Furiosa

I am a huge fan of the Mad Max franchise!  I love all of the movies but I was especially obsessed with The Road Warrior when I was a teenager because it seems like it was always on HBO late at night in the early 80s (my room was next to the family room downstairs and I would always sneak out of bed to watch it when I couldn't sleep).  I have been so excited to to see Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the latest installment in the series, and I finally had the chance last night at a Thursday preview.  I loved it and I think it is the perfect companion piece to Mad Max: Fury Road.  A young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) is taken from the Green Space where she lives by a roaming gang called the Biker Horde and brought to their warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth).  Her mother (Charlee Fraser) comes to rescue her but she is captured and Dementus forces Furiosa to watch her execution.  Dementus eventually trades Furiosa to Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme) in return for more food and water from the Citadel.  As time goes on Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) protects herself by pretending to be a boy and working as a mechanic on a new War Rig.  When the War Rig's driver Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke) discovers her secret, he takes her as his apprentice but they soon fall in love and plan to escape to the Green Place.  However, Dementus and the Biker Horde take over Gastown and the Bullet Farm and then come for the Citadel which leads to an epic confrontation with Furiosa.  This doesn't quite reach the same non-stop adrenaline levels as Fury Road, although there are some amazing action set pieces (my favorites are when Furiosa's mother chases after the Biker Horde in a sandstorm, when the War Rig is first attacked during a supply run, and when Furiosa and Jack escape from the Bullet Farm), but the worldbuilding in the Wasteland is much more complete, the characters (even secondary ones) are developed more fully, and the storytelling is richer with higher stakes.  I loved all of the quieter moments, especially when Furiosa's mother makes her promise to return home, when she confides in Jack and they decide to go to the Green Space together, and when Dementus tells her that he has had just as much sorrow in his life as her and that they are both already dead, because they add so much pathos to the narrative.  Hemsworth is a great villain and steals the show with all of his witty dialogue.  Conversely, Taylor-Joy has very little dialogue but she conveys so much of what Furiosa is feeling with just her eyes and her chemistry with Burke, who is channeling Gibson's Mad Max, is off the charts.  I don't think anything will match the feeling I had watching Dune: Part Two at a sold out early screening but this comes very close and I recommend seeing it on the biggest screen possible!