Related: Mad Max: The True Story Behind Mel Gibson's AuditionĪs a tense revenge movie, Mad Max rarely uses or even addresses its near-future setting and, unlike the later, more over-the-top Road Warrior, Beyond Thunderdome, and Fury Road, none of the movie’s action hinges on any vehicles or hardware that wasn’t readily available in the real world at the time of its production. However, the original Mad Max is also technically set in the future, a story detail that even fans often forget because it is barely referenced in the movie.

The subsequent sequels in the Mad Max franchise added significant sci-fi elements to the story of the series, with an unseen apocalypse occurring in the universe of the movies somewhere between the action of Mad Max and its follow-up films. When the villainous Toecutter and company go too far and kill his family, Mel Gibson’s iconic character fulfills the promise of the title and begins a bloody revenge rampage. The original 1979 Mad Max is a stripped-back revenge thriller with few far-fetched plot elements, so why is the George Miller movie set in the future? Released in 1979, the original Mad Max is a sparse, raw thriller about a young police officer attempting to maintain law and order in a city besieged by a lethal gang.

Mad max fury road budget