The first reviews of George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” have been revealed. What do the press think of the “Fury Road” prequel starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth?
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is released in theaters on May 22 and will be previewed out of competition on May 15 during the Cannes Film Festival. But George Miller’s feature film, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, has already had its world premiere in Australia and was shown to the press. And the first returns on the Fury Road prequel are rave. This new film, with a record length of 2h28, centers on the youth of Furiosa, played by Anya Taylor-Joy (and by Charlize Theron in the previous part), and begins 15 years before the action of the film led by Tom Hardy. In a world in decline, young Furiosa is torn from the Green Earth and captured by a horde of bikers led by the fearsome Dementus. As she tries to survive the Desolation, Immortan Joe, and find her way home, Furiosa has only one obsession: revenge.
Furiosa also stars Tom Burke, Alyla Browne, Quaden Bayles and John Howard, Lachy Hulme reprises the role of Immortan Joe, while Nathan Jones and Angus Sampson reprise their roles as Rictus Erectus and the Organic Mechanic, previously seen in Fury Road .
What do the first spectators think of this return to the devastated lands?
For Erik Davis of Fandango: “Furiosa by George Miller is a powerful action film! A fierce, relentless epic that expands on the story of Furiosa and the Wasteland while delivering the wildest chases, grandest characters, and simply stunning cinematography.
Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth delve into the Wasteland and both deliver incredible stuff. There’s one War Rig sequence that blew me away – an instant classic. I love #MadMax movies and I loved this movie. Start your engines !”
A different rhythm from Fury Road
David Ehrlich from the site IndieWire notes that the film differs from Mad Max: Fury Road released in 2015 and notes that this might displease some, which is not his case: “I have the great joy of announcing that Furiosa is really, really good. The film has an extremely different pace from Fury Road (in a way that I suspect will frustrate some people), but it also manages to make that film even richer while carving out its own legend in the Wasteland.”
Bill Bria Slash Movie writing : “Furiosa is myth-making at its finest. The largest installment in the Mad Max saga returns to the series’ roots: it’s a powerful, moving and gritty tale of revenge set in a world gone wild. And also: windsurfing bombers. Anya Taylor-Joy owns, Hemsworth slays !”
Actors at their best
For the Australian journalist from the site Nick’s Flicks: “Furiosa is EPIC in every sense of the word! The world-building and expanding mythology of the Mad Max universe is at the heart of a thunderous film that delivers explosive and exciting action scenes. Taylor-Joy is great, but Hemsworth really shines in a way he hasn’t shown before!
For her part, Therese Lacson of Collider praises the work of the two young performers of Furiosa but regrets that the construction of the film spoils the rhythm.
“I could easily watch 15 hours of Anya Taylor Joy and Alyla Browne as #Furiosa, but much of her movie suffers from inconsistent pacing due to a segmented story. This movie won’t match the splendor of Fury Road, but he doesn’t need it.”
For Simon Thompson, journalist for Forbes, Variety and The Wrap, the film manages to be a great spectacle while maintaining a certain depth: “Jesus George Miller! Furiosa swallows you up. At times it almost seems to loom larger than the canvas of the IMAX format – it is SO big – and yet at other times it is deeply touchingly intimate. Echoing cinematic elements from the 50s to 80s, it’s a rich and intelligent vision that the actors delight in.”
