BRIAN VINER: Mad Max is a 1,000-watt jolt to the spirits... I loved it!
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (15, 148 mins)
Verdict: Max power
The only letdown in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the fifth film in George Miller's Mad Max series, which began in 1979 and made a star of the little-known Mel Gibson, is that it won't propel anyone to stardom.
The two leads, Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, have a high profile already, although the latter has never been better than he is here as the story's enigmatic baddie.
The film is a worthy prequel to that high-octane 2015 blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road, which remains one of the best action movies of the last 25 years. This one, similarly, is stunning on the eye, decidedly loud on the ear, and a thousand-watt jolt to the spirits. I loved it.
Taylor-Joy is fabulous in the title role, the warrior queen-to-be, likewise Alyla Browne who plays Furiosa as a girl.
![The film is a worthy prequel to that high-octane 2015 blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/23/23/85273737-13453773-image-a-15_1716504521536.jpg)
The film is a worthy prequel to that high-octane 2015 blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road
![Anya Taylor-Joy is fabulous in the title role, the warrior queen-to-be](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/23/23/85270471-13453773-Anya_Taylor_Joy_is_fabulous_in_the_title_role_the_warrior_queen_-a-1_1716504460109.jpg)
Anya Taylor-Joy is fabulous in the title role, the warrior queen-to-be
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/23/23/85273735-13453773-image-a-16_1716504594806.jpg)
This one, similarly, is stunning on the eye, decidedly loud on the ear, and a thousand-watt jolt to the spirits. I loved it
But as ever the real laurels belong to Miller.
The veteran Australian director, who doesn't just have oily-rag credits (he also made The Witches Of Eastwick and Babe: Pig In The City), is pushing 80 but is still firmly in command of the petrol-soaked dystopian world he created 45 years ago in the original Mad Max.
At the start, a voiceover tells us that 'gangs are marauding like locusts across the land'. Frankly, it would be disappointing if they weren't. Miller needs marauding gangs like other story-tellers need star-crossed lovers.
Unsubtly, unabashedly, he feeds off classic Westerns such as John Ford's 1956 masterpiece The Searchers to set up the tale of spirited young Furiosa, abducted from a peaceful oasis by raddled Hell's Angels types who find her sabotaging their bikes.
Eventually, with her formidable mother (Charlee Fraser) giving frantic chase across a parched desert, she falls into the hands of the charismatic, messianic warlord Dementus.
![The film is a worthy prequel to that high-octane 2015 blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road, which remains one of the best action movies of the last 25 years](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/23/22/85270485-0-image-a-20_1716499239970.jpg)
The film is a worthy prequel to that high-octane 2015 blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road, which remains one of the best action movies of the last 25 years
![At the start, a voiceover tells us that 'gangs are marauding like locusts across the land'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/23/22/85270481-0-image-a-22_1716499243685.jpg)
At the start, a voiceover tells us that 'gangs are marauding like locusts across the land'
![A scarcely recognisable Hemsworth plays him like a post-apocalyptic Charles Manson, seductively charming when he wants to be, but a sociopath](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/23/22/85270475-0-image-a-23_1716499245595.jpg)
A scarcely recognisable Hemsworth plays him like a post-apocalyptic Charles Manson, seductively charming when he wants to be, but a sociopath
![Unsubtly, unabashedly, he feeds off classic Westerns such as John Ford's 1956 masterpiece The Searchers to set up the tale of spirited young Furiosa, abducted from a peaceful oasis by raddled Hell's Angels types who find her sabotaging their bikes](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/23/22/85270459-0-image-a-24_1716499247267.jpg)
Unsubtly, unabashedly, he feeds off classic Westerns such as John Ford's 1956 masterpiece The Searchers to set up the tale of spirited young Furiosa, abducted from a peaceful oasis by raddled Hell's Angels types who find her sabotaging their bikes
![Furiosa finds a courageous ally, Praetorian Jack (pictured left and played by Tom Burke), who pledges to teach her the secrets of 'road war' as she attempts to escape from this hell-scape and get back to her benign homeland, the Green Place of Many Mothers](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/23/22/85270477-0-image-a-26_1716499253474.jpg)
Furiosa finds a courageous ally, Praetorian Jack (pictured left and played by Tom Burke), who pledges to teach her the secrets of 'road war' as she attempts to escape from this hell-scape and get back to her benign homeland, the Green Place of Many Mothers
![I saw Furiosa last week at Cannes where it went down a storm as any film should that is a crazy hybrid of a Western, a biblical epic, a road trip, a sci-fi fantasy and, of course, Top Gear on steroids](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/23/22/85270469-0-image-a-27_1716499255978.jpg)
I saw Furiosa last week at Cannes where it went down a storm as any film should that is a crazy hybrid of a Western, a biblical epic, a road trip, a sci-fi fantasy and, of course, Top Gear on steroids
![The veteran Australian director George Miller (pictured), who doesn't just have oily-rag credits (he also made The Witches Of Eastwick and Babe: Pig In The City), is pushing 80 but is still firmly in command of the petrol-soaked dystopian world he created 45 years ago in the original Mad Max](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/23/22/85270479-0-image-a-28_1716499259108.jpg)
The veteran Australian director George Miller (pictured), who doesn't just have oily-rag credits (he also made The Witches Of Eastwick and Babe: Pig In The City), is pushing 80 but is still firmly in command of the petrol-soaked dystopian world he created 45 years ago in the original Mad Max
A scarcely recognisable Hemsworth plays him like a post-apocalyptic Charles Manson, seductively charming when he wants to be, but a sociopath.
Furiosa finds a courageous ally, Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke), who pledges to teach her the secrets of 'road war' as she attempts to escape from this hell-scape and get back to her benign homeland, the Green Place of Many Mothers. But she also has a violent grudge against Dementus, not that he knows it.
Anyway, he has his hands full dealing with Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), whose army of petrol-heads is a match for his own as they both seek to control the Wasteland, as it is quite reasonably known.
I saw Furiosa last week at Cannes where it went down a storm as any film should that is a crazy hybrid of a Western, a biblical epic, a road trip, a sci-fi fantasy and, of course, Top Gear on steroids.
A longer review of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga ran last week. Furiosa, Hit Man and Garfield are in cinemas now.