The Big Picture

  • The upcoming prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is highly anticipated and will contain all the great action mayhem expected from a Mad Max film.
  • The original Mad Max film explores the events that kick off the descent of society and provides insight into Max's origins.
  • Mad Max: Fury Road is considered one of the greatest action movies, with its innovative blend of practical effects, brilliant makeup, and relentless nonstop chase.

The Mad Max franchise is one of the greatest, and clearly one of the most influential, action sagas in the history of cinema. The films’ vision of the post-apocalyptic wasteland of the Australian desert launched countless imitators in the subsequent decades, and it’s the rare recurring series in which every installment is helmed by the same auteur filmmaker: the legendary genius George Miller. Miller’s original trilogy steadily grew in popularity with each installment, and his handcrafted action sequences and dedication to world-building soon introduced the saga of Max Rockatansky beyond Australia and to an international audience. After the original series concluded in 1985, Miller worked for decades and overcame numerous production setbacks to deliver the critically acclaimed fourth installment.

While its unclear when its titular character will undertake his next big screen adventure, the Mad Max franchise is far from over. Miller's latest project is the highly anticipated prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which stars Anya Taylor-Joy as a younger version of the future Imperator. While Furiosa's production was met with setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic and legal issues, the first teaser trailer indicated that the new installment in the series will contain all the great action mayhem that fans have come to expect from a film within the Mad Max universe. Furiosa is set to hit theaters on May 24, 2024.

Mad Max is the rare franchise in which each film is worthy of at least some consideration for its influence on pop culture. From enjoyable spectacles to absolute classics, here are all four Mad Max films, ranked worst to best.

4 Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

Mel Gibson in Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is half of a great film. The first hour of Beyond Thunderdome changed up the typical racing action sequences by introducing the thunderdome itself, distinguishing its action from the previous installments in the series. The dystopian motorcycle cage battles were a great concept and provided a new challenge for Mel Gibson’s Max, and the larger budget didn’t feel at odds with the grimness of the post-apocalypse. You also get a gloriously hammy performance from Tina Turner as the eccentric Entity, who rules with an iron fist over Bordertown.

It’s when the film goes “beyond thunderdome” that it makes a shift into being more heartfelt. The series had some sentimental moments in the first two installments, but for the first time, Max became more openly heroic when he helped a tribe of orphaned children searching for a legendary "Tomorrow-morrow Land." While Max needed to develop for what was a temporary conclusion to his character arc, it came as a drastic shift from his usually grim persona. Beyond Thunderdome’s conclusion certainly isn’t all a wash, and the train action sequence is among the best moments in the series. It is still an underrated science fiction sequel that only suffers in comparison to the other installments in the franchise.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
PG-13

In the third of the "Mad Max" movies, Max (Mel Gibson) drifts into an evil town ruled by Turner. There, he becomes a gladiator and gets dumped in the desert, where he is rescued by a band of feral orphans who have been looking for help for years. When several of them take his appearance as a sign and go off into the desert, he follows them back to the town.

Release Date
June 29, 1985
Director
George Miller , George Ogilvie
Cast
Mel Gibson , Tina Turner , Bruce Spence , Adam Cockburn , Frank Thring , Angelo Rossitto
Runtime
107
Main Genre
Action

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is available to rent on Amazon Prime in the U.S.

Rent on Amazone Prime

3 Mad Max

Mel Gibson in Mad Max (1979)
Image via Warner Bros

1979’s original Mad Max is the film that started it all, and looking back, it's a very different film from the rest of the series. Rather than opening like a western fable with an established post-apocalypse, the first film explores the events that kick off the descent of society and gives insight into Max’s origins. He’s not yet the battle-hardened warrior who is essentially the Australian “Man With No Name,” but rather an honest cop who's forced to become a vigilante to deal with the growing threat of a berserk motorbike gang.

It's tough to say any kind words about Gibson, but he nonetheless turns in a rarely sensitive performance as Max helplessly watches his town crumble into chaos. His relationship with his wife Jesse (Joanne Samuel) is genuinely heartbreaking, and Miller does a great job at showing how Max’s loss of sanity matches the world that surrounds him. While it doesn’t quite have the momentum of the two classics above it, Mad Max is an essential viewing that paved the way for the series’ future heights.

Mad Max
R

In a not-too-distant dystopian future, when man's most precious resource -- oil -- has been depleted and the world plunged into war, famine and financial chaos, the last vestiges of the law in Australia attempt to restrain a vicious biker gang. Max (Mel Gibson), an officer with the Main Force Patrol, launches a personal vendetta against the gang when his wife (Joanne Samuel) and son are hunted down and murdered, leaving him with nothing but the instincts for survival and retribution.

