George Miller directs Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke in this post-apocalyptic prequel following the rise and revenge of Furiosa Imperator.

Ozploitation Maximalism Goes Ben-Hur. I have gripes. The lean chase flick gives way to a decade spanning odyssey. Can something you love play overlong? As accomplished as the action is it doesn’t take you to the extreme frenetic ‘anything goes’ anarchy of Fury Road. And I love Taylor-Joy in the right role but she ain’t a physical match for Theron so doesn’t fully convince as an Angel of Vengeance. Her rise feels forced… mandated rather than earned… where as in Fury Road Furiosa’s status within this hierarchy was undisputed gospel. You never questioned it. When she and Hemsworth’s Dementus finally face off you know it isn’t going to be a fair fight to the death as there’s no possible way she can win that. Making this anti-climatic. I just felt a little removed, uninvolved from a cinematic universe I’ve always loved. There was more than enough good stuff revisited that I still enjoyed myself. Hemsworth really goes full throttle and the story can’t really breathe without him. His gang are delightfully scumbaggy. Jenny Beaven does miracles coming up with new looks for mutated crooks. I’m always going to want more Mad Max. Always. This just took me a smidgen colder than any of the previous episodes.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/