The Wonderfully Insane World of George Miller’s Mad Max

A retrospective on the legendary post-apocalyptic Australian franchise and where its future may lie.

Cinematic perfection.

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Classic film franchises like Star Wars and Terminator have been run into the ground by greedy Hollywood executives with diminishing box office returns and critical reception. While new sequels to properties like these once generated great hype and excitement, these days you’re more likely to see thousands of cynically negative social media posts bemoaning the death of beloved IPs from fans.

Amid this environment of flopbusters and streaming services jacking up their prices, but hardly delivering on quality, George Miller’s Mad Max franchise has stayed consistently strong for 45 years. And that’s despite long waits between entries, the lead role being changed, on-set fights between actors, dangerous stunts that most insurance companies would balk at and expensive legal disputes.

George Miller with both Max Rockatanskys, Mel Gibson and Tom Hardy. He seems to never leave the house without his trademark custom Airframe glasses.

Earlier this year, the 79-year-old Australian director once again crafted another worthy dystopian action roller coaster thriller with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the series’ latest entry which serves as a prequel and spin-off to 2015’s widely acclaimed Mad Max: Fury Road. Despite generally strong reception amid critics and fans, Furiosa was unfortunately a financial flop and the future of the series now appears to be in jeopardy. Still, the film appears to be gaining new life on streaming services. I previously wrote about why Furiosa failed to impress at the box office and suggested several ways Mad Max could continue beyond the silver screen.

The journey to get here has been a long one. The original 1979 Mad Max was made on a shoestring budget with no intention of ever becoming a franchise. In retrospect, it’s a miracle that the right elements came together at the right time despite there being little promise of a hit. George Miller had previously been a medical doctor who later got into filmmaking with Bryon Kennedy whom he met and befriended while working in hospital. The gruesome deaths and injuries Miller saw from his profession, especially due to car accidents, were one of the main influences on the automobile violence later seen in Mad Max.