Furiosa: the Unsatisfying Origin Story

Seeking revenge against a comical yet dangerous man seems beneath the strong, badass, and cunning protagonist of George Miller's new movie Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024). Rotten Tomatoes proves once again to be too generous with its rating for movies, awarding the film a 90% critic rating. Although the movie continues the same wild, visually-striking, petro-punk dystopian world, with all the elements and details that reflect the genius of Miller (now 79 years old), the story falls flat compared to its 2015 predecessor due to its cliched revenge plot, disappointing characters, and reliance on VFX rather than practical effects.

((Spoilers ahead!)) The prequel kicks off with a young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) being kidnapped by Dementus' bikers. When her mother tries to save her, Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) tortures and kills her while forcing her daughter to watch. Later in the film, Dementus overtakes the Bullet Farm and forces Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), warlord of the Citadel, to trade with him. When Immortan Joe sees the young Furiosa he decides to keep her with his "breeders". Furiosa quickly escapes and disguises herself as a boy in order to survive the Citadel, working her way up and helping build the War Rig. For the first half of the movie, we are with young Furiosa, then we pick up with her as an adult (Anya Taylor-Joy) plotting her escape to get back to her birthplace, the Green Place. She meets Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke), Immortan Joe's top driver in charge of the War Rig and the supply runs, and the two bond, forming a romantic relationship. Eventually, Dementus catches them when they try to escape the Bullet Farm after a supply run results in a surprise attack, and he kills Jack. After cutting off her own arm to escape Dementus, Furiosa swears revenge and finally kills her tormentor. (Satisfying?)

The protagonist merits a greater goal than a revenge story centered on the antagonist Dementus, whose comical voice yet violent demeanor does not render him a fair counterpart. The world of the film contains lots of violent brutes and greedy sadistic characters that make Dementus look silly. He is a hopeless man, a victim of the world which he now takes advantage of, but he is bested by warlord Immortan Joe during the trade negotiations, who steals Furiosa from him. Then, once again, Dementus is bested, but this time by Furiosa when she hunts him down.

The manner in which she executes her mission fails to demonstrate her cunning, calculative patience, and sophisticated tactics, which she has shown since the early scenes of the movie. While the two warlords try to maintain power and compete with each other, she grows in the shadows being mute and almost invisible. Viewers learn the advantages of this strategy, but, after she teams up with Jack, Furiosa talks again and drives the War Rig in full view of everyone, an abrupt change that ruptures any consistency and adds a codependence to her story. Also, the rushed love plotline feels outdated and cheaply contrived for such a relentless and powerful character as Furiosa. On the other hand, one of the ways Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) presents a compelling story is the use of women in a male-dominated world. In the prequel, there's barely three women and the protagonist relies on a short-term boyfriend.

Even though Furiosa's origin story helped George Miller write the Academy Award-winning Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), it is a story that should've been left behind the scenes. Miller says he is more interested in the aftermath of violence - not the violence itself, but how people confront the consequences of it. While Furiosa confronts copious violence and learns from it, the true consequence (or the more satisfying aftermath) happens in the next story, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), with her mission to rescue Immortan Joe's breeders and, ultimately, saving the whole Citadel.