10 Wildly Unnecessary Movie Sequels That Were Awesome Anyway

The original Mad Max trilogy was one of the rare cases where all three entries are great, with George Miller crafting a series of action masterpieces that refuse to ever slow down. But in the 30 years that followed Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, the franchise started to slowly fade into pop culture obscurity.

So making a Mad Max film was inherently risky, as the chance of tarnishing the great reputation the franchise had was a real possibility, all in the name of bringing back a property that hadn't been a part of the conversation for quite some time.

We quickly started talking about Mad Max again when the first trailer for Fury Road dropped. And we couldn't stop talking about it when it finally got released. Now with all the benefits of the latest film technology, Miller seized the opportunity to showcase stunning practical effects in a film that is somehow even more insane than its predecessors, with a simple but effective escort mission chase story at its heart.

While Tom Hardy more than lived up to the leading role, the real surprise here is how much Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult stole the show. Fury Road not only surpassed the previous Mad Max films, but is one of the action high points of the last decade.