‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ review: A brutal, exhilarating quest for revenge

nypost.com:

Mad Max: Fury Road.” How easy it is to forget. Repetitive, badly written, fake-looking superhero fare has gobbled up the market since, and escapist thrills have so often become synonymous with idiots in spandex.Not so in the beautiful and brutal “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.”Miller’s latest Road Warrior adventure, a thunderous prequel to “Fury Road” sans Max that explains the origins of Charlize Theron’s badass Imperator, provides the same slap-in-the-face wake-up call as its predecessor.The explosive chase sequences, hurdling through the sandy Wasteland, are as fueled as much by boundless creativity as gasoline.

The constant breathtaking images? Hang ’em at the Louvre. The acting, with so little dialogue to lean on, is better than that of a lot of serious dramas.But a big question looms: Is “Furiosa” as good as “Fury Road”?

Not quite, if only because when that seminal film hit theaters, it had been 30 years since 1985’s “Beyond Thunderdome,” and Miller’s modernized post-apocalyptic vision was a true shock to the system in 2015. “Fury Road” won six Oscars and was nominated for Best Picture and Director.“Furiosa,” nonetheless, is an exhilarating and characteristically ambitious achievement that grandly and grittily follows in its forebears’ footsteps, or, rather, tire tracks.

Summer blockbusters don’t get much better.This time, Anya Taylor-Joy takes over for Theron in the title role, though we don’t meet the “Queen’s Gambit” star for more than an hour.