Yes, Furiosa.
Could it really be anyone else? Mad Max: Fury Road was an amazing movie, an astounding movie on all fronts including the acting. Now, some people did not get why the audience and critics were mostly saying that Max Rockatansky was a secondary character in his own film. Well, he kind of was not, he was the titular character and the male lead. The female lead was Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron. Yet people came out saying Furiosa was the main character. Why?
The character was just that good is why. Now I want to take a moment to address Rey right here. I like the character of Rey, I mean she is definitely overpowered but when you say that, consider two things: 1) that marketing campaign was bullshit 2) do you really want to see Kylo Ren skewer her over Finn's comatose body? However, here is the point I am trying to make. After Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released there was a huge clutter of articles saying stuff like "the character feminists have been looking for", "finally a character women can look up to" and "the female character girls have always wanted". Okay great, there were similar articles that came out when Mad Max was released but not as many. Most of the articles focused on how great Furiosa was as a character rather than how good she is as a character for girls. Now rest assured there are plenty of articles on how good Rey is as a character - but it will not seem that way when considered through fractions. What am I trying to say, you may wonder? Am I saying that Furiosa is better than Rey? Yes, I am. Why?
Easy, Rey you can be the character female characters should be written as. You can be the character that girls hope to be when they grow up. You can be the feminist icon or whatever. You know what Furiosa is? Furiosa is the character that both male and female characters should be written as. She is a character that all kinds of people should aspire to be like. She is not just a feminist icon, she is not just as cinematic icon - she is the [frick]ing icon of badassery.
The character of Furiosa was played incredibly well by Theron. I swear to God, by the time I had seen the movie I had given up on her as an actress. That is superb acting. The way Theron carries Furiosa's emotional weight and burdens is superb, and then when you consider all of that is not just happening in the desert - but in the goddamn wasteland - it makes it all the more impressive. Furiosa is not the character females had been waiting for, she's the character that everyone had been waiting for.
She's not and overpowered character. She's a handicapped, disgraced traitor who may be a great tactician and politician but is not really an amazing fighter. She has to be saved by Max via blood transfusion (if that was Rey she'd be saying "don't give me your blood" like when she told Finn not to hold her hand even though he saved her from getting blown up - sorry I'll stop). Right there, she's an incredibly flawed character. She kind of should be. She's a girl who has not been with her family since she was little and was forced to survive on her own in the desert before making a decision to leave to better the world. Shit that sounds like Rey until you factor in all the flaws (I'm sorry FrozenJoy, I love Rey but she's my prime example right now).
Consider that though. Furiosa is handicapped. She is an idol for anyone who is handicapped (not you Oscar) and that is an incredible thing to do. Do you think Katherine Heigl would have played a lady with one arm in that romcom with Gerard Butler? She could have but it wouldn't have been a romcom anymore. Yet this movie set out to make an action movie and guess what, a lead character was handicapped but guess what? They made an action movie. It's like if the character Jeff Joker from Mass Effect had a larger role.
There are so many great things about this character that I'd like to type more. Except whenever I hit enter to make a new paragraph my entire page scrolls down. Fix this boys. So with that, I'll leave you to see if you agree with me. Also, I don't hate Rey - I like that character but she needs to bow to the real movie legend of 2015. Plus, Jackie Chan is amazing.