Movie Review: The 'Mad Max' saga treads (hard-to-find) water with frustrating 'Furiosa'

Creator and director George Miller has taken the coolest role of his “Mad Max: Fury Road” and built a whole prequel around her. But Associated Press critic Mark Kennedy says “Furiosa” has the titular character overshadowed by everyone else. The adult Furiosa — a coiled, clenched Anya Taylor-Joy — only appears after the first hour and she’s meek for another quarter of the film. It 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, post-apocalyptic motor oil. The R-rated movie opens in theaters Friday.