The first trailer for George Miller’s Furiosa is finally here and it’s all new, shiny, and chrome. Anya Taylor-Joy stars as a younger version of the character we first met in Mad Max: Fury Road, and she’s joined by Chris Hemsworth as another evil warlord in this vast, post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Now that the trailer is out, it’s time to go through and see what’s in it. What can we tell about the story of the film from all the images? Witness us! We dive deep, right here, right now. Oh, what a lovely day.
Leaving a motorcycle in her wake, an obviously hurt Furiosa walks towards something on the horizon. “However long it takes, promise me you’ll find your way home.” “Furiosa, give me this promise.” The two sentences are meant to link together, but it sounds like they’re from different voices.
Our first official look at Anya Taylor-Joy as the title character made famous by Charlize Theron. The amount of dirt on her face seems to be something that tracks her journey, which we see throughout the trailer.
The trailer gives us several lines of text setting up the story: “45 years after the collapse, a young Furiosa is taken from her family. She will devote the rest of her life to finding her way home. This is her odyssey.” This is over a long continuous shot of a War Rig flanked by several motorcycles. We assume Furiosa is in the middle vehicle but this frame doesn’t quite make it seem like it’s her. Maybe she’s on one of the motorcycles?
Also, the focus on the phrase “This is her odyssey” certainly brings to mind Homer’s Odyssey, the story of a famed warrior heading home after an epic war. Sounds familiar.
The trailer fades up on a young girl with a stuffed animal in a cage and with a mask on. We assume again, of course, this is Furiosa after being taken from her family. She’s in the custody of Warlord Dementus, played by Chris Hemsworth. He’s got a terrible nose and worse grammar. “Lady and gentlemans,” he says on a microphone. “Start your engines.”
The editing of the trailer, and Dementus’ declaration, makes it seem like he’s announcing some kind of competition. A competition that, it seems, requires a slightly older, teenage girl to put on a skull helmet. As usual, we assume this is Furiosa, but it’s unclear. Is the character played by upwards of three actresses in the film? Also, we’ll see this skull later.
Is that young woman suiting up for a battle between war rigs? If not her, some people certainly are. The vehicular action is going to be wild.
Shiny and chrome, the War Boys are back. Immortan Joe’s soldiers, first seen in Fury Road, look to be back in Furiosa. They even have their big explosive sticks again, good for blowing up cars and flying across the air. And is that Joe or someone else embossed on the site of the gas truck? Hmm.
The official plot synopsis for Furiosa puts the character in the middle of a “war for dominance” between Immortan Joe (possibly played by Tom Burke) and Warlord Dementus (Hemsworth). Here we see them both with Joe, the main antagonist in Fury Road, looking much younger, but still with the same ailments. Since Joe owns Furiosa in Fury Road, we have an idea of who wins this.
It’s a brief shot but this image, of a much more scuffed-up guy on a motorcycle attacking a chrome oil tanker, looks to be an even better visualization of the battle between Joe and Dementus.
We finally see Taylor Joy again as Furiosa, this time painting her face with a black substance. Notice the symbol on the left side though. That’s an Immortan Joe symbol, so we think at some point she switches sides.
Also, notice she’s doing this with her left arm. An arm the character no longer has both in Fury Road, or later in this trailer.
Warlord Dementus is in a bad place here. A shower of bullets rains down in him in a very Matrix-y, and frankly a little too CGI-y way for George Miller fashion, as he dangles over a fire. Is this how the character meets his demise?
Also, remember there was a town in the first film called Bullet Farm. This could be that, right?
Furiosa, still with long hair, emerges from a pile of rubble. But, the shot is in slow motion. She obviously survived something horrific here but still has both arms. Is she being somehow reborn?
We only get a brief glimpse of Furiosa’s home, in all its glory, in the trailer, and here it is. However, all the women are running, while two of them escape on horseback. Somewhere in here, we assume, is Furiosa’s mother.
The subsequent shot is another quick one of a character that’s been tied up, running away toward some kind of tree stump. The blue lighting brings to mind the journey towards the Green Place from Fury Road. Is this young Furiosa as she was being captured? Or is it someone new? The hair sure looks different.
This is maybe the most intriguing shot in the entire trailer. It appears to show what could be Furiosa with a man. Is it a brother? A love interest? Who is he and what happens to him?
While this car, flying over the dunes, certainly looks like Max’s car from the beginning of Fury Road, it is not. And yet, the parallel is both interesting and logical. The quick subsequent shot seems to show Furiosa, in full mask, driving.
Hard to tell if this is the same child from the beginning of the trailer or not but you tend to guess it is. But this child is being aided by this person on fire with a skull mask. The one from earlier? And is THAT Furiosa and is she trying to save other women? Or is this her as a child? We’re guessing the former.
In Fury Road, we hear about three cities: the Citadel, Bullet Farm, and Gas Town. We don’t see those in that movie but, we’re guessing we do here. An earlier shot with bullets suggests that’s Bullet Farm, and since this isn’t the Citadel, maybe it’s Gas Town? Those smokey chimneys sure seem like it.
At first glance, this look at Dementus isn’t particularly revealing. Then you see he’s got a stuffed animal attached to his chest. The same one we saw the young girl from earlier in the trailer with. Is she dead? Did she abandon him? Is he in love with her? The speculative implications are endless.
Our best look yet at the tyrannical mad-man. We just wanted to throw that out there. Still up to all his old tricks.
Furiosa taking part in some kind of ritual. Is she supposed to be there though? She seems to be blending in.
A war party, lead by Dementus on a chariot, speeds towards what we think is Gas Town. This looks like a big action set piece which is also noteworthy cause Dementus is wearing a cape, making him look very Thor-like. Also, we love this fan bike.
After a shot of Taylor-Joy looking up and screaming “I’m Furiosa,” another voice calls her the “Darkest of Angels,” as we cut to her manning this harpoon on top of a war rig.
Furiosa shoots the harpoon and grabs what looks like the fan bike before, only now it’s in the air. We guess it flies!
Cut quickly together with the harpoon moment is this moment where Furiosa, now driving a car, latches onto another vehicle and begins to drag it.
This next shot makes it seems like the vehicle she’s dragging is this one but there’s no rope or anything. We think this is yet another vehicle Furiosa kills, by speeding away and letting the gate fall on it.
The reds in this vehicle and that it’s got extra motorcycles on it are also kind of cool.
Is this the same gate we just saw? Probably not. But Furiosa uses it to shield herself as all hell breaks looks behind it. Oh, and also, she’s still got both arms.
Furiosa fires a gun with a scope on it and the next shot makes it looks like she brings down some kind of tower. We’re guessing, though, it’s two different scenes cut together.
And there it is. Now, somehow, Furiosa lost her left arm and had it replaced. This seems soon after too because she’s still getting the hang of it. Also, notice the telescopes. She’s on the lookout somewhere.
“Do you have it in you to make it epic?” That’s what Dementus asks after a quick flurry of shots culminating in Furiosa, now underneath a gas truck, using a motorcycle to smash and grab something. What’s so cool about this is you can tell the camera is actually under this truck. Insane.
Dementus asks “Do you have it in you to make it epic?” from his knees looking up at someone. That someone? Almost certainly Furiosa, viewed at the very end of the trailer in final Fury Road form, with the black markings, shaved head, metal arm, and Immortan Joe symbol. This is going to be a journey to bring a young girl to this moment.
Kind of says it all. Furiosa opens May 24, 2024.
