'Mad Max: Fury Road' Named Best Action Movie Years After Original Release
'Mad Max: Fury Road' Named Best Action Movie Years After Original Release
Will SayreMon, April 13, 2026 at 4:35 AM UTC
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The current generation of film buffs might not know that Mel Gibson is Australian, and that his claim to fame came years before Lethal Weapon (1987).
On April 12, 1979, the original Mad Max film was released in the land Down Under, which means the post-apocalyptic classic just celebrated a 47-year milestone.
For those who haven't seen the groundbreaking movie yet, it centers on a not-too-distant future where man's most precious resource — oil — has been depleted and the world has thus plunged into war, famine and financial chaos. Law enforcement in Australia struggles to quell a vicious biker gang, and one of its officers Max (Gibson) launches a personal vendetta against the gang when his wife and son are hunted down and murdered.
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As fans of George Miller's iconic franchise are well aware, the action flick would ultimately spawn three sequels, one of which co-starred the late, great Tina Turner and the latest having hit U.S. theaters in 2015.
Starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road was both a critical and commercial success, going on to receive a whopping 10 Academy Award nominations. It won for:
Best Film Editing
Best Production Design
Best Costume Design
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Best Sound Mixing
Best Sound Editing
Fury Road also won the prestigious honor of Best Film by the National Board of Review that year. And in 2025, Collider was so bold as to name it the "best action movie of all time" due to its judicious use of CGI, nonstop action sequences and more.
And going back to Gibson-led classics, Lethal Weapon actually celebrated 39 years since its release last month. Directed by Richard Donner and written by Shane Black, the film paired two very different detectives: reckless loose cannon Martin Riggs (Gibson) and seasoned family man Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover).
This story was originally published by Parade on Apr 13, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
