Ranking the Mad Max Films from worst to Best
budget and box office
The “Mad Max” (1979-2024) franchise has been a curious one. It never reached the mainstream and wide appeal of, let’s say, “Star Wars” (1977-2019) and “James Bond” (1964-2021) nor has being cinematically erected like “Scream” (1996-2023). Its protagonist Max Rockatansky was a stoic and flawed protagonist with a tragic background yet lacked the attractive to every day audiences heroics. Despite Max being played by Mel Gibson (one of the biggest Hollywood stars in the 80s and 90s), George Miller’s initial trilogy was mostly dissected by enthusiastic cinephiles who love cars, chases and post-apocalyptic worlds filled with lunacy. Hardly the things to put thousands of butts on seats.
The best judge though for art was, is and will always be time; a retrospective examination reveals glorious storytelling going against typical genre tropes and a heavy emphasis in vehicular carnage inspiring movies such as Kevin Costner’s Mad-Max-on-water “Waterworld” (1995) and Neil Marshall’s bonkers “Doomsday” (2008). 30 years after the last installment, “Fury Road” (2015), a sequel (?) plagued by several production problems ultimately became the poster boy for capturing cinematic lighting in a bottle across several fronts. A clever marketing campaign barely hinted the film’s delights leading to ultra rave reviews and six Oscars and reinvigorated Miller’s desire to tell more stories from this world such as the expensive spin off/prequel “Furiosa” (2024). Counting five entries all helmed by the same director, it is easy to rank George Miller’s outputs from worst to best in a 45 year old franchise!
Most successful entry
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015): $380 million dollars worldwide
Most expensive entry
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015): $170 (average) million dollars
Highest score in Rotten Tomatoes
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015): 97%
Lowest score in Rotten Tomatoes
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985): 79%
Highest IMDB score
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015): 8.1
Lowest IMDB score
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985): 6.2
Critical and audience reception
5. Furiosa: A MAd MAx Saga (2024)
Best moment: Dementus meets Immortan Joe.
The most expensive Australian film ever made sees a prosthetic nose wearing Hemsworth taking up a villainous role and George Miller riding high after the critical acclaim of “Fury Road”. However, these were not enough to propel “Furiosa” at the top echoing a best of sentiment of its predecessor’s finest moment. Although Furiosa was an intriguing character, her development here is not enough to sustain a two and a half hour motion picture. While the fifth movie has its perks, Miller replaced its daredevil stunts, minimal use of CGI and clever storytelling for a lukewarm product deprived by dramatic stakes, compelling characters and memorable set pieces giving answers to unnecessary questions. The in-your-face digital effects, digi doubles and glaringly obvious green screens minimalize the impact of its ludicrous production design within a post-apocalyptic wasteland where the most appealing element is a minimal villain face off.
Acting
✔️✔️✔️
Characters
😨😨
World building
✔️✔️✔️✔️
Direction
🎞️🎞️🎞️
Chases
🚗🚗🚗
4. Mad MAx (1979)
Best moment: Max loses everything.
The film which started it all, George Miller’s low budget semi actioner starring a very young Mel Gibson (with an Aussie accent too!) pushed several boundaries during its release. From its on purpose butch gay aesthetic of law enforcement and sexual winking in its treatment of antagonists to a bleak resolution involving its heroic story, “Mad Max” offered interesting (and occasionally not so subtle) social commentary in Australia’s outback. Considering how Aussies are well known for their vitriolic and sharp tone, the world of Mad Max is populated by flamboyant characters (i.e., “Toecutter” played with an unhinged menace by Hugh Keays-Byrne) in the brick of madness. Sure the acting is a bit iffy and the small budget does not allow for Miller to fully stage an epic canvas. It is Miller’s ability to stage thrilling car chases and crashes that put his flick on the movie pantheon, both becoming more impactful as the years go by due to their practical and dangerous ingenuity to pull them off.
Acting
✔️✔️✔️
Characters
😨😨😨
World building
✔️✔️✔️
Direction
🎞️🎞️🎞️
Chases
🚗🚗
3. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
Best moment: Aunty Entity gives chase on a train track.
Most fans seem to have forgotten “Beyond Thunderdome”, the only entry in the franchise to be labelled PG-13. You can’t blame them as it is a bizarre threequel. Its uneven tone, lost children tribes, cartoonish violence veering towards school plays, limited action and a toothless villain used only to promote Tina Tuner’s 80s star power can be looked down by hardcore aficionados. One could argue that it is definitely more cinematic though providing Miller the opportunity to conceive a wonderful post apocalyptic landscapes that linger in memory long after the film’s finale. Its production design remains inspiring, Turner chews the scenery and Gibson is still a compelling hero three films in with glorious long hair. He continues to explore Max’s personality finding nuanced layers taking part in iconic sequences such as the fight in the Thunder Dome where “two men enter, one man leaves!”. And being a Max film, we are not deprived from a final car chase variant, this time involving (why not?) a train.
Acting
✔️✔️✔️✔️
Characters
😨😨😨
World building
✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️
Direction
🎞️🎞️🎞️
Chases
🚗🚗
2. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
Best moment: The final chase remains a triumph of stuntwork
Experiencing the genius and madness of one of the best sequels of all time retrospectively, demonstrates just how far ahead George Miller was thinking when he was shooting “Mad Max 2”. While the original hinted at a world in the edge of chaos under visible social unrest, “The Road Warrior” does what “Aliens” (1986) did for “Alien” (1979). The known world has gone extinct, the current surviving habitants are fighting among themselves for gas and food while gangs pillage and rape men and women alike. Following the events of the first film, Max is not the clean and cut hero preferring to do his own thing instead of save innocent bystanders from the clutches of Lord Humungus. By that as it may, Miller has an eye for a powerful stoic tale establishing previously unprecedent rules of conduct imbued with gay partnerships and fiery warrior women who reside in this mad wasteland. When the high octane finale arrives, this variety of fascinating individuals will clash in a combination of twisted metal in unapologetically equal fashion which can shock to this day.
Acting
✔️✔️✔️✔️
Characters
😨😨😨😨
World building
✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️
Direction
🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️
Chases
🚗🚗🚗🚗
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Best moment: Pretty much the first half of the film.
This belated legacy sequel 30 years after “Beyond Thunderdome” was a visually stunning masterpiece that eclipsed its contemporary action movies which predominantly relied on CGI, frenetic editing and shaky camera. Miller being 70 years old meant nothing, going to Namibia to conduct vehicular mayhem in the likes we had never seen before. Incorporating minimum digital wizardry, he conceived an expansive world where the cars can be characters themselves - from a frame throwing guitar playing concert car(!) to an agile monster truck, “Fury Road” was action perfected, a symphony of destruction with jaw dropping stunts, glorious cinematography and incredible production and costume designs. But Miller did not stop there though. By bringing forward a capable companion for Max in Charlize Theron’s Furiosa, “Fury Road” became more than an action movie for boys oozing subtle feminist tones and social commentary to complement its gargantuan action and orchestrate an emotional mature desert Odyssey for redemption. Witness it!
Acting
✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️
Characters
😨😨😨😨😨
World building
✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️
Direction
🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️
Chases
🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