George Miller returns to direct the fifth entry in his popular apocalyptic series. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a prequel spin off to 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road, and it sees Anya Taylor Joy replace Charlize Theron as Furiosa, as she seeks revenge on the villain, Dementus, for killing her mother and banishing her to a life of slavery.
The movie was released in theaters on May 24, and has failed to recapture the magic of its predeccsor, Mad Max: Fury Road at the box office. But fans and critics have been largely positive about Furiosa, as it heads into its second week of release. Miller has plans for more installments, but that all depends on if Furiosa makes a profit.
Why Is Furiosa Struggling At The Box Office?
The stellar prequel to one of the best blockbusters ever made is moving slowly. Why wouldn't Furiosa take off like a V12 engine?
What is Furiosa about?
Director | George Miller |
|---|---|
Writers | George Miller and Nico Lathouris |
Stars | Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Ayla Browne, Tom Burke and Lachy Hulme |
Release Date | May 24, 2024 |
Runtime | 148 Minutes |
Budget | $168 Million |
Rotten Tomatoes Score | 91% positive from 328 critics |
Furiosa is a prequel spin off to Mad Max: Fury Road, and it starts approximately 15 to 20 years before the events of that movie. The backdrop of the story sees Warlords fighting it out to obtain the remaining sources of food, water, gasoline and weapons in a deserted wasteland. It tells the story of a young girl called Furiosa, who is kidnapped by a warlord called Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), who kills her mother and sells the young girl off to slavery at the hands of Immortan Joe.
As Furiosa (now played by Anya Taylor Joy) grows up, she is hell-bent on getting revenge on Dementus for what he did to her and her mother. She is barely managing to survive as a slave, but she devises a plan to disguise herself as a mute teenage boy, and rises the ranks of Immortan Joe's crew over the next decade.
Furiosa is instrumental in building a heavily armed supply tanker known as the 'War Rig.' However, tragedy strikes when the whole crew are killed, with the only survivors being Furiosa and the commander, Praetorian Jack. Furiosa has her sights set on returning to the Green Place, and tries to take over the rig from Joe, but he stops her from doing so, and leaves her in the desert. But he returns moments later and offers to train her up in order to escape the Citadel, but only if she assists him in rebuilding his crew.
Furiosa becomes Jack's right-hand woman after a promotion to Praetorian, and they plan their eventual escape. The decision is made by Immortan Joe to attack Gastown, as he is aware of the facility being in ruins thanks to Dementus' leadership. He enlists Furiosa and Jack to obtain weapons from a mining facility known as the Bullet Farm, but Dementus ambushes them upon arrival.
Dementus tortures Jack to death, but Furiosa loses her own arm by cutting it off to escape, and returns to the Citadel and plans an all-out war on Dementus with the assistance of Immortan Joe. They succeed in killing the majority of Dementus' crew, and Furiosa goes through a transformation into the character the viewer sees in Mad Max: Fury Road. She shaves all her hair off, obtains a mechanical prosthetic arm and goes in search of Dementus on her own, to seek revenge for all the carnage he's caused in her life.
How does Furiosa end?
The end of Furiosa sees the title character catching up with Dementus, as he awakens in the desert to find his water bottle has been cut, and he has nothing left to drink. He exits his makeshift tent to see Furiosa in the distance, ready to exact her revenge on him. She stands over him with a gun to his head, as Dementus tries to reason with her, and suggests that if she kills him, she will simply be just like him. She mulls over how to exact her revenge, and decides to initially rob him of his voice by cutting off his tongue.
It is up to interpretation how Furiosa actually kills Dementus, as the viewer is told via a voiceover from the History Man (George Shevtsov) that Furiosa told him how she dispatched the evil villain. According to his version of events, Furiosa planted him in the ground in the gardens of the Citadel, with a peach tree growing out of his private area.
Dementus is actually still alive when the movie ends, but he's old and withering away, and a ripe peach can be spotted growing out of the tree. Furiosa gives the peach to Immortan Joe’s brides, and hides them in the storage tank in the War Rig, which points towards their flight to the Green Place in Mad Max: Fury Road.
Is there an end credits scene?
Yes, the end credits scene features clips from Mad Max: Fury Road, to reflect how the end of Furiosa bleeds into the beginning of the 2015 movie. However, there is a short tease at the very end of the footage, with a brand-new shot of a bird-skull bobblehead belonging to Fury Road‘s War Boy, Nux.
Furiosa: Chris Hemsworth Can Finally Prove He's More Than Just Thor
Chris Hemsworth finally gets to prove to audiences that he's more than The God of Thunder in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
