Oscars 2016: Ranking Every Best Film Nominee From Worst To Best

4. Mad Max: Fury Road

What can be said about Mad Max: Fury Road that hasn't been already? Its expert-level action beats combined with a story progression that rarely waits for you to breathe combine with solid characterisation to deliver a superb blockbuster. Director George Miller, thirty years after Beyond Thunderdome, returned to show all the hip, young directors out there how exactly you bring back a franchise that's lay dormant for so long. Step aside, Colin Trevorrow. A great blockbuster should be able to appeal to not only action junkies and the general side of human psyche that wants to fast cars get blown up, but also those viewers who want to witness a healthy smattering of emotional payoff with their nonsensical cinematic bluster. On the whole, the film may be a little lacking in three-dimensional villains, but it definitely makes up for it with its protagonists. The character work is what helps Mad Max: Fury Road become a cut above the rest, starting with Miller's script and ending with Tom Hardy's PTSD-ridden incarnation of the iconic character and more notably Charlize Theron's determined, feminist heroine on a mission.