Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (15, 148 mins)
Verdict: Max power
The only letdown in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the fifth film in George Miller's Mad Max series, which began in 1979 and made a star of the little-known Mel Gibson, is that it won't propel anyone to stardom.
The two leads, Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, have a high profile already, although the latter has never been better than he is here as the story's enigmatic baddie.
The film is a worthy prequel to that high-octane 2015 blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road, which remains one of the best action movies of the last 25 years. This one, similarly, is stunning on the eye, decidedly loud on the ear, and a thousand-watt jolt to the spirits. I loved it.
Taylor-Joy is fabulous in the title role, the warrior queen-to-be, likewise Alyla Browne who plays Furiosa as a girl.
The film is a worthy prequel to that high-octane 2015 blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road
Anya Taylor-Joy is fabulous in the title role, the warrior queen-to-be
This one, similarly, is stunning on the eye, decidedly loud on the ear, and a thousand-watt jolt to the spirits. I loved it
But as ever the real laurels belong to Miller.
Anya Taylor-Joy reveals she was thrown into a car to perform a stunt for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga despite NOT having her driving licence
The veteran Australian director, who doesn't just have oily-rag credits (he also made The Witches Of Eastwick and Babe: Pig In The City), is pushing 80 but is still firmly in command of the petrol-soaked dystopian world he created 45 years ago in the original Mad Max.
At the start, a voiceover tells us that 'gangs are marauding like locusts across the land'. Frankly, it would be disappointing if they weren't. Miller needs marauding gangs like other story-tellers need star-crossed lovers.
Unsubtly, unabashedly, he feeds off classic Westerns such as John Ford's 1956 masterpiece The Searchers to set up the tale of spirited young Furiosa, abducted from a peaceful oasis by raddled Hell's Angels types who find her sabotaging their bikes.
Eventually, with her formidable mother (Charlee Fraser) giving frantic chase across a parched desert, she falls into the hands of the charismatic, messianic warlord Dementus.
The film is a worthy prequel to that high-octane 2015 blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road, which remains one of the best action movies of the last 25 years
At the start, a voiceover tells us that 'gangs are marauding like locusts across the land'
A scarcely recognisable Hemsworth plays him like a post-apocalyptic Charles Manson, seductively charming when he wants to be, but a sociopath
Unsubtly, unabashedly, he feeds off classic Westerns such as John Ford's 1956 masterpiece The Searchers to set up the tale of spirited young Furiosa, abducted from a peaceful oasis by raddled Hell's Angels types who find her sabotaging their bikes
Furiosa finds a courageous ally, Praetorian Jack (pictured left and played by Tom Burke), who pledges to teach her the secrets of 'road war' as she attempts to escape from this hell-scape and get back to her benign homeland, the Green Place of Many Mothers
I saw Furiosa last week at Cannes where it went down a storm as any film should that is a crazy hybrid of a Western, a biblical epic, a road trip, a sci-fi fantasy and, of course, Top Gear on steroids
The veteran Australian director George Miller (pictured), who doesn't just have oily-rag credits (he also made The Witches Of Eastwick and Babe: Pig In The City), is pushing 80 but is still firmly in command of the petrol-soaked dystopian world he created 45 years ago in the original Mad Max
A scarcely recognisable Hemsworth plays him like a post-apocalyptic Charles Manson, seductively charming when he wants to be, but a sociopath.
Spencer was five when he was set on fire by his dad in an unforgivable act of revenge. The brave boy survived – and now he's realised his dream
Furiosa finds a courageous ally, Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke), who pledges to teach her the secrets of 'road war' as she attempts to escape from this hell-scape and get back to her benign homeland, the Green Place of Many Mothers. But she also has a violent grudge against Dementus, not that he knows it.
Anyway, he has his hands full dealing with Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), whose army of petrol-heads is a match for his own as they both seek to control the Wasteland, as it is quite reasonably known.
I saw Furiosa last week at Cannes where it went down a storm as any film should that is a crazy hybrid of a Western, a biblical epic, a road trip, a sci-fi fantasy and, of course, Top Gear on steroids.
A longer review of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga ran last week. Furiosa, Hit Man and Garfield are in cinemas now.
