She’s back! But also she’s here for the first time. Director George Miller’s long-awaited Furiosa, the prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, is out next year, and the first trailer is… well, it looks like a prequel. I can certainly say that about it.
Did this movie really need the subtitle? Were we, as a culture, going to forget the connection between the iconic Furiosa (originally played by Charlize Theron, now played by Anya Taylor-Joy) and the world of Mad Max that George Miller created decades ago? I’m doubtful. I’m not sure I love appending Max’s name to Furiosa’s story. But the movie business is gonna do its business.
Here’s the synopsis:
As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland, they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.
Fury Road was a gorgeous, brutal, incredible film, with very hard shoes to fill. And trailers are just ads, in the end. But it’s disheartening that this one gives the distinct vibe that the film is going to Explain the Details of Furiosa—her hair, her arm, her makeup—as much as tell a truly standalone story. And then there’s the matter of Chris Hemsworth, who, yes! is nigh-unrecognizable as the violent and very subtly named Dementus. But why cast him if you want him to look like someone else? Do we feel weird about the nose? Does it kind of seem like the evil guy must be made less attractive? I just don’t know.
Much of the creative team from Fury Road returns for this film, including a whole lot of folks who won Oscars for their work on the previous film: editor Margaret Sixel, production designer Colin Gibson, sound mixer Ben Osmo, costume designer Jenny Beavan, and makeup designer Lesley Vanderwalt. Also returning are composer Tom Holkenborg (aka Junkie XL); Eliot Knapman, who was second assistant editor and is now Furiosa’s editor; second unit director and stunt coordinator Guy Norris; and visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson. There is one major change: With Fury Road director of photography John Seale retired, Hacksaw Ridge and Disenchanted cinematographer Simon Duggan is behind the camera.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is in theaters May 24, 2024.
