We at HNS were invited to a early multimedia screening by Warner Bros to watch the Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the new installment of the legendary franchise and dystopian world that Australian filmmaker George Miller created 45 years ago. The franchise helped change the face of the Australian film industry and redefined the entire post-apocalyptic genre. It stars Anya Taylor-Joy as the titular character Furiosa, charting her origin story and Chris Hemsworth as the sociopath and lunatic warlord Dementus. This film is basically an odyssey of Furiosa’s origin story to find out the events and circumstances that shaped her. The story spans over 15 years from the moment 10-year-old Furiosa (Alyla Browne) is taken and basically kidnapped by the biker horde of the wasteland led by the maniacal Dementus, starting a series of tragic and brutal events in young Furiosa’s life. Dementus takes her because she knows the location to her home of The Green Place of Many Mothers, a place of peace and abundance of resources such as crops and fresh water. He attempts to be a father figure to her, insisting that he will protect her in his own twisted logic, in his own attempt to survive the barbaric wastelands that formed him. He teases that he lost his family to the brutality of this world and his past. He constantly carries an old and withered teddy bear which he gives to a young Furiosa, whom he refers to as Little’D’. Hemsworth plays him with such showmanship and charisma that you begin to forget what a brutal, violent and evil individual he can be. This is without a doubt his best performance of his career in my opinion, after reflecting on the screening afterwards. Furiosa witnesses this at first hand when her mother attempts to rescue her, but when Dementus and his biker gang catch her fleeing, he not only tortures her mother but he makes her watch her mother be brutally killed, her innocence shattered forever. In this moment, fury and vengeance were born out of her soul with pure hatred for Dementus. Furiosa gets caught in the middle of Dementus’ battle to control and survive the wasteland with the warlord Immortan Joe from the citadel, whose in his prime here not the deathly ill version we see in Mad Max: Fury Road, nearly 20 years later. Anya Taylor-Joy brings a visceral fury, fire and fight in her eyes and her body movement as we see her portrayal of Furiosa from her late teens until her mid-twenties. Whenever she appears on screen you cannot take your eyes off her, even though she does not have that many lines, which makes it more amazing of how she commands the screen. Her on screen chemistry with Chris Hemsworth’s Dementus lights up the screen and you can feel the contempt, hatred, vengeance and heartbreak whenever they are in the same scene together. As twisted as it may seem, Dementus has paternal feelings towards her and sees a father and daughter dynamic in his own twisted mind. Furiosa must learn how to operate the wasteland roads, various trucks and cars and then develops into a very gifted mechanic and engineer, fighter and sharpshooter. But this is not without great sacrifice, as she is taken under the wing of Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke) an elite road warrior/driver for immortal Joe. Furiosa simply has two objectives, gain vengeance by destroying Dementus, and get home once again to the Green Place of Many Mothers by any means necessary. This takes the audience on a exhilarating ride, with potential for more stories to be told in this universe.
Warner Bros. Pictures Official Synopsis:
Directed By:
George Miller
Starring:
Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Alyla Browne & Tom Burke
Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth star in Academy Award-winning mastermind George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” the much-anticipated return to the iconic dystopian world he created more than 30 years ago with the seminal “Mad Max” films. Miller now turns the page again with an all-new original, standalone action adventure that will reveal the origins of the powerhouse character from the multiple Oscar-winning global smash “Mad Max: Fury Road.” The new feature from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures is produced by Miller and his longtime partner, Oscar-nominated producer Doug Mitchell (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Babe”), under their Australian-based Kennedy Miller Mitchell banner.
As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland, they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.
Taylor-Joy stars in the title role, and along with Hemsworth, the film also stars Alyla Browne and Tom Burke.
Miller penned the script with “Mad Max: Fury Road” co-writer Nico Lathouris. Miller’s behind-the-scenes creative team includes first assistant director PJ Voeten and second unit director and stunt coordinator Guy Norris, director of photography Simon Duggan (“Hacksaw Ridge,” “The Great Gatsby”), composer Tom Holkenborg, sound designer Robert Mackenzie, editor Eliot Knapman, visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson and colorist Eric Whipp. The team also includes other longtime collaborators: production designer Colin Gibson, editor Margaret Sixel, sound mixer Ben Osmo, costume designer Jenny Beavan and makeup designer Lesley Vanderwalt, each of whom won an Oscar for their work on “Mad Max: Fury Road.”
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents, in Association with Village Roadshow Pictures, A Kennedy Miller Mitchell Production, A George Miller Film, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.” The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, in theaters only nationwide on May 24, 2024 and internationally beginning on 22 May, 2024.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will be released in the UK on 24th May 2024 by Warner Bros. Pictures
During the press tour for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Chris Hemsworth, Anya Taylor-Joy and director-George Miller commented about the film in various interviews. (Please read below):
Anya Taylor-Joy:
“When I first met George (Miller) I realised that he had a very strict idea of how he wanted me to hold my face, for a large portion of the movie, and that only really allowed me my eyes of which to communicate. It was a big leap of faith, but if you are going take a big leap of faith like that, it’s with George Miller in a Mad Max Movie. This is his universe.” – MTV
Chris Hemsworth:
“This individual was a lot of fun, he speaks a lot. But the polarity between the two characters and the contrast, I found really fascinating, and the fact that you know Furiosa, is trying to blend in at times, whereas Dementus needs to stand out. You know he’s flamboyant, he’s loud, he’s boisterous, he’s trying to amass a large group of followers. He’s trying to promise them something outside of the suffering, that they’ve found themselves within. But he’s kind of circus sideshow entertainer as well.” – MTV
George Miller:
“We had it written before we actually shot Fury Road, because we couldn’t tell the story of Fury Road without knowing this story, and what happened to the characters and the world.” – The Project
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