Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga director drops major teaser as first reviews roll in
George Miller's apocalyptic prequel looks to be a hit with the critics
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is setting itself up to be a prequel for the ages, with the film's director, George Miller, dropping a major teaser ahead of the release.
Poised to hit cinemas next week, the dystopian action release has rapidly become one of the most hyped blockbusters of the year - and now, the first reviews are rolling in.
Revealing the film's shockingly tight turn-around time at a press conference in Cannes, George Miller revealed that he only finished Furiosa's final edit "two and a half weeks ago".
The jaw-dropping claim comes just days before the film lands in cinemas. with the premier's audience giving the release a standing ovation.
Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga positions itself as a prequel to 2015 release Mad Max Fury Road starring Tom Hardy (and widely described as the most ambitious film Miller has ever made).
The fifth installment in the Mad Max franchise, the release is set around two decades before the events of Mad Max: Fury Road.
Set against a apocalyptic backdrop, young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers, ending up in the hands of a Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus (Hemsworth).
Furiosa (portrayed by Taylor-Joy in her later years) remains determined to return home - despite countless obstacles standing in her way - cue more mind blowing action sequences than one person can feasibly handle.
Now, Taylor-Joy revealed Furiosa saw 1,300 artisans employed to create truly mind blowing costumes, sets and props for the film.
But not before the director himself piped in, adding, “I came out of retirement to work on this film.”
And now, the first reviews are in, with a host of five star reviews emerging - alongside an impressive 88% Rotten Tomatoes approval rating.
The New York Times wrote: "Scene for scene, Furiosa is very much a complement to Fury Road, yet the new movie never fully pops the way the earlier one does."
The Hollywood Reporter writes: "Furiosa is a big step down from Mad Max: Fury Road. Whereas the 2015 instant action classic had grit, gravitas, and turbo-charged propulsion that wouldn’t quit, this fifth installment in the dystopian saga grinds on in fits and starts, with little tension or fluidity in a narrative whose shapelessness is heightened by its pretentious chapter structure."
Inverse writes: "Furiosa is a jaw-dropping achievement. It’s a hyper-realistic vision of the apocalypse, a Greek myth made into an outsized blockbuster spectacle."
However, the BBC Culturecalls Furiosa "more exhausting than exhillerating", writing: You soon reach the point where you're sick of sand, sick of explosions, sick of off-puttingly sadistic violence, and sick of thunderous drums bashing away on the soundtrack, and yet the film keeps piling on more and more and more of them.
The Times also balances things out, describing: "A thundering beginning and a searing sense of place fail to compensate for the wearisome repetition and empty theatrics that slowly swamp this much-awaited blockbuster."
The Telegraph awards it 5 stars, writing: "The film may handle differently to its predecessor, but it’s clearly been tuned by the same engineers. After the pared-down drag racer, here comes the juggernaut."
Vulturewrites: "Action sequences charge forward and build and build, casually leaving all manner of bodies in their wake. (Junkie XL’s score this time is less operatic as well, opting for steady rhythms instead of booming, electronica-inspired crescendos.) Miller still tosses in his beloved bits of makeshift technology — attack gliders with propellers, parachutists on skates, chariots made of motorcycles — and peculiar, throwaway characters."
The Independent gives it five stars, writing: "This is a film made with purposeful savagery, and with considerable wit and lyricism, too. It has the concentrated intensity of 2015’s Fury Road, to which it is a prequel, and yet it unfolds across a far broader canvas."
The Guardian awards it four stars: "Taylor-Joy and Hemsworth are a great pairing and Taylor-Joy is an overwhelmingly convincing action heroine. She sells this sequel.