Summary

• Mad Max movies are known for their high-stakes car chases and action-packed scenes in a dystopian future world.
• The Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will focus on Imperator Furiosa's backstory, adding new exhilarating chase scenes.
• Each movie in the franchise, from the original Mad Max to Fury Road, features iconic action sequences that keep viewers on the edge of their seats.

From the deadly sandstorm in Fury Road to the climactic tanker chase in The Road Warrior, the Mad Max movies are jam-packed with great car chases and action scenes. Since Mad Max takes place in a dystopian post-apocalyptic future in which society has collapsed and the world has been reduced to a barren wasteland where gasoline is a precious commodity, the franchise has plenty of high-stakes vehicular carnage. There’s always a band of marauders or a small army waiting around the corner to relentlessly pursue Max Rockatansky for the oil in his beloved Pursuit Special.

Visionary filmmaker George Miller has returned to the Mad Max universe for its first ever spin-off, pivoting the focus away from Max. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a prequel filling in the epic backstory of fan-favorite Fury Road hero Imperator Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron in Fury Road and Anya Taylor-Joy in the prequel. The Furiosa movie will surely bring some new exhilarating car chases and action set-pieces to the Mad Max series. But before it arrives in theaters on May 24, it’s the perfect time to revisit the other Mad Max movies’ best action scenes.

10 Max Is Left For Dead By Wez's Gang

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

The “all is lost” moment in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior sees Max left for dead by Wez’s sadistic gang. When Wez spots Max driving Lord Humungus’ nitrous oxide-powered car, he takes twisted pleasure in running the fabled Road Warrior off the road and into a collision. One of Wez’s marauders kills Max’s dog and they’re about to kill Max himself when Toadie tries to siphon gas out of Max’s Pursuit Special and the car self-destructs as a defense mechanism.

It’s a classic storytelling trick to make the audience hate a villain by having them harm a dog, and Wez’s gang does just that.

Wez’s gang leaves Max for dead and he’s saved by the Gyro Captain, ready to fight another day. It’s a classic storytelling trick to make the audience hate a villain by having them harm a dog, and Wez’s gang does just that. This gives Max the same vengeful motivation as John Wick ahead of the final battle.

9 The Plane Takes Off

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

Every Mad Max movie is styled as a post-apocalyptic spaghetti western, but the threequel, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, is the closest to a full-blown Django movie, or an unofficial entry in the Dollars trilogy. Max comes across a commune called Bartertown, where Tina Turner’s tyrannical but fair leader Aunty Entity has created a lawful society in a lawless world. Jedediah and his son end up giving Max’s group refuge on their plane, but Aunty’s army finds them before they can take off.

Max has to gun his car along the runway and crash it to create an opening so the plane can take flight. The first two Mad Max movies were rough, gritty, low-budget actioners. The climax of Beyond Thunderdome showed off the kind of spectacle that Miller could create with access to a slightly bigger budget.

8 Immortan Joe's Armies Chase After Furiosa

Mad Max: Fury Road

Miller’s fourth (and arguably best) entry in the Mad Max franchise, Mad Max: Fury Road, is essentially a feature-length car chase. As soon as Immortan Joe realizes Furiosa has escaped from the compound with his five wives in the Rig, he sends his armies after them and they continue to chase them until the final battle when they’re on their way back to the compound. The armies of Gas Town and the Bullet Farm both the chase, closing in on the Rig.

This sequence instantly establishes the sense of scope and spectacle that Miller brought to the movie. The practical stunt work is unparalleled, with cars crashing into each other, stunt performers jumping between speeding vehicles, and plumes of fire shooting into the sky. This chase sequence gets Fury Road’s action off to an unforgettable start.

7 Max Goes After The Gang That Killed His Family

Mad Max

Whereas all the Mad Max sequels take place in a post-apocalyptic future in which civilized society is a distant memory, the original movie is set in a more recognizable world. Society is starting to implode and gasoline is starting to run short, but it’s not yet a gonzo wasteland. In the first Mad Max movie, Max is a good cop in a world full of bad people, and those bad people include Toecutter’s ruthless gang.

After Toecutter’s gang kills Max’s son Sprog and puts his wife Jessie in the ICU with fatal wounds, Max goes on a warpath. He puts on his police uniform, gets behind the wheel of his Pursuit Special, and goes after the gang. Max doesn’t quite get all of them in this sequence, but in his blind rage, he picks off a few of them.

