10 Movies So Good They Ruined Genres

8. Mad Max: Fury Road

Whenever a promising new action film comes out, it sooner or later ends up compared to the current yardstick for the genre: George Miller's Oscar-winning extravaganza Mad Max: Fury Road.

With its impeccable blend of practical stunt-work, seamless CGI, relentless action and terrific performances, Fury Road quickly picked up esteem as one of the greatest action movies ever made, and with damn good reason.

The film delivered a $150 million R-rated experience like nothing else, and practically ever single tentpole action flick since has had to live in its shadow. Even something as brilliantly crafted as Mission: Impossible - Fallout pales in comparison to the fearlessness of Miller's vision.

With such a uniquely weird tone for such an expensive movie, to say nothing of its feminist leanings and astonishing world-building, it's a singular effort that makes the safe comfort of most big-budget blockbusters seem positively boring, no matter how well-crafted they might be.

Granted, few studios would dare trust a filmmaker to build a movie this ambitious with this much money anyway, but even the precious few directors with carte blanche - Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg, basically - are left in the dust by Miller's uncompromising approach.