degenerate descendant of Red Beard with a stuffed toy and a nasal prosthesis giving him the false air of Emmanuel Macron. A sort of Roman emperor, sometimes cruel, sometimes benevolent, who thinks he is Ben-Hur while piloting a chariot whose team is made up of three motorcycles.

Dementus, the gang leader who snatched young Furiosa from her green paradise, sees her as his adopted daughter. Their personalities, in total opposition, create a dichotomy between the two characters. While Anya Taylor-Joy impresses with her mute charisma, Chris Hemsworth, freewheeling, makes Dementus a successful character, whose detestation is very appreciable.

Furiosa is not Fury Roadand that’s so much the better, as it gives it all the consistency it lacked. This prequel fits perfectly with its predecessor, to the point of making it a real tour de force when watched consecutively. All that now remains is to pray that virtuoso George Miller, 79, can bring his hypothetical final installment entitled Mad Max: The Wastelandstill in the works, to conclude this saga with mastery.

“Furiosa: A Mad Mad Saga” was released on French-speaking screens on May 22, 2024. Duration: 2h30