“Furiosa” is a triumphant return to The Wasteland

"Mad Max: Fury Road" was a cinematic masterpiece that left me in awe. I watched it multiple times in theaters and own three different versions of the movie. Last year, my love of the movie led me to read a book about the making of the movie. That was nine years ago, and now George Miller is bringing us back to The Wasteland with a prequel: "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga."

We meet Furiosa (Alyla Brown and Anya-Taylor Joy) moments before she is kidnapped from The Green Place and taken to The Wasteland. There, she meets Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) and gets involved in a battle between him and Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme).

George Miller is 79 and making action movies like no one else. His action scenes are not just action for action's sake; his action sequences are character-based. His action scenes tell you more about the characters you are watching. During one of the major action scenes in"Furiosa," the titular hero has stowed away under The War Rig (basically a tanker truck decked out with armor and weapons) in an attempt to escape. The War Rig is attacked, and a part breaks off. The person who goes to fix it is shot, and as he is dying, he sees Furiosa, understands what she is doing, and hands her the part. That small scene tells you as much about these characters as a random dialogue scene would have.

Chris Hemsworth (best known for playing Thor) is almost unrecognizable in this movie. He clearly relishes playing the villain, and I hope he gets more roles like this in the future. As great as he is as Thor, roles like this let him go crazy, and he is better for it. Ana-Taylor Joy had the hardest role in this movie; she had to play a character made famous by Charlize Theron. She nails it. Throughout the movie, she becomes the battle-hardened survivor we meet in "Fury Road."

George Miller needs to take a director under his wing and teach them everything he knows because no one makes movies like Miller. The script for this was written before "Fury Road" was shot. This man knows how to plan out an incredible, epic story. I hope more directors take a page out of his book.

9/10

Rated R for sequences of strong violence and grisly images

2hrs 28min