Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a 2024 post-apocalyptic action film directed and produced by George Miller, who wrote the screenplay with Nico Lathouris. It is the fifth installment in the Mad Max franchise, and the first not focused on Max Rockatansky, instead a spinoff prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and an origin story for Furiosa. Starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Alyla Browne as said character and set years before Fury Road, the film follows her life for over a decade, from her kidnapping by the forces of warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) to her ascension to the rank of Imperator. Tom Burke also stars as Praetorian Jack, a military commander who befriends Furiosa. Several Fury Road cast members return in supporting roles, including John Howard, Nathan Jones, and Angus Sampson reprising their characters. The film begins in what can be seen as a green paradise of a solarpunk future and quickly moves to the more traditional dieselpunk, which this franchise is known for.

Miller initially intended to shoot Furiosa back-to-back with Fury Road, but the former spent several years in development hell amidst salary disputes with Warner Bros. Pictures, Fury Road's distributor. Several crew members from Fury Road returned for Furiosa, including Lathouris, producer Doug Mitchell, composer Tom Holkenborg, costume designer Jenny Beavan, and editor Margaret Sixel (Miller's wife). Filming took place in Australia from June to October 2022.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on 15 May 2024. It was released theatrically in Australia on 23 May 2024 and in the United States the following day. The film received highly positive reviews from critics and multiple award nominations. It was named one of the Top Ten Films of 2024 by the National Board of Review, but was a box-office bomb, grossing $174.4 million against its budget of $168 million.

Plot

Chapter 1: The Pole of Inaccessibility

Decades after the apocalypse, Australia is a radioactive wasteland and the Green Place of Many Mothers is one of the last remaining areas with fresh water and agriculture. Roobillies uncover the Green Place while two children, Furiosa and Valkyrie, are picking peaches. Furiosa tries to sabotage their motorcycles, but the Roobillies capture her as a prize for Dementus of the Biker Horde.

Furiosa's mother Mary Jabassa pursues the Roobillies to the Horde's camp to rescue Furiosa, but Dementus tracks them down. Mary stays behind to buy Furiosa time to escape and gives her a peach pit to remember her by, but Furiosa refuses to leave Mary behind. Dementus forces Furiosa to watch her mother's crucifixion and torture at the hands of Dementus lieutenant The Octoboss. Haunted by his own family's death, Dementus adopts Furiosa as his daughter. She tattooed a star chart to the Green Place on her left arm to find her way home.

Chapter 2: Lessons from the Wasteland

Sometime after, Dementus besieges the Citadel, another settlement with fresh water and agriculture. However, the Horde is repelled by the War Boys, the fanatical army of Citadel warlord Immortan Joe. Dementus uses a Trojan Horse strategy to capture Gastown, an oil refinery that supplies the Citadel with gasoline. At peace negotiations, Joe recognizes Dementus's authority over Gastown and increases its supplies of food and water in exchange for the Horde's Organic Mechanic and Furiosa. Afterwards, Joe imprisons Furiosa with his stable of "wives" inside a vault. After Joe's son Rictus shows an attraction towards her, Furiosa devises a plan to escape. One night, Rictus breaks Furiosa out of Joe's vault to rape her, but she slips from his grasp using a wig made from her own hair and disappears. Disguised as a mute War Boy, Furiosa works her way up the ranks of Joe's men for over a decade.

Chapter 3: The Stowaway

Furiosa helps build the War Rig, a heavily armed supply tanker that can withstand raider attacks in the lawless Wasteland. Furiosa plans to escape by hiding on the Rig when Joe sends his top driver, Praetorian Jack, on a supply run. Disillusioned by Dementus's callousness, The Octoboss goes rogue and launches an air assault on the Rig. His Mortifiers slaughter the Rig's entire crew and destroy Furiosa's hidden motorcycle, but Furiosa and Jack team up to defeat them. Furiosa tries to carjack the Rig and drive home, but Jack easily thwarts her. However, he recognizes her potential and offers to train her to escape if she helps him rebuild his crew.

Chapter 4: Homeward

Furiosa becomes Jack's second-in-command and is promoted to Praetorian. She and Jack develop a bond and resolve to escape together. They see an opportunity when Joe decides to attack Gastown, which Dementus has mismanaged to near-ruin. Joe orders Furiosa and Jack to collect weapons and ammunition from the Bullet Farm, an allied mining facility. However, Dementus, having already taken possession of the farm, ambushes them when they arrive. Furiosa and Jack barely escape, and Furiosa's left arm is injured. Dementus chases them down and has Jack dragged to death. Furiosa escapes her chains by severing her own injured arm, sacrificing her star map.

A lone man watches from afar as Furiosa struggles back to the Citadel, where she and Joe's aide The People Eater form a strategy to avoid a trap planned by Dementus. Instead, Dementus is lured into a trap at the Citadel, and the War Boys crush the Horde. Having lost her path home, Furiosa shaves her head and builds a mechanical prosthetic in place of her severed arm.

Chapter 5: Beyond Vengeance

Furiosa pursues the fleeing Dementus. After an extended chase, Furiosa subdues Dementus in the desert. She imprisons Dementus in the Citadel and uses his still-living body as fertilizer to grow a peach tree from her mother's pit. Joe promotes Furiosa to "Imperator" and gives her command of a new War Rig.

She meets Joe's five breeder wives in the vault where Joe once held her prisoner and shows them a peach from the tree. The night before another supply run, the "Five Wives" hide in Furiosa's Rig.

Cast

The first three are credited in the opening credits:

• Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa, a woman who was taken from the Green Place as a kid and works her way up the ranks of the Citadel. Taylor-Joy wore two different wigs over her natural hair.
  • Alyla Browne as child and teen Furiosa. Browne wore fake feet for scenes in the Wasteland and wore different wigs over her natural hair.
  • Archive footage of Charlize Theron as the older Furiosa from Mad Max: Fury Road is used during the final scene and end credits
• Chris Hemsworth as Dementus, the deranged warlord leader of the Biker Horde who abducted Furiosa, and eventual ruler of Gastown
  • Sean Renfrey as the Echo Man, a possible fate of Dementus where he was used as a fertilizer for Furiosa's peach tree
• Tom Burke as Praetorian Jack, the commander of the Citadel's first War Rig

The following names are listed during the end credits part containing the archive footage of Mad Max: Fury Road: