Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is finally out! But after you stagger out of the theater, you may be jonesing for some more post-apocalyptic mayhem. Luckily, the film industry has provided it in abundance!
Here are ten movies that are similar to Furiosa. Some are obvious—they take place in deserts or feature highway battles—but others have more subtle commonalities with George Miller’s unhinged vision of the future. I’ve ranked them in a rough order of how closely they resemble Furiosa. Enjoy!
1. All the other Mad Max movies (1979-2015)
I’m getting this one out of the way first. If you haven’t seen Mad Max: Fury Road yet, then what are you doing with your life? Watch that one first, and then get ye to the Thunderdome to watch the original Mad Max trilogy.
2. Death Race 2000 (1975)
I’m not talking about the Death Race franchise that started in 2008. Screw those movies. For the real Death Race experience, you have to go back to 1975’s Death Race 2000. If at all possible, watch it without knowing anything about the plot (but maybe ask a friend to give you a trigger warning). I was lucky enough to do so, and I had to pick my jaw up off the floor once the race got going. So worth it.
3. Tank Girl (1995)
The last time I saw Tank Girl was about 25 years ago, so I have no idea how it holds up. Apparently critics hated it, but as a product of the ’90s alternative comics scene, I remember it fondly. Lori Petty plays the titular Tank Girl, who drives a tank in a post-apocalyptic desert wasteland. Malcolm McDowell is the villain!
4. Waterworld (1995)
So I’m not going to sit here and claim that Waterworld is a good movie. It is not, in fact, a good movie. But sometimes you just want to live out your weird and unhealthy post-apocalyptic fantasies in a safe, nonjudgmental space! Anyway, the polar ice caps have melted, the world is now a waterworld, and Kevin Costner has gills.
5. Six-String Samurai (1998)
In Six-String Samurai, a guy who thinks he’s Buddy Holly roams the post-apocalyptic wasteland around a radioactive Las Vegas, fighting bad guys with a guitar and a sword. Whatever mental image you just formed of this movie is probably accurate.
6. The Road (2009)
In The Road, Viggo Mortensen plays a dad trying to get his son to the ocean in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. You’ve probably noticed by now that post-apocalyptic wastelands are a recurring theme in this list.
7. Snowpiercer (2013)
Who’s up for a post-apocalyptic wasteland? Except this time, it’s ice! Nothing but snow and ice! Thanks to a boneheaded attempt to stop global warming, all of humanity is now trapped aboard a brutal, fascist train that traverses a landscape too cold to survive in. Snowpiercer rocks.
8. The Book of Eli (2010)
In The Book of Eli, Denzel Washington plays a lone wolf roaming a post-apocalyptic wasteland. But he’s carrying something really important with him! Like Waterworld, this movie isn’t great, but sometimes you just want the vibes.
9. 12 Monkeys (1995)
12 Monkeys is a science fiction masterpiece, and although on the surface it seems very different from Furiosa, the two movies have some common elements: a brutal future, a repressive oligarchy, and a shattered soul just trying to survive. It’s so good.
10. The Northman (2022)
Look, I know The Northman is a stretch, but it popped up on a list of film recommendations that also included Mad Max, and you know what? I can see it. The Northman is a retelling of the original Hamlet story that takes place in the Viking Age, and it has all the elements that make Furiosa so great: a tough-as-nails protagonist hellbent on revenge, a violent and unforgiving world, and a layer of mythology that gives the plot some weight. No, there are no war rigs or brainwashed kids spraying silver paint in their mouths, but there are Viking raiders and Valhalla references.
