Quick Synopsis: How Furiosa became, well, became Furiosa.

Mad Max: Fury Road (MM: FR, pronounced Mumfour) was a phenomenally well-made piece of cinema, so you couldn’t help but feel slightly worried with the announcement of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (F: AMMS, pronounced Famms). A lot was working for it though, George Miller directing so it’s not as though it was handed off to someone who couldn’t handle it. Plus it wasn’t written as a cash grab, it was supposed to be filmed back-to-back with Fury Road. The cast seemed pretty solid too; Anya Taylor-Joy is always great, and the trailers made it look like Chris Hemsworth was having a lot of fun.

All of that is a long way of saying that if you enjoyed MM: FR then you’ll enjoy F: AMMS. It’s not quite as busy as Fury Road was, which I prefer. Furiosa actually gives you time to breathe so what happens is allowed to have an impact on you. It also has a much more varied visual colour palette to work from. There is a heavier focus on CGI in this one though, to its detriment. It’s not constant, but there are a few moments where some things just look “off”, and unlike MM: FR it doesn’t have as many exciting action scenes to fall back on. There are still some very good action scenes, but there’s nothing you can count as a “highlight”.

That’s my biggest issue with it. Despite how good it is, despite its noble origins, it still comes off as the cinematic equivalent of DLC for a video game. It never seems to become its own movie; instead, it is content to remind you of things from a better movie. Outside of curiosity, it’s difficult to see what the purpose of this was. If it was released earlier it wouldn’t be as big an issue, but after this long, it feels a bit like it is just a stopgap to tide you over until they release a sequel that will never come.

I’m being overly harsh I know. This is a brilliantly made film, and it’s very rarely boring. The performances are great, it’s an interesting story, and it’s a lot of fun. But, I dunno, I guess, it’s just a 7.8/10 and I want a 9. I think people do need to watch it though, it’s definitely worth your time