Every Mad Max Movie Ranked From Worst to Best

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 fourth installment.

A prequel film titled Furiosastarring Anya Taylor-Joy is tentatively scheduled to hit theaters on May 24, 2024. Furiosa wrapped filming in October 2022, at least for Taylor-Joy, who announced this via Instagram. The film also casts Chris Hemsworth as the unnamed villain of the prequel. For Miller, the story for Furiosa was written out long before Mad Max: Fury Road, with the director saying:

“When we wrote Mad Max, the task was to tell a story that was always on the run and to see how much the audience could pick up in passing. That was one of the tricks of Mad Max: Fury Road, that there would be references to things of where she’s from, why they’re doing things, but it was always on the run. There were very few moments of quiet. We never explained how she lost her arm. We never explain what the actual Green Place Of Many Mothers was. We never explained the workings of the Citadel. So we had the screenplay virtually complete before we shot Fury Road, and we did it because it arose out of wanting to explain to everybody who Furiosa was—to Charlize when she took on the role, and to all the actors and the designers and everybody else working on the Citadel and so on. The feeling was, gee, this is a pretty good screenplay, and then I kept saying to myself, ‘if Fury Road works, I’d really like to tell this story.'”

Mad Max is the rare franchise in which each film is worthy of at least some consideration for its influence on pop culture. With a rich story and a wide range from enjoyable spectacle to absolute classics. Here are all four Mad Max films, ranked worst to best.

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4/4 Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is half of a great film. The first hour changed up the typical racing action sequences by introducing a new element: the thunderdome. 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” in which 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, however; the train action sequence is among the best moments in the series.

3/4 Mad Max

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 give 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.

2/4 Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

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 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 and begrudgingly comes to the aid of a villager on 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.

1/4 Mad Max: Fury Road

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.