In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, George Miller described the filmmaking medium as ‘visual music.’ With his effervescent 2015 outing, “Mad Max: Fury Road,” the director surprised critics as well as audiences worldwide by expanding upon his popular post-apocalyptic saga. Not only that, many hailed “Fury Road” as not only the best entry in the series but also one of the best action movies of its time. Almost a decade after the monstrous success of it, the 79-year-old filmmaker brought us a prequel spin-off set in the same universe.
“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” sees Anya Taylor Joy replace Charlize Theron from the earlier film as Furiosa. Throughout the 149-minute runtime of this audacious flick, we watch her over the span of two decades as she rakes revenge on Dementus. While trade gurus and experts continue to uncover the reasons why one of the summer’s biggest films failed to conquer the box office, we dive deep into the wide avenue of places the film took us into the deep, barren expanse of this bristling universe.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
A prequel-cum-spin off to the 2015 film, “Furiousa” reintroduces us to the desolate world around 15 to 20 years before the events of that film. The years sprawling wide backdrop of the story sees Warlords fight it out to gain a hold over the scarcely remaining sources of food, water and gasoline amidst weapons in the deserted wasteland. Against this backdrop, it unfolds the portrait of a little girl named Furiosa, who is one day kidnapped by a nefarious warlord called Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). He kills her mother while making her watch, only to eventually sell the young girl off to slavery at the hands of Immortan Joe.
As Furiosa (now grown up, played by Anya Taylor Joy) ages up, hurdling her way against all odds in the new place, she is hell-bent on getting revenge on Dementus for what he did to her. She bears tremendous hardships managing to survive as a displaced slave. But she soon devises a plan to disguise herself as a mute teenage boy to rank herself up, only to find herself on par with Immortan Joe over the years.
What happens to the War Rig?
Furiosa, now in control of key projects at the Citadel, is instrumental in building a prodigiously armed supply tanker. Over the wheel of Kenworth W900, a.k.a. the ‘The War Rig,’ is a skilled driver named Praetorian Jack. Furiosa, along with the rest of the team, aids Jack in reaching their collective end goal. However, tragedy eventually strikes that leaves the whole crew dead, with the only survivors being Furiosa and Commander Jack. Furiosa now becomes adamant on returning to the Green Place, and tries to take over the rig from Joe. As he stops her from doing so, she’s left stranded in the open landscape of the desert. Ultimately, he returns and offers to train her up in order to escape the Citadel, but only for a deal where she must assist him in rebuilding his crew.
How does Dementus kill Jack?
Over the course of some years, we watch Furiosa become Jack’s close right-hand woman after a promotion to Praetorian. It’s here when they plan their final escape. As Immortan Joe’s decision to attack Gastown approaches, he grows aware of the facility being in ruins owing to Dementus’ mad headship. Thus, he assigns Jack and Furiosa to acquire weapons from a mining facility known as the Bullet Farm. Things soon go haywire when Dementus ambushes the two upon arrival.
What Leads to Furiosa’s Tragic Escape?
Dementus brutally tortures Jack to death till the morning dawn approaches, harnessing Furiosa to his monstrous truck through a chain. However, to his disarray, he finds out that she’s run away by cutting off part of her own arm and returns to the Citadel and plans an all-out war on the man with the assistance of Immortan Joe. They succeed in killing the majority of Dementus’ crew, and Furiosa finally goes through a robust transformation into the character we had first been introduced to in “Mad Max: Fury Road.” After heading back, she shaves all her hair off, channeling her rage into full throttle mode by obtaining a mechanical prosthetic arm. She then embarks on the search of Dementus on her own to wreak revenge for all the carnage he’s caused to her over the years.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
The end of the movie sees the titular lead hatch a plan to take on Dementus as he awakens in the middle of the desert, only to realize his water bottle has been slit. He wanders around the area in search of something or someone, away from his makeshift tent, to eventually see Furiosa in the distance. All set to inflict revenge upon him, she stands over Dementus with a loaded gun aimed at his head. It’s here where the film circles back to its central themes – that of love, hate and hope. Kneeling over his knees, Dementus tries to reason with her. He even suggests that if she kills him for once and all, she will simply become just like him. She stands there, mulling over how to take her revenge she’s been waiting for all these years. Ultimately, she decides to cut off his tongue.
Read More: All Mad Max Movies (Including Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga), Ranked
By the end of the movie, it’s left up to the viewer’s interpretation of how Furiosa actually kills Dementus. We get a voiceover from the History Man (George Shevtsov) informing us that Furiosa told him personally how she had dispatched the evil villain. According to his version of the story, Furiosa planted him in the roots of the gardens of the Citadel, with a peach tree growing out of his groin area.
Thus, in a surprising ending, we watch Dementus still alive when the film ends, albeit a much older man who’s withering away. A ripe peach can be spotted on the branches of the tree growing out of him till we finally see Furiosa hand over the peach to Immortan Joe’s young brides while hiding them in the storage tank of the War Rig. The movie, then, ends with snippets of Furiosa’s journey over to the Green Place in “Mad Max: Fury Road ” as we watch the credits roll against high-octane visuals and music.
