Directing: B
Acting: B+
Writing: B-
Cinematography: B+
Editing: B-
Special Effects: B-

There was never any hope of matching the action movie masterpiece that was Mad Max Fury Road (2015). That movie wasn’t perfect in its time, but it only gets better as it ages, and I feel comfortable calling it arguably the best action movie ever made—in spite of the B+ grade I gave it at the time. What that movie inarguably lacks in depth of story, it more than makes up for in the purity of its stunningly executed sequence of action set pieces—and its surprising but unmistakable feminism. After three famous movies starring Mel Gibson as a widowed family man seeking revenge in a post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, the gravitas of Charlize Theron, and her chemistry with an equally stoic Tom Hardy stepping in the role of Mad Max, were just the breath of fresh air this franchise needed.

Fury Road never got the respect it deserved among general audiences at the time of its release, but it has become a classic of modern American cinema in the years since. And if you read the fantastic 2022 book Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road, by Kyle Buchanan, you’d know that the history of development for Furiosa is nearly as fascinating. Once intended as an animated film, the first script for Furiosa was written as fleshed-out backstory for the character during preproduction for Fury Road.

Which is to say, both films took similarly long roads to the screen, their journeys overlapping for some years. Now that Furiosa is finally completed a full nine years after Fury Road, one might reasonably ask the question: will this one also be given higher regard as time goes by? I suppose it’s possible. But, I also doubt it—Furiosa spends too much more time on ultimately inconsequential story, stretching the film to an overlong 146 minutes (by far the longest film in the Mad Max universe to date), with action set pieces that are impressive but still feel like extensions of the previous, much better film.

There are also the casting choices. Anya Taylor-Joy is an excellent actor, but does not inhabit the soul of Furiosa, or have the simple weight of physical presence, the way Charlize Theron did. Theron was much more believable as a woman who could truly kick your sas. On the flip side, Chris Hemsworth steals the show as the villain, Dr. Dementus—the man who kidnaps Furiosa as a child, taking her from the so-called “place of abundance” where she was born. Hemsworth has the perfect blend of psychosis and charisma, although the choice to give him a prosthetic nose is a bizarrely pointless one.

But: here’s the thing. Furiosa still has several action set pieces that are amazing, filled fantastically executed stunts. They take a bit longer to get to because of the more drawn out story, but they are worth the wait, especially a “war rig” chase with hang gliders, and a battle set inside the Bullet Farm. These sequences go on much longer than set pieces do in your average action movie, and are riveting examples of expert stunt work, collectively what still makes Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga worth seeing. Sure, it’s all better in Fury Road, but that film set such a wildly high bar, a film like this one could reach half those heights and still genuinely impress.

All that said, I must address the visual effects in this movie. All those people who immediately lashed out at the artificial look of the trailer—they were right. Furiosa has too many obvious CGI shots which distract from the incredible stunt work (in stark contrast to the CGI in Fury Road, which was only ever used to enhance it), and too many of the scenes have their color so oversaturated that it takes you out of the movie. Honestly, for all the talk of potential Oscar nominations for Furiosa in the technical categories, I just don’t see it. Not in the same year of release as Dune Part Two, which is all but guaranteed to sweep all of those awards.

It’s tempting to wonder if Furiosa might more easily impress if Mad Max: Fury Road had not come before it. I’m leaning toward the conclusion that it would not—in a cinema landscape of cheap looking CGI for decades, Fury Road came along and showed us something we had never seen before. Even if that film had never existed, the same could not be said of Furiosa. That doesn’t mean it’s bad—I found much of it genuinely thrilling to watch. It just means it fell short of expectations, and that makes a movie feel like more of a disappointment than maybe it deserves.

*Anya Taylor-Joy is miscast in the title role of an otherwise entertaining movie that’s still an undeniable comedown.*

Overall: B