In 1979, MAD MAX burst onto our movie screens catapulting little-known actor Mel Gibson to stardom. The story of a dystopian near-future where civil order has completely broken down and Australia (if not the rest of the world) has become a barren wasteland was writer-director George Miller’s first film. MAD MAX took in US$100 million at the global box office off a production budget of just A$400,000 (about US$350,000) making it the most profitable film ever made at the time, and holding the record for the highest box office-to-budget ratio of any movie for the following 20 years. Although most critics weren’t overly impressed with the film, they did agree that Miller’s staging of the car stunts and crashes was perfect.

Forty-five years and four MAD MAX films later, Miller has now brought audiences FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA, a prequel to his 2015 monster hit, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, that introduced audiences to Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron, BOMBSHELL) the strong-willed, one-armed lieutenant of warlord Immortan Joe. In that film, audiences learned that Furiosa had been snatched away as a child from her family who were living in the Green Place of Many Mothers, a hidden oasis that had somehow managed to escape the chaos and environmental disaster that plagues the rest of the world. FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA answers all the questions we have about Furiosa including how she ended up with Immortan Joe, how she lost her arm, how she learned how to drive the War Rig and much more.

Told in five chapters, FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA plays much like a Shakespearean opera. Furiosa (now played by Alyla Browne as a child and Anya Taylor-Joy, THE MENU, as an adult) has her nemesis in Dementus (Chris Hemsworth, the EXTRACTION films), a minor warlord who has big ambitions of dethroning Immortan Joe. It’s Dementus’ biker gang who kidnaps young Furiosa but the child doesn’t stay long with him. She soon becomes part of a deal he makes with Immortan Joe that sees his fortunes rise. As time goes on, Furiosa, hiding from Immortan Joe in plain sight, becomes a valuable asset to him. All the while, she waits for her chance to exact revenge on Dementus and return to the Green Place of Many Mothers.

I’ll readily admit that I’m not a MAD MAX fan. Even MAD MAX: FURY ROAD failed to get me on board with the franchise. I can certainly appreciate all the craftwork that Miller and his production team put into FURY ROAD, and Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy must have worked their butts off for that film, but I feel that it is long on style and short on substance. It’s pretty much two hours of crazy-costumed people driving souped-up, post-apocalyptic vehicles across miles of desert. Sure, the stunts are amazing, the sets are elaborate, the costumes are imaginative and the camerawork is beyond compare but, as the Wendy’s ad campaign used to go, “Where’s the beef?” The story is weak. With FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA, the story takes centerstage. Miller and co-writer Nico Lathouris (FURY ROAD) seamlessly fill in all the gaps in Furiosa’s backstory and give us some new and interesting characters to appreciate, one of them being Dementus. Some viewers may go away from this film wishing there were more car chases, more explosions and more general mayhem but to have all that and a solid story would have required another half hour of runtime. Coming in at just under 2-1/2 hours, this is a good balance of style and substance.

Taylor-Joy is fabulous as the adult Furiosa, ably stepping into Theron’s shoes (or perhaps it’s the other way around) and proving that she can be a badass action star too. She even mimicked Theron’s accent to be consistent with the character. Hemsworth’s performance, though, is on a whole other level. With his prosthetic nose and hilariously shrill Australian accent (yes, I know the actor is Australian but this isn’t his usual accent), Hemsworth chews up every scene he’s in. In Dementus’ showdown with Furiosa, Hemsworth delivers a monologue that is worthy of Shakespeare, which I’m sure was the intent.

If you’re already a MAD MAX fan, I don’t need to tell you to watch this. If you’ve never seen a MAD MAX film though, I’d go as far as saying that you can start with this film and then move on to MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. It’s a great story with fantastic stunts, camerawork, sets and costumes. Four MAD MAX films later, 79-year-old Miller has still got the magic touch in him.

FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA opened yesterday (May 23^rd) in Hong Kong and opens today around the world. This might just turn out to be the summer’s biggest box office hit.

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