Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga [4K Ultra HD]

Director: George Miller

Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Alyla Browne

Release Date: August 13, 2024

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 9.5/10
Disc Rating: 9/10

Synopsis:

As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland, they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.

‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ explores the origins of Furiosa before we were first introduced to the character in ‘Fury Road’ and chronicles her life from a young age when she was taken from her home in the green place by the warlord Dementus and joins her journey from the loss of her mother to her being turned over to the devilish ruler The Immortan Joe. Jumping a few years ahead, the tale then accompanies Furiosa as she finds her way among the higher ranks thanks to her talents and quick thinking and eventually following her quest both for vengeance and a potential way back home.

Directed once again by George Miller (Mad Max, Happy Feet) from a screenplay written by George Miller and Nico Lathouris ( Mad Max: Fury Road), Miller does a fantastic job returning to the helm for ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ guiding along the tense, moving and visually marvelous prequel with heart and style. The film’s cast includes Anya Taylor-Joy (Last Night in Soho), Chris Hemsworth (Thor: Ragnarok), Alyla Browne (Sting) and Tom Burke (TV’s The Lazarus Project), along with more who each offer solid and fitting performances in their respective roles.

‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ is a thrilling, explosive and visually outstanding ride through the wasteland that jumps back in time and follows the early life of the dangerous Furiosa and showcases how she came to be the brave and talented warrior we know through suffering, unexpected encounters and an unflinching determination not to give up and eventually find her way back home. It’s another thoroughly exciting and visually stunning offering in the world that proves that Miller still has some unique ideas and characters up his sleeve that contribute some fresh and despicably unforgettable new stories and icons within the ever-expanding wasteland of his world, while much like with Fury Road utilizing new technology and elements to make it look even bigger and more stunning than before, something that certainly never hurts these marvelous looking films to stand out in the best way possible.

George Miller’s dedication and love for the ‘Mad Max’ franchise clearly hasn’t wavered in the decades since the original and he once again offers some fresh and thrilling ideas to the saga in ‘Furiosa’ yet again upping the production values and offering an utterly breathtaking visual style that is nothing short of remarkable. Miller has directed every film in the series to date including this one and while the unfortunate box office results of this prequel may not help the studio’s motivation, his ability to keep this world fresh, relevant and unforgettably gorgeous and explosive cannot be argued. His capable work behind the camera is nicely boosted this time around by another solid cast led by Anya Taylor-Joy who does a great job taking over the role of Furiosa in her younger years, although Chris Hemsworth repeatedly steals the show as the lead villain this time around and he lets himself fully disappear into the flashy, flamboyant and sadistic Dementus who you can’t help but love to despise.

Overall, ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ is a wonderfully dark, thrilling and at times quite beautiful new installment in the saga that focuses this time around on the origins of Furiosa and takes viewers for an explosive, moving and truly stunning new adventure through the wasteland that keeps the thrills and excitement coming at full speed. ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ is highly recommended, especially for any fans of Miller and his Mad Max series who should all find a lot to love about this action-packed and engaging origin tale that serves up a flashy, explosive and fast-paced adventure that shouldn’t have any trouble pulling you in and keeping you locked in for its duration. Dedicated fans of the franchise that haven’t yet had the chance to check it out shouldn’t be disappointed if making a blind purchase, and for the rest of the fans it should at the absolute least prove well worth your time and the price of a rental.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with Dolby Vision and HDR-10, presented in its original 2.39:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks gorgeous as a whole and provides a smooth, sharp and vibrantly colored presentation from start to finish that never suffers from any notable issues to be uncovered along the way. Detail is impressive throughout with everything from character faces, paint and attire to the expansive desert landscapes and constructs looking sharp and stunning. The Dolby Vision HDR complements much of it throughout by providing more vivid and lifelike colors noticeable on character outfits, plus face paint and the various vehicles utilized. Overall, this is a very solid Ultra High Definition video presentation that looks great and should easily thrill fans and first time viewers.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack is an aggressive blast itself and it delivers a clean, crisp and hard hitting audio presentation throughout that fully immerses the viewer in the excitement. It repeatedly takes advantage of all seven available channels in order to send vehicles zipping throughout the various speakers quite frequently, along with bullets, sandstorms and a whole lot more, while never allowing any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or rendered problematic. Overall, this is a tremendous Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that impresses at every turn and is liable to blow away viewers in the best way possible.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ features a great collection of extras that explore bringing the film to life and feature interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. Included is the making of documentary ‘Highway to Valhalla: In Pursuit of Furiosa’ (running 57 minutes in length), along with various other Behind the Scenes Featurettes including ‘Darkest Angel: Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa’ (running approximately 10 minutes), ‘Motorbike Messiah: Chris Hemsworth as Dementus’ (approximately 10 minutes), ‘Stowaway to Nowhere’ (11 minutes) and ‘Metal Beasts and Holy Motors’ (15 minutes).

*Please note: The above images were provided by Warner Bros. and are not reflective of the actual 4K Ultra HD release or its quality. A standard Blu-ray copy of the film was not included in the release that could be used for screenshots therefore the above publicity stills were utilized. They are all the property of Warner Bros. Discovery and any other respective owners.

–

Film Rating: 9.5/10
Disc Rating: 9/10

 –

‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment

–

You can purchase ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ on 4K UHD at Amazon HERE!

*Screen-Connections.com is an Amazon Associate that earns from qualifying purchases