10 Surprisingly Good Movie Sequels NOBODY Saw Coming

Though every Mad Max fan was desperate for Fury Road to be at least a basically good entry into the legendary post-apocalyptic franchise, everything was working against this thing. Everything.

Firstly, an entire three decades had passed since the divisive prior film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and with countless reports suggesting that Fury Road's shoot was an absolute nightmare, it was easy to believe that George Miller had gotten in way over his head.

Couple this with the recasting of the title character and it would've surprised few if Fury Road released to mixed reviews and tanked at the box office.

But even with the review embargo lifting mere days before release, Fury Road turned out to be not merely a film worthy of its predecessors, but legitimately one of the greatest action films - sequel or not - ever made.

Fury Road wasn't just an entertaining victory lap for a legendary filmmaker - it was his undeniable opus, enough that even the Academy couldn't ignore it, with it going on to receive 10 Oscar nominations (including Best Picture and Best Director) and win six technical awards.

Even the most optimistic Mad Max die-hards couldn't have seen this beautiful madness coming.