Ranking the Mad Max Movies

There have been five Mad Max films so far, including Furiosa, but they all stand out as distinct in different ways.

When you hear the title Mad Max, what comes to mind? I’m guessing even if you only have a cursory familiarity with the series, you imagine cars racing through the desert and maybe some guys in wild outfits riding on top of those vehicles. 

And yeah, that is certainly a lot of Mad Max! But what’s also notable about the series is that as much as the overall aesthetic is (mostly) consistent, the movies themselves are all quite different from one another, with little in the way of a formula Mad Max film. 

This week sees the release of the fifth entry in the franchise, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. In the lead up to this, we recently covered each of the films on the podcast I co-host, We Enjoy (plug!), which was exciting for me since I’d only seen a couple of the early films once, many years ago. Rewatching them all now, it really stood out how distinct each movie was from the rest, even if it was still recognizably the Mad Max world. 

Below are my current rankings for the series, Furiosa included, with some thoughts on what makes each one distinct. Oh, and don’t worry, I avoid major spoilers for Furiosa if you haven’t seen it yet.