FURIOSA: A Mad Max Saga

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Evan B

Chapter 1: The Pole of Inaccessibility

Post-apocalypse, and most of Australia has been reduced to a desert wasteland. However, a tribe called Vuvalini of the Many Mothers lives in a secluded oasis. One day while out harvesting peaches, young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) and her friend Valkyrie (Dylan Adonis) see a gang of marauders in the oasis butchering a horse. Needing to protect the location of their home from outsiders, Furiosa tells Valkyrie to hide and then tries to sabotage the gang’s motorcycles. The gang catches and kidnaps her as Furiosa whistles for help. Furiosa’s mother Mary (Charlee Fraser) and Mary’s friend (Elsa Patakay) pursue and kill some of the gang members, but not the one with Furiosa.

Eventually, the surviving gang member arrives at his camp, which is run by the bloodthirsty Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). Before the gang member can give the location of the oasis, Furiosa manages to slit his throat. Dementus (who notes he lost his own children during the apocalypse) has Furiosa taken to a tent and promises to “take her home” the next day. During a sandstorm, Mary sneaks in and manages to kill Furiosa’s guards and flee with her daughter. But Dementus tracks the pair with his bloodhounds. Eventually, Dementus and his gang capture the duo. He brutally tortures Mary in front of Furiosa for the oasis location, but Mary never reveals it before she dies. Furiosa then goes silent, refusing to talk for years. The only thing Furiosa has to remind her of home is a seed from the peach tree that she was harvesting.

Chapter 2: Lessons from the Wasteland

Furiosa is kept as Dementus’ prisoner, although he often refers to her as his daughter. She is forced to witness as his gang grows in size and brutality. One such moment is when Dementus and his friends corner a smaller group and force them to join his gang. As part of the ritual, the leader of the smaller group is chained to five motorcycles. The other members of the group are then forced to fight to get on the motorcycle (otherwise Dementus will have them all killed). After the five victors (including Elsa Patakay in another role) take their seats on the motorcycle, they drive off and tear their old leader apart.

Dementus and his gang later find a brain-damaged War Boy wandering in the desert (having clearly been wounded in a battle with an unknown enemy). The War Boy tells Dementus of his home in the Citadel, where there is plenty of water and food. While looking through the War Boy’s gear, they shoot off his flare gun and it dyes Dementus’ beard red, much to Dementus’ pleasure.

Dementus and his gigantic gang drive into the Citadel (a fortress built within rock formations that pumps clean, fresh water from beneath the surface into a cistern at the top of the rock formations) and tries to turn the people against their leader – a man named Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme). Joe, along with his aid The People Eater (John Howard) and sons Rictus (Nathan Jones) and Scrotus (Josh Helman), mocks Dementus. He has his War Boys (Joe’s soldiers) lob explosives onto Dementus’ gang from on high and use cranes to hoist away many of their vehicles. Dementus retreats with what remains of his forces, but begins watching the Citadel.

He learns that the Citadel trades food and water for gas from nearby Gastown and bullets from another nearby place called the Bullet Farm. Dementus and his forces manage to overrun one of the Citadel’s transport trucks (called a war rig) on its way to Gastown and uses it to sneak in his warriors. Once inside, Dementus’ soldiers ambush Gastown’s forces, open the gates, and Dementus takes over.

As the new man in charge, Dementus opens negotiations with Joe (threatening to use a remote detonator to blow up Gastown if Joe tries to kill him). Joe agrees to increase the amount of water and food sent to Gastown in exchange for Furiosa (healthy women are rare, so he hopes to one day have her as a breeder) and for the Organic Mechanic (Angus Sampson) – a man with medical knowledge. Dementus rejects the deal saying that Joe will not separate him from his daughter, but Furiosa speaks up for the first time in years and says she’s not his daughter and that she wants to join the Citadel. Dementus then accepts the deal.

Furiosa eventually manages to escape the room where Joe keeps his enslaved wives and breeders. She then dresses as a boy and begins to work with Scrotus’ team, building new vehicles and deadlier war rigs.

Chapter 3: The Stowaway

Years pass and Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) is now a young adult. Having proven her mechanical skills, she is a highly respected crew member. Furiosa continues to pretend that she is mute. She secretly hatches a plan to run away so that she can return home.

Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke) is Joe’s best driver, having never lost a war rig during transport. As he leaves for his most recent run to Gastown and Bullet Farm, Furiosa sneaks aboard by strapping herself to the undercarriage of the war rig. Unfortunately, the war rig is attacked by a gang that splintered off from Dementus’ gang and were exiled from Gastown. A major battle ensues (with the gang using all manner of gliders and flying vehicles against Jack and his crew). After the battle, Jack and Furiosa as the only survivors. Furiosa tries to steal the war rig, but Jack manages to stop her. The pair then talk, and Jack offers to make Furiosa his apprentice so that she can learn everything he knows about vehicles and combat. With that knowledge, she can make a proper escape when the time is right. Furiosa accepts his offer.

