Every George Miller Movie, Ranked – A Streaming Guide
From the post-apocalyptic chaos of Mad Max to the foot-tapping musical numbers of Happy Feet, Australian writer and director George Miller is a truly versatile auteur. The Oscar nominee broke out with the first Mad Max film in 1979 but continues to exhibit exceptional style and substance with offerings like Three Thousand Years Of Longing and Furiosa.
If you are a fan of the fantasy and sci-fi director, we’ve got you covered with a list of the best George Miller movies along with all the information that you need to stream them.
Which George Miller movies should I watch first?
As George Miller’s very name is synonymous with Mad Max, it’s best to start his filmography with the iconic action franchise. The first three Mad Max movies are thrilling stunt-driven thrillers starring Mel Gibson as a lonely drifter who explores crime and anarchy in a dystopian desert world. The original trilogy (Mad Max, The Road Warrior, and Beyond Thunderdome) established Miller’s tendency to film ambitious car chase sequences and practical stunts with little to no CGI.
This tendency was only improved further in his 2015 revival Mad Max: Fury Road which featured Tom Hardy as Max this time and introduced new characters like Charlize Theron’s hot-headed rebel Furiosa. The movie reinvented Miller’s career and garnered six Oscar wins. Building upon the popularity of Furiosa, Miller returned to the sun-scorched world of the franchise with an equally thrilling prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (starring Anya Taylor-Joy as a younger version of the character).
Apart from his violent, adult-oriented action flicks, Miller has also directed some memorable children’s hits. Apart from directing a talking pig’s urban adventures in Babe: Pig In The City, he also directed the Happy Feet movies. The Happy Feet franchise consists of 3D-animated movies featuring singing penguins and commentary on climate change.
Some of Miller’s more underrated works include the moving human drama Lorenzo’s Oil and the philosophical fantasy Three Thousand Years of Longing. Lorenzo’s Oil dealt with a couple’s efforts to find a cure for their son Lorenzo’s ALD condition (a disease that results in seizures, hyperactivity, and verbal issues). While the drama flopped at the box-office, it drew immense critical praise and garnered two Oscar nominations for Miller’s screenplay and Susan Sarandon’s lead performance as Lorenzo