Empire's George Miller scores average 4.7/5. He could film paint drying.

John Nugent's 5/5 review of Furiosa reads like it was written by a man who decided the score before the projector warmed up. This is not a review — it is a love letter to George Miller's filmography wearing a trench coat and pretending to be objective journalism. Nugent calls the film a 'rich, sprawling epic,' which is such a generic compliment that you could paste it onto any movie longer than two hours and it would scan perfectly. Try it: 'The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies — a rich, sprawling epic.' See? It works and it means nothing.

The 5/5 rating implies that Furiosa is a perfect film, which requires ignoring several elephants in several rooms. The CGI de-aging that turns Anya Taylor-Joy into a video game cutscene. The first act's pacing, which drags like a War Rig with a flat tire. Chris Hemsworth's performance, which oscillates between 'menacing warlord' and 'theatre kid who just discovered wigs.' Nugent addresses none of these because acknowledging imperfection in a 5/5 review would be like a priest acknowledging plot holes in the Bible — technically possible but professionally inadvisable.

Empire has given George Miller's last three films an average score of 4.7/5. At this point they should just rename the rating system. One star: not George Miller. Two stars: still not George Miller. Three stars: reminds us slightly of George Miller. Four stars: George Miller adjacent. Five stars: is George Miller. It would be more honest and save everyone the pretense of critical evaluation.