Chapter 4: Homeward

More time passes and Furiosa is now a Praetorian and Jack’s second in command. Moreover, the two have fallen in love. One night as Jack and Furiosa talk in a hidden crag atop the citadel, Jack says that he believes Furiosa is ready to make a break for freedom. He also confides that he supported her because his parents believed that nothing was more important than fighting for a cause, and he believes he is finally doing that by helping her. Jack then asks if Furiosa will let him come with her, and she agrees.

On their next run to the Bullet Farm, the Farm’s leader the Bullet Farmer (Lee Perry) tells them that Gastown is starting to fall apart and that he and Joe should attack Dementus while he is distracted by the discord. When the pair arrive in Gastown, they find that the community is indeed in chaos and on the brink of collapse. Despite the food shipments, many of the people are starving due to Dementus’ mismanagement. As the food and water are unloaded, Dementus arrives and requests to meet with Joe and the Bullet Farmer to discuss how they can restore order to Gastown. He then provokes the citizens to riot and Furiosa and Jack barely manage to escape alive.

When they report the news to Joe, he calls the Bullet Farmer to the Citadel where he and his sons and advisors debate what to do. They eventually decide to attack Dementus and order the Praetorians to go to the Bullet Farm to bring back all the ammo they can carry. After receiving their orders, Furiosa and Jack decide to escape during this mission.

At the Bullet Farm, the Citadel forces are attacked by Dementus and his soldiers (Dementus had anticipated that Joe and the Bullet Farmer would try to take all the ammo and kill him, so while the Farmer was gone, he launched a surprise attack against the Farm and took it for himself). The War Boys are quickly killed off and Jack is trapped inside Bullet Farm. He yells at Furiosa (who avoided the trap) to escape while he launches a one-man attack on Dementus. She refuses to abandon him and enters the Bullet Farm willingly. The two of them manage to make a miraculous escape.

Enraged by their defiance, Dementus and his forces pursue the pair. Despite their best efforts, Furiosa and Jack are captured by Dementus (who does not recognize a now fully grown Furiosa). To punish them for their hope and love, he chains Furiosa up and then has Jack killed by being dragged to death by a motorcycle and eaten by his bloodhounds. During the spectacle, Furiosa saws off her arm that was handcuffed, sabotages Dementus’ vehicles, and escapes. She returns to the Citadel (implied to be helped along by Mad Max Rockatansky, who is seen watching her as she crosses the desert) and tells Immortan Joe and the Bullet Farmer about all that transpired. She then vows to personally kill Dementus.

Chapter Five: Beyond Vengeance

War ensues, led by Scrotus. As the war is waged, Furiosa builds herself a mechanical arm and then drives out to the front. There, she sees that Scrotus has won the war. Although Dementus’ forces have been defeated, Dementus escaped into the desert.

Furiosa follows Dementus into the desert, killing his last remaining allies as she stalks them. Eventually, Dementus is the sole survivor of his once-mighty gang. He wakes up one morning to find that his canteen has been slit open, his motorcycle destroyed, and his weapons emptied of ammo. Furiosa confronts him and after a brief struggle, he surrenders to her.

As she tortures him, he eventually realizes who she is. Rather than fear her, he is overjoyed to be reunited with his “daughter.” He says that Furiosa will be his true successor as she will now be guided by bloodlust and vengeance (just as he is). Furiosa repudiates his claims, saying she will prove she is nothing like him.

Several different endings are presented by the narrator of the film. One is that Furiosa simply shoots and kills Dementus. Another is that she tortures Dementus in the same way he tortured Mary and Jack. But the narrator then reveals what Furiosa says happened. Furiosa claims that she brought Dementus back to the Citadel. There, she planted the peach tree seed inside of him. The tree grew, erupting out of his stomach and bearing new fruit out of his wretched body. The film then ends with Furiosa smuggling Immortan Joe’s wives into her war rig so that she can liberate them from the Citadel and Joe’s tyranny (as seen in Mad Max: Fury Road).

Furiosa defeats Dementus - the man who kidnapped her and tortured and killed both her mother Mary and later, her lover Jack. Furiosa then plants a tree inside of Dementus, so that new life can emerge from the old. The film ends with Furiosa smuggling Immortan Joe's wives into her war rig so that she can liberate them from the Citadel and Joe's tyranny (as seen in Mad Max: Fury Road).