Furiosa : A Mad Max Saga follows the origin story of Furiosa as she gathers herself to extract revenge against a warlord Dementus, as he in order to attain the power dynamics of the Green Place kills her mother. The story here seamlessly fits into the Mad Max universe and acts as a perfect prequel to Fury Road. It almost seemed like both films were written in tandem, and the integration was meant to take place with the setup of the wastelands that was devoid of any resources. With such an impressive setup, the narrative(like was the case with Fury Road too) was complimented by characters(both old and new) that were quirky, something that lifted the dynamics of the drama over the course of its screenplay standing at 140 odd minutes. 

The drama begins with the introduction of Furiosa, in her early teenage days living a peaceful life in the Green Place much contrary to the world around her that is scorching in the heat without any resources to thrive on. Soon, she is abducted by a biker gang in the view of taking over the Green Place that results in her coming face to face with her nemesis, a warlord Dementus who would stop at nothing for attaining power. In a tragic turn of events, Furiosa is witness to her mother being brutally killed off by Dementus even as she strives to extract revenge in a raging potboiler that spans for long periods of time. 

The proceedings are engaging even as the writers continue to build a fascinating world while using the revenge plot as an undercurrent. So there is a genuine purpose in the drama in trying to recreate a world that is fictional but also potentially a distant reality that may be devoid of all resources but still thriving on the politics of the land, and a game of one-upmanship that rules the roosts. Amidst that, you find the protagonist almost using her understated persona to consciously play a second fiddle even as she is witness to the clash of her two sworn enemies(one at the point in the film) Dementus and Joe, both of whom are power hungry warlords wishing to take over the final resources prevalent in the area. And this invisibility of the protagonist does make her quietly stronger as she uses the prevaling power dynamics to her advantage by either imitating a mute boy or simply having her presence felt in the background. All of it is seamlessly played out in a dimension of time that itself is timeless wherein you don’t realise the growth of the protagonist from her teens to a full grown killing machine. 

Furiosa has to be one of the most fascinating character to thrive in an otherwise alpha-male dominated universe, something that makes her even more special. Even in her own origin story, you see her performing in the background, be it the extravagant sequence involving a rig being raided that also ends with her being overpowered before a character wishes to utilize her potential. A rather short-lived love story is brutally cut short even as the protagonist slowly transitions from the background to the foreground while coming face to face with her arch nemesis. The finale here was something that I hadn’t quite imagined it to be. It almost felt like a face-off between the Batman and the Joker wherein the vily antagonist would shoot down every moral theory of the superhero. Yet somewhere deep down within, a part of me whispered this to be a poetic end in many ways even as visual montages help you piece the turn of events leading to Fury Road. The screenplay is extremely well written and makes for a phenomenal watch!