Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) review

This prequel to 2015's extremely popular Fury Road (with Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron) shows the early years of Furiosa (Alyla Browne) as she's abducted from her peaceful village and taken to lunatic Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) who tortures her mother to death - as an adult (Anya Taylor-Joy) she works as a helper for warlord Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), falls in love with Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke) and then seeks revenge against Dementus.  Even though this is hardly a treat for the mind with its rudimentary plot, lack of purposeful dialogue (there's a lot of grunting and sound effects) and consists almost entirely of elaborately detailed action sequences strung together (I hope you enjoy explosions!), it must be commended for what it does correctly: the sets, makeup and character designs are memorable (Dementus carries a stuffed bear around with him!) and Miller keeps it moving at a feverish pace, with determined baddies leaping into the frame from every direction.  I'm not sure why this didn't do that well at the box office, because it checks off the essential boxes for a crowd-pleasing summer release ... plus Hemsworth provides chuckles and Taylor-Joy proves she can do more than just stare at a chess board or appear frightened (she discards her mutilated left forearm like it was a hangnail).  Another bonus (and "proof" mankind hasn't lost all of its humanity): three legged dogs are equipped with robotic appendages!