THE 'MAD MAX' SAGA TREADS (HARD-TO-FIND) WATER WITH FRUSTRATING 'FURIOSA'

At the beginning of "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," we are introduced to a kick-ass woman who rides a horse, then a motorbike, nails a few bad guys with sharpshooting finesse and fights off a mob. But it's not Furiosa — it's her mom.

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That's one of the oddities of this latest offering in the Mad Max Cinematic Universe: Creator and director George Miller has taken the coolest role of 2015's "Mad Max: Fury Road" and built a whole prequel around her yet has her overshadowed by everyone else.

The adult Furiosa a coiled, clenched Anya Taylor-Joy-only appears after the first hourmark—we get way too much preteen Furiosa and she's meek for another quarter of the film. We, frankly, wanted more. Charlize Theron as Furiosa promised a "Top Gun" swagger yet Taylor-Joy mostly does furious side eye.

What goes into making adult Furiosa is very unpleasant: She endures childhood kidnapping and torture, goes mute, passes herself as a boy, gets traded for gas, works her way up a madman's hierarchy and only in the final scenes does she have real agency. We do learn how her left hand was maimed and that she was sweet on a guy. But making her mute? In her own movie?

Back are some familiar, scarred faces — Immortan Joe, The People Eater and a legion of half-naked War Boys. The new mega villain is Chris Hemsworth's Dementus, who has a hunger for human blood sausage and a knack for spectacularly murdering people who Furiosa cares about.