Mad Max: A Retrospective

With the release (and box office failure) of George Miller’s latest film and seemingly final entry in his Mad Max franchise, Furiosa, it feels like a perfect opportunity to reflect back on one of the weirdest, enduring action franchises of the past forty-four years, consider its place in the larger culture, and wonder why the culture could embrace the second-to-last entry so fully while leaving the last entry in the dust of the Wasteland.

Born of Miller’s desire to become a filmmaker and his ...