What We Want Out Of The Mad Max Sequels

Director and series-creator George Miller has announced that there are two sequels to his post-apocalyptic action movie, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), in the works. In fact, the original script for Fury Road wound up being so long and detailed that Miller decided to save material for subsequent films. This news sent us into a speculation frenzy. Without further ado, here's what we'd like to see in the next two sequels...

We think that Tom Hardy was an inspired choice to play Mad Max Rockatansky (yes, he has a last name) in Mad Max: Fury Road. The ironic thing about Fury Road, however, is that Max is a side character while Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) is arguably the film's protagonist. Max was both literally and figuratively along for the ride. While the Mad Max films have always been ensemble pieces, we nevertheless would like to see the titular character take on a larger role in future films.

Another great aspect of the series is that Max is not Superman. He has strict physical limitations. Max often loses fights and suffers horrific injuries. In fact, Max bears the signs of trauma he suffered in previous films. In Fury Road, he spends the first 30 minutes as a prisoner of Immortan Joe's cult. It increases the tension and drama of a film when the main character is a mortal man and not a superhero. Let's hope that Miller plays up Max's mortality even more in the next batch of flicks.

The main action in the Max series centers on car chases. The climactic car chase of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) is considered to be one of the greatest action scenes of all time. Max dispatches most of the villains in that film via vehicular homicide rather than firearms. Fury Road was essentially one, epic car chase. We hope that Miller doesn't shy away from this element in the sequels.

The Road Warrior had Lord Humungus, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1983) had Master Blaster, Tina Turner, and plot continuity, and Fury Road had Immortan Joe. The Mad Max series has never lacked memorable villains. All of them are crazy in both appearance and motivation, but yet also relatable in their own twisted way.

There is a tenet of screenwriting that states a writer should strive to tell simple stories that feature complex characters. One of the issues with Beyond Thunderdome is that it feels like two different movies—one with the arena and one with the lost children. This complicated the narrative. Thankfully, the storylines of most Mad Max films are relatively simple. Fury Road, for example, is about a group of women fleeing the oppression of a post-apocalyptic cult. The Road Warrior is about a group of settlers trying to stop barbarians from entering their home, killing them, and seizing their oil. Yet the films' characters—particularly Max—have complex motivations and are often racked with inner conflict. We want to make sure that the next Max movies can squeeze even more interesting, fully realized characters into simple—and, therefore, epic—stories.

Fury Road obviously featured a lot of CGI-created special effect shots. George Miller claimed, however, that 90% of the effects in Fury Road are practical. We hope that future entries in the series hit the same perfect balance between the two types of effects that Miller achieved in Fury Road. It felt good to see that many real-world effects happening on-screen.

Director George Miller shot Fury Road in the southern African country of Namibia. The stunning yet desolate landscape is a perfect fit for the post apocalyptic fantasy series.

Fury Road features a character who plays an electric guitar that shoots fire—the "Doof Warrior" is apparently his name. This poked a hole in the space-awesome continuum. What's next? An accordion that shoots spikes? A harpsichord that launches rabid badgers? Needless to say, we need a whole band of Doof Warriors in the next Mad Max.