Anya Taylor-Joy as Imperator Furiosa in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Craving More ‘Furiosa’? These 10 Films Might Scratch That Itch

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!

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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)

Furiosa and Max drive in Mad Max: Fury Road.
(Warner Bros.)

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)

Sylvester Stallone, wearing a helmet, drives a convertible with a woman next to him.
(New World Pictures)

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)

Lori Petty as Tank Girl.
(Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios)

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)

Poster from Waterworld, showing Kevin Coster's face behind the title.
(Universal Pictures)

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)

A man dressed like Buddy Holly holds a guitar and a sword in a desert.
(Palm Pictures)

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)

A father and son push a shopping cart down a snow-covered road.
(Dimension Films)

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)

Tilda Swinton is tied up and surrounded by other characters in Snowpiercer.
(The Weinstein Company)

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)

Denzel Washington sits in a rundown attic.
(Warner Bros.)

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)

Bruce Willis as James Cole and Brad Pitt as Jeffrey Goines in 12 Monkeys
(Universal Pictures)

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)

Movie poster for The Northman.
(Focus Features)

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.


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Julia Glassman
Julia Glassman (she/her) holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and has been covering feminism and media since 2007. As a staff writer for The Mary Sue, Julia covers Marvel movies, folk horror, sci fi and fantasy, film and TV, comics, and all things witchy. Under the pen name Asa West, she's the author of the popular zine 'Five Principles of Green Witchcraft' (Gods & Radicals Press). You can check out more of her writing at <a href="https://juliaglassman.carrd.co/">https://juliaglassman.carrd.co/.</a>