Furiousa is the fifth movie in the Mad Max universe, but it nestles itself into the sequence between Thunderdome (the end of the original era) and Fury Road (the start of the new era.) So movie 5 but also kinda technically 3.5, at least as far as the timeline is concerned. Spoiler alert here, I really enjoyed this movie. I can’t recall the last time I saw something and enjoyed it this much (technically I just rewatched Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but this isn’t about that. I have noticed lately that when writing for Cthulhuville I tend to digress.) And if you read any further there will be countless spoilers. Not everything, but to explain the story required telling many parts of the story.

This movie does play out a bit different than the others in the franchise. It is divided into distinct chapters. There was a lot of controversy surrounding Anya Taylor Joy taking over the role from Charlize Theron. I felt this was unfounded before seeing the movie. It’s been 15 years now since the filming of Fury Road. And while I love Charlize and felt she did fantastic, she is also about a year away from turning 50 (Nothing against turning 50, I did it myself recently.) But this film is a prequel to Fury Road. And a younger actress was needed in order to pull that off. Anya Taylor Joy is getting close to turning 30 (Nothing against turning 30, I did that once. Mind you it was….ummm… back to the review.) And as we see Anya at the end, there is no doubt in my mind that she transitions beautifully into Charlize as Imperator Furiousa. But Anya wasn’t the only Furiousa in this movie. Alyla Browne is a young actress who is about 14. She plays the role in the first two segments. Which brings us back to the actual movie.

We start with the young Furiousa living in the paradise she grew up in. The only way to protect their paradise is to make sure nobody ever leaves knowing about it. So when she sees a handful of Wasteland ruffians, she takes it upon herself to try and deal with them. While she fails to, she is able to sound the alarm. The bad guys take her and flee the paradise with the intent of returning to their leader and informing him. Furiousa’s mother takes it upon herself to hunt them down. The chase scene in this first act was riveting.

At the camp we meet Dementus, Chris Hemsworth is amazing in this role. With this he has absolutely thrown off the mantle of Thor and shown he can be so much more. Mind you, Dementus is an idiot. But in the world of Mad Max, sometimes just being big and strong is better than being smart.

The second act is basically us seeing how Dementus has claimed Furiousa. She is now an unwilling part of his gang. Bound and caged. Unwilling to speak simply because she has nothing to say to anyone. As Dementus continues to grow in power and the ranks of his gang swell, he decides to take on the Citadel. The homeland and territory of Immortan Joe. Dementus and his gang survive the initial meeting as they learn just how devoted the War Boys are to Joe. There is no negotiating with someone whose every soldier is willing and thrilled to die in service to their leader. Recovering from the failed attempt to take the Citadel, Dementus decides to take Gas Town instead. The leader of Gas Town makes a terrible decision allowing Dementus to seize control. And then we see Dementus once again try and negotiate with the Citadel. At this point Immortan Joe takes Furiousa for his own harem. Which leads us to chapter three and Anya taking over as Furiousa.

She manages to escape the Harem by inserting herself into the motor pool area of the Citadel. She couldn’t get away completely, but she was getting closer. There were two things on her mind at all times. Avenging her mother by killing Dementus, and making her way back to her home.