Release Date
April 12, 1979
Director
George Miller
Cast
Mel Gibson , Joanne Samuel , Hugh Keays-Byrne , Steve Bisley , Tim Burns , Roger Ward
Runtime
93
Main Genre
Action

Mad Max is streaming on Tubi in the U.S.

Watch on Tubi

2 Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

Max Rockatansky walking down a lonely highway in Mad Max 2- The Road Warrior’  (1)
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Although Mad Max had been very popular in Australia, it hadn’t quite permeated to an American audience. In order to not confuse viewers, the sequel Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior was commonly marketed by its subtitle, but new fans had no trouble picking up where the first film left off. The Road Warrior already takes place in the middle of the conflict, with Max emerging as the sanest (or maybe craziest) warrior enough to survive on his own. It's essentially 96 minutes of pure kinetic momentum thanks to Miller’s innovative chase sequences and the incredible rogue’s gallery of villains.

The Road Warrior plays out like the classic westerns of Shane or Once Upon A Time In The West, with the young “Feral Child” (Emil Minty) recounting the story of a mysterious stranger who briefly did an act of good. Max could’ve been a mute vehicle to connect the set pieces, but Miller crafts an engaging character who remembers his duty to protect innocents. He begrudgingly comes to the aid of a villager at a refinery settlement when they’re threatened by a marauder gang. While Hugh Keays-Byrne had set a precedent for the series’ bad guys with his role as Tocecutter in the first film, the great Kjell Nilsson’s performance as Lord Hummungus raised the stakes as a ruthless, yet intelligent warlord.

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
R

After avenging the death of his wife and young son at the hands of a vicious gang leader, Max (Mel Gibson) drives the post-apocalyptic highways of the Australian outback, fending off attacks from nomadic tribes that prey on outsiders. Falling into an encampment led by the relatively peaceful Pappagallo (Mike Preston), Max at first schemes to steal their oil but soon becomes the group's reluctant defender against the hulking Humungus (Kjell Nilsson) and his ruthless marauders.

Release Date
May 21, 1982
Director
George Miller
Cast
Mel Gibson , Bruce Spence , Michael Preston , Max Phipps , Vernon Wells , Kjell Nilsson
Runtime
96 minutes
Main Genre
Action

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior is streaming on Prime Video in the U.S.

Watch on Prime Video

1 Mad Max: Fury Road

Furiosa stands in front of truck in desert
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

To say that the fourth film in the saga was facing an upward battle would be an understatement, as Miller had been in development hell since the 90s and beset with production setbacks and a challenging shoot when he finally wrangled a new cast together. However, all skepticism faded away once Mad Max: Fury Road made its way to audiences. Few films are immediately accepted into the lexicon of cinematic classics, but there was an immediate understanding that Fury Road gave classics like Die Hard, Predator, or The Matrix a run for their money for the title of greatest action movie ever made. With an innovative blend of practical effects, brilliant makeup, tortured philosophies, and female empowerment, Miller redefined the style of The Road Warrior with an even more relentless nonstop chase.

Both shockingly violent and hauntingly beautiful, Fury Road is also the best depiction of Max’s role in the wasteland. Tom Hardy’s superior take on the character isn’t meant to be lauded as a hero but rather swept up in the spectacle as he’s haunted by the demons of his past. As great as Hardy was, he was completely upstaged by Charlize Theron’s incredible performance as the new heroine Imperator Furiosa. The protector of a band of female child-bearers of the warlord Immortan Joe (who Hugh Keays-Byrne returned to play), Furiosa was an inspired new protagonist with a compelling character arc. Fury Road cut out the fat that any modern blockbuster had. It became one of the few franchise films to make serious awards bids, earning six Academy Award wins and nominations for Best Picture and Best Director.

Mad Max: Fury Road
R

Years after the collapse of civilization, the tyrannical Immortan Joe enslaves apocalypse survivors inside a desert fortress, the Citadel. When the warrior Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) leads the despot's five wives in a daring escape, she forges an alliance with Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy), a loner and former captive. Fortified in the massive armored truck, the War Rig, they try to outrun the ruthless warlord and his henchmen in a deadly high-speed chase through the Wasteland.

Release Date
May 13, 2015
Director
George Miller
Runtime
120 minutes
Main Genre
Action

Mad Max: Fury Road is streaming on Max in the U.S.

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