7. Mad Max II (1981)
George Miller took a couple of environmental disasters on wheels and a high concept to come up with a stunt-heavy dystopian tale of road rage when he made Mad Max in 1979. The result was a film that had 'cult hit' stamped all over it and a star was born in Mel Gibson. The sequel, released as the Road Warrior in the U.S. due to the first film's limited release there, upped the action, the revs and completely cut the brakes as Max agrees to help a small community escape a group of post-apocalyptic marauders. The sequel is a film of pure action and kinetic energy which features, arguably, the best car chase sequence in film history with the tanker chase as masterclass in high-speed choreography. The trilogy is rounded off with Beyond Thunderdone (1985) and while it lacks the nihilism and brutality of the first two, it does bring with it a touch of Hollywood glamour as Max crosses paths with Tina Turner's evil Auntie and some Peter Pan-esque lost boys, all the while sporting one of the biggest eighties mullets you've seen outside of Van Halen,
Trilogy Low Point: Mad Max III: Beyond Thunderdome. Plenty to recommend it but a little too much camp to escape the title of trilogy low point. On the bright side it does have one the greatest theme tunes ever recorded.
Did you Know?... Hummungus was originally supposed to be Maxs partner Goose from the first Mad Max film. George Miller ultimately decided against this but left little clues like the burns behind Hummungus hockey mask.