6 The Climactic Tanker Chase

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

The climactic set-piece of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior sees a seriously injured Max driving a giant tanker and being mercilessly pursued by Wez and his gang. Supposedly, the tanker contains the gas that will sustain the town Max hopes to liberate, and Wez wants to seize the tanker for himself. At the end of the chase, when Max is run off the road, the tanker is revealed to be full of sand. Max driving the tanker was just a distraction while the townspeople escaped with the gas in oil drums.

There’s a lot of great action scenes in The Road Warrior, but the final tanker chase manages to top all of them. This chase introduced the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink style of high-octane action this franchise has become renowned for. It still holds up as a thrilling sequence.

5 The Sandstorm

Mad Max: Fury Road

What’s more dangerous than being chased by a gun-toting militia convoy? Being chased by a gun-toting militia convoy through a sandstorm of Biblical proportions. When Immortan Joe’s armies first come after Furiosa in the Rig, Furiosa drives right into the heart of a destructive sandstorm in an attempt to lose them. The sandstorm proves to be so powerful that it whips entire cars and trucks into the air. It raises the stakes of an already high-stakes pursuit.

Nux’s bid to sacrifice himself to blow up the Rig sets his poignant character arc in motion. He almost cuts the movie short and ends the chase there, but he ends up reluctantly ing their group and eventually empathizing with their side of things. This sequence exemplifies Miller’s uncanny ability to mix non-stop action with touching character development.

4 Max Fights Blaster In The Thunderdome

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

The namesake of the third Mad Max film, Beyond Thunderdome, is a gladiatorial arena in which the residents of Bartertown settle all their disputes. When Max publicly accuses Master Blaster of stealing his car, then he’s required by law to fight Blaster to the death. Blaster instantly overpowers Max in the fight, but Max gets the upper hand in this brutal duel when he blows a bosun’s whistle and gives Blaster a debilitating headache, allowing Max to turn the tables on him.

Not only is this a riveting fight scene; it also makes Max a more sympathetic character. Just when he’s about to kill Blaster, he realizes he has an intellectual disability and suddenly has a change of heart. He decides to spare Blaster’s life, moving closer to the hero end of the antihero spectrum.

3 Max Kills Toecutter

Mad Max

When Max first goes after Toecutter’s gang in the first Mad Max movie, he manages to pick off a handful of his cronies, but Toecutter himself gets away. Even after all the despicable villains that Miller has introduced in the sequels, Toecutter remains one of the most dangerous characters in the Mad Max franchise. He has absolutely no conscience, as demonstrated when he kills Max’s young son and mortally wounds Jessie and doesn’t show a shred of remorse.

All this build-up made Toecutter’s death scene one of the most satisfying in the movie. After Toecutter manages to escape his wrath, Max stumbles back to his car, climbs inside, and chases after Toecutter. When he catches up to him, Max pushes Toecutter’s vehicle into the path of a big semi-truck that kills him in an instant.

2 Max & Furiosa Go Back The Way They Came

Mad Max: Fury Road

All throughout the first half of Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa is hoping to get Joe’s wives to the “Green Place,” where they’ll be able to take refuge. However, when they get to the Green Place, they find that it’s a myth. Where there should be greenery, there’s just more wasteland. Haunted by the memory of a child he failed to save, Max is determined to get Furiosa and Joe’s wives to safety, so he convinces them to turn around and go back the way they came, so they can seize control of the unguarded Citadel.

Along the way, they run into Joe’s forces again for a big final battle. The Vuvalini, the all-female clan at the Green Place, help them fend off Joe’s goons. This battle-on-wheels is a suitably spectacular climax to one of the most action-packed movies ever made.

1 The Opening Marauder Chase

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

The opening sequence of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior introduces audiences to the gonzo post-apocalyptic wasteland that remains after the collapse of society in the first film. This wasteland is introduced via a thrilling chase sequence as a band of marauders come after Max in his supercharged black V-8 Pursuit Special. With its sky-high stakes and stunning practical stunt work, The Road Warrior’s opening scene still holds up as one of the greatest car chases in movie history.

This set-piece tells the audience everything they need to know to set up the film. It introduces Max’s new Man with No Name-style lone-wolf gunslinger persona, it introduces the villainous Wez, and it introduces this hostile world in which anyone with gasoline has a target on their back. This is easily the Mad Max series’ best action scene.