Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: An Epic Prequel That's Both Sluggish & Exciting (Blu-ray)

The Film:

It's hard to believe that it's already been nine years since George Miller unleashed his intense action saga "Mad Max: Fury Road," a film that garnered a fair amount of critical praise and admiration (including an impressive haul of six Oscars for various crafts). That said, while it was certainly worthy of the acclaim for its thrilling action sequences, direction, and other technical elements, the film did end up falling a little short in its more important aspects: the story & characters. As a result, the film was something of a mixed bag, an experience that can be thrilling and a bit numbing due to its heavily action-oriented focus, with little attention given to the aforementioned elements that typically give a film its memorable substance. Still, it seemed to give most fans of the genre exactly what they wanted, which in this case was basically a two-hour chase.

Now Miller returns with a prequel focusing on one of that film's primary characters, "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," which was something of a surprise given that "Fury Road" didn't do very well at the box office, but given its reception by critics and the industry, perhaps they assumed this would have a better chance. At the very least, it would give Miller another shot at striking a better balance between substance & the pulse-pounding action that he's well-known for delivering. The question becomes: How did he do this time around?

As the film opens, we find young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) and her friend Valkyrie (Dylan Adonis) picking peaches when they notice that raiders have discovered their home (the "Green Place"). Furiosa attempts to sabotage their bikes, but is captured and taken to their leader, Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). Furiosa's mother (Charlee Fraser) pursues, killing some of the raiders on the way, and rescues her, but is caught and gruesomely killed by Dementus, who forces her daughter to watch.

Later on, Dementus attempts to take over the Citadel from Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), but fails, causing him to take over Gastown instead. This forces Immortan Joe to make a deal with him that includes Furiosa, who eventually finds a way to escape her captivity. Now free, Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) disguises herself as a mute boy and works her way back into the Citadel, where she's able to plan her permanent escape over the next several years, but, of course, further complications ensue.

As mentioned, the primary problem with "Fury Road" had been the lack of a substantial story and fully fleshed-out characters to get invested in, leading to a film that had a fair amount of excitement, but which didn't linger very long in the memory. When it comes to "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," it's good to see that Miller realized that a better narrative and more character development was needed this time around to help supplement the action sequences and make the audience care about our hero's arduous task.

However, while "Furiosa" does shift the series towards a better balance, different issues arise in that the story Miller and his co-author, Nico Lathouris, want to tell is a surprisingly slow and largely uneventful one. It starts off well enough with its prologue of sorts, showing us how Furiosa was kidnapped and got entangled with these various raiders & warlords, but then the pacing becomes a lot more uneven as it mixes a few more action sequences with a story that just kind of plods along, which is ironic given the nature of the high-speed chases that we see throughout. That's not to say that the narrative is particularly bad, but rather that it needed to be punched up a little so as not to drag so much, and to not be so at odds with the rest of the film's intensity.

As far as the action sequences go, as expected, they're rather impressive. Perhaps a little toned down from the all-out craziness of "Fury Road," but Miller's talent for mayhem is on full display once again with chase sequences featuring spectacular stunts that are sure to please any action junkie. It would be no surprise at all to see "Furiosa" follow in its predecessor's footsteps by claiming SAG's Best Stunt Ensemble award, an honor for which it seems to be in a very solid first place at the moment.

Overall, it feels as though this entry took the series forward a step by realizing that more substance was needed, but also took that step back again due to the narrative being somewhat weak (with the action still being top-notch). And so, it would be fair to say that the film pretty much ends up right next to "Fury Road" in that there are a lot of things to like about it, including its many impressive technical elements & Hemsworth's hammy performance, but like its predecessor, it's not going to leave much of a lasting impact. We're ultimately left with a prequel that should've been a grand revenge epic that relates Furiosa's heartbreaking backstory, but which sadly gets lost in the apocalyptic desert along the way.

Video/Audio:

"Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" comes to Blu-ray in a 2.39:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of excellent quality. The image is beautifully sharp throughout these two and a half hours, highlighting the film's gorgeous locations and extensive visual effects. Likewise, the Dolby Atmos-TrueHD audio track is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in outstanding quality. Overall, Warner Bros. has done a marvelous job in both departments for this action epic's physical home debut.

Special Features:

Highway to Valhalla: In Pursuit of Furiosa (57 Minutes): An excellent, in-depth look at the making of the film.

Furiosa: Stowaway to Nowhere (11 Minutes): A behind the scenes look at the intense stowaway action sequence.

Conclusion:

"Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" may provide a better balance between the narrative/characters & the phenomenal action sequences we've come to expect from the series, but unfortunately the story that Miller attempts to tell is surprisingly slow and largely uneventful, ultimately resulting in a film that's technically impressive, but sadly doesn't leave much of a lasting impact.

Score: 3/5

Available on Blu-ray starting tomorrow.

Follow me on Twitter @BeckFilmCritic.