A young Furiosa picks a ripe peach in a lush green forest. Raiders discover the area however, and kidnap Furiosa as proof of the place’s existence for their warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). Soon, Furiosa’s mother Mary pursues the biker gang over a radioactive wasteland in an attempt to keep her people’s refuge a secret.

Furiosa was introduced in 2015’sMad Max: Fury Road. More than a match for Tom Hardy’s Mad Max, Charlize Theron’s depiction of the character was world-weary, determined, and rageful. In this prequel, writer and director George Miller traces the character’s origin through a Dickens-like odyssey; stolen as a young girl to be a slave, and then raised through the ranks to exact her revenge.

Whereas Fury Road was a perceptively simple chase movie, Furiosa is an epic ‘space’ opera-myth, spanning 20 years of Furiosa’s life while expanding the world established in Fury Road. A battle for resources rages across the wasteland, but it also hosts a crude capital trading system with warlords at the top. Furiosa (Anna Taylor-Joy) must navigate this structure and understand the power players before being able to be in a position to act.

Lachy Hulme does a solid job as cult leader Immortan Joe, but Chris Hemsworth’s Dementus is cartoony, even in this heightened, camp setting. The grindhouse, overly CG look also lends a comic-book tone away from its predecessor.

Verdict: Good background reading to the vastly superior Fury Road whose heavy hitters can’t be matched. 3 stars.

Luke McWilliams. themovieclub.net