Furiosa Review Roundup: Critics Weigh In On The New Mad Max Movie

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga comes to theaters later this month, and hopes are high after 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road was praised by critics and fans, and won six Academy Awards.

Reviews for the film have now begun to appear online ahead of its May 24 debut in the US, painting a picture of the movie’s critical reception. On GameSpot sister site Metacritic, Furiosa has an 83 metascore, while the film is rated 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. In short, critics are generally saying nice things about the movie. As always, though, your mileage may vary based on a wide variety of factors.

Furiosa stars Anya Taylor-Joy as the title character, Furiosa, a role that Oscar-winner Charlize Theron played in Fury Road. The filmmakers considered using de-aging technology to bring Theron back, but ultimately decided to cast someone new in the prequel.

Reflecting on the filmmaking experience, Taylor-Joy said she’s never felt more alone, in part because she stayed quiet a lot (she has about 30 lines of dialogue in the entire movie) and was instructed to mainly act with her eyes.

“We’re animals, and there’s a point where somebody just snaps,” Taylor-Joy said. “There’s one scream in that movie, and I am not joking when I tell you that I fought for that scream for three months. I will never regret this experience, on so many different levels, but it’s a very particular story to have. There’s not everyone in the world that has made a Mad Max movie, and I swear to God, everyone that I’ve met that has, there’s a look in our eyes: We know. There’s an immediate kinship of like, ‘OK, hey, I see you.'”

Chris Hemsworth plays the main villain, Dementus, and he recently reflected on how he felt liberated making the movie because it was so far removed from his Thor character in the MCU.

You can see a sampling of review scores and excerpts below and more critical consensus at GameSpot’s sister site Metacritic.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

• Directed by: George Miller
• Written by: George Miller, Nico Lathouris
• Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Alyla Browne
• Release Date: May 23 (Australia), May 24 (US)
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 2 hours, 28 minutes

The Hollywood Reporter – Unscored

“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.” — David Rooney [Full review]

IGN — 10/10

“George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga weaves a hero’s journey of epic proportions, ushering in a powerful reflection on what it means to live and love in a dying world.” — Lex Briscuso [Full review]

Indie Wire — A-

“How do we brave the world’s cruelties? By refusing to become them ourselves. Such an internally combusting prequel might seem like a strange lead-in to a movie that spit fire in every direction, but don’t you worry: George Miller still has what it takes to make it epic.” — David Ehrlich [Full review]

Polygon – Unscored

“Even as Furiosa is inevitably compared with Fury Road, both positively and negatively, put your trust in Miller’s weird, wild filmmaking. He’ll make you root for a near-silent hero in the face of insurmountable odds, and a demented villain who will go down alongside Fury Road’s Immortan Joe as a horrible new addition to Mad Max’s rogues gallery. Innovative and strange in the best ways, Furiosa repays that trust with a trip down a twisted cinematic rabbit hole that’ll likely once again redefine expectations for what an action film can be.” — Rosie Knight [Full review]

Variety – Unscored

“As much as I loved the character of Furiosa in Fury Road, do we really need to see her tangled, deep-dive-that-somehow-stays-on-the-surface origin story? It’ an impulse, at heart, that grows out of franchise culture, and maybe that’s why Furiosa, for all the tasty stuff in it, is a half-satisfying movie.” — Owen Gleiberman [Full review]