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Following up what is considered one of the greatest action movies of the last decade is no easy feat. But that was the task facing George Miller as he set out to make a prequel to his Oscar-winning 2015 blockbuster, \u201cMad Max: Fury Road.\u201d The result, \u201cFuriosa: A Mad Max Saga<\/a>,\u201d tells the origin story of the Imperator Furiosa, the breakout character who first appeared in \u201cFury Road\u201d \u2014 played by Charlize Theron then and Anya Taylor-Joy<\/a> now.<\/p>\n The new film hits theaters on Friday, but critics weighed in when it premiered at Cannes last week. Comparisons with the other films in the \u201cMad Max\u201d series (and especially the beloved \u201cFury Road\u201d) were inevitable, and critics seem to agree that \u201cFuriosa\u201d feels heavier and sadder \u2014 but it\u2019s less unanimous if that\u2019s a positive or a negative. Read what they had to say, and let us know in the comments what you think of the movie.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Manohla Dargis, The New York Times:<\/strong> \u201cScene for scene, \u2018Furiosa\u2019 is very much a complement to \u2018Fury Road,\u2019 yet the new movie never fully pops the way the earlier one does. As it turns out, it is one thing to watch a movie about warriors high-tailing it out of Dodge on the road to nowhere. It\u2019s something else entirely to watch a woman struggle to survive a world that eats its young and everyone else, too. Miller is such a wildly inventive filmmaker that it\u2019s been easy to forget that he keeps making movies about the end of life as we know it.\u201d Read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Owen Gleiberman, Variety:<\/strong> \u201cWhat it all adds up to is a movie that can be darkly bedazzling, and that will be embraced and defended in a dozen passionate ways \u2014 but it\u2019s one that, to me, falls very short of being a \u2018Mad Max\u2019 home run.\u201d Read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n David Ehrlich, IndieWire:<\/strong> \u201cDoes \u2018Furiosa\u2019 deliver the kind of system shock that made its predecessor feel like such a violent rebuke to superhero-era Hollywood? Absolutely not \u2014 though its two bona fide set pieces both<\/em> eclipse the most electric moments of \u2018Fury Road,\u2019 while also iterating on them in fantastic new ways (the much-hyped \u2018Stowaway to Nowhere\u2019 sequence is an out-of-body experience). But Miller\u2019s decision to shift gears ultimately proves to be his prequel\u2019s greatest strength.\u201d Read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n Stephanie Zacharek, Time:<\/strong> \u201cMiller is going for something majestic here, and \u2018Furiosa\u2019 does at times look imperiously handsome: he and cinematographer Simon Duggan know how to make the movie\u2019s trillion or so mounds of sand look positively silky. But despite its many, many action sequences, and a symphonic cacophony of motorbikes vrooming in the sand, the movie, divided into chapters with droney titles like \u2018Lessons From the Wasteland,\u2019 evolves into a slog that\u2019s working hard to persuade us we\u2019re having a good time.\u201d Read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n Odie Henderson, Boston Globe:<\/strong> \u201cThe majority of this origin story for Furiosa is not only unnecessary, it\u2019s nowhere near as captivating as the earlier film. Why did I need such detailed explanations for a character whom Miller and Theron had previously embodied with such glorious mystery and pathos? Why show a world whose loss Theron already conveyed in that iconic shot of Furiosa kneeling in the sandstorm? I long for the days when I didn\u2019t have to be told every damn thing about a movie character or event.\u201d Read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dana Stevens, Slate:<\/strong> \u201cTo Miller\u2019s credit, there\u2019s never a sense that he is recycling ideas or cynically milking his own franchise. The stunts may be created using a mix of practical and digital effects, but the result still feels handcrafted and personal, with admirable contributions from production designer Colin Gibson, costume designer Jenny Beavan, and editor Margaret Sixel.\u201d Read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mark Kennedy, Associated Press:<\/strong> \u201cIt feels like with this fifth Mad Max installment, Miller is trying to add operatic heft and seriousness to what started in 1979 as a fun, rip-roaring smear of nightmarish, postapocalyptic motor oil. In that case, \u2018Fury Road\u2019 was fantastic, but \u2018Furiosa\u2019 is just fine.\u201d Read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tara Bennett, AV Club: <\/strong>\u201c\u2018Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga\u2019 officially enters my tightly regulated library of highly regarded prequels because Miller is entirely interested in building up an inner life and history for Furiosa that can exist without \u2018Fury Road\u2019 and still be a damn fine movie. And then Miller executes the pinnacle prequel trick of turning the relationships, connections, and losses collected in \u2018Furiosa\u2019 into subtext that makes the already sublime \u2018Fury Road\u2019 even better.\u201d Read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n Joshua Rothkopf, The Los Angeles Times:<\/strong> \u201cIf the movie has a deficiency (and it does), it\u2019s not one of exposition but euphoria. The \u2018Mad Max\u2019 universe was never all that cautionary, not if you yourself ever wondered how you\u2019d make it through societal meltdown and what kind of mohawk you\u2019d get. \u2026 \u2018Furiosa,\u2019 to its distinction and detriment, ends up being too self-regarding, too downbeat. It takes the fun out of survival.\u201d Read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n