The 2024 installment in the Mad Max series, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, provided some fascinating context for the dystopian franchise, but despite mostly positive reviews, the movie failed to repeat what Mad Max managed to do with its original run in the 1980s. Mad Max gave Mel Gibson his breakthrough role as Max Rockatansky and became the most profitable movie ever made at the time. While Mad Max has a 90% positive Rotten Tomatoes rating, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior topped it, with a 94% rating and a new post-apocalyptic wasteland setting – defining what we know as Mad Max today.
With advancements in CGI and an increased budget for the Mad Max franchise, Fury Road delivered and improved on the themes viewers now expect from Mad Max when it rebooted the Mad Max franchise 30 years after Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Fury Road brought intense action, vehicles that existed on a different creative level from the previous movies, and Furiosa: a compelling main character alongside Max. However, though its sequel addressed Furiosa’s fascinating backstory and received a 90% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it did not improve upon Fury Road.
Furiosa Failed To Improve Upon Fury Road After Mad Max 2 Topped The First Movie
Mad Max: The Road Warrior Established A New Post-Apocalyptic World
Whereas Mad Max 2 essentially reinvented the franchise, Furiosa offered nothing as radical or progressive. The result is that, for all its strengths, Furiosa will never be seen in the same light as the series’ original 1981 sequel. Mad Max 2 contained elements of the original Mad Max, like modified cars and larger-than-life characters, but the barely recognizable wasteland setting introduced an entirely new environment for Max to explore. This expanded the Mad Max universe, improving upon Mad Max by keeping audiences interested in this new world.
Furiosa explained the character’s tragic backstory, which had been left a compelling mystery throughout Fury Road. However, while Furiosa introduced new characters and gave Furiosa more screen time, Furiosa did not expand the Mad Max lore much and therefore did not improve upon Fury Road. There is nothing, for instance, as transformative as a brand-new environment.
Mad Max 2
established a new post-apocalyptic universe, with new rules for survival, so viewers see a dramatic change in Max between the first and second movies.
Mad Max 2 established a new post-apocalyptic universe, with new rules for survival, so viewers see a dramatic change in Max between the first and second movies. Every main feature of Mad Max has been exaggerated, from the modified cars to the antagonist characters, while the movie still keeps a sense of humor. This approach allowed the franchise total creative freedom in the vehicle and character design, and the resulting creations have become a defining feature of the Mad Max franchise. Unfortunately, there is nothing comparable in Furiosa.
Furiosa Is Still Great, Despite Not Living Up To Fury Road
A Furiosa Sequel Could Significantly Expand The Mad Max Universe
While Furiosa was criticized for its overuse of CGI, and does not expand the Mad Max universe to the same extent that Fury Road did, Furiosa is still a good story. Furiosa references past Mad Max characters like Lord Humungus, with the appearance of antagonist Dementus’ chariot, and gives viewers a new road warrior in Praetorian Jack. Furiosa‘s brutal ending packed a similar punch to Immortan Joe’s death when his mask is ripped from his face, and Chris Hemsworth’s Dementus steals the show whenever he is on the screen, leaving the potential for a Dementus spin-off.
Dementus is a typical Mad Max villain as he is visually distinctive and arrogant, but also funny. Viewers learn enough of his backstory that a Dementus spin-off could be set in a completely different area of the apocalypse, with different rules for survival. An alternative could be focusing on Praetorian Jack and setting it within an area that viewers have seen but not explored, for example, if Gastown or The Bullet Farm extended far underground. A Furiosa sequel could significantly elaborate on the Mad Max lore in a way that Furiosa did not – highlighting how the movie still has much to commend it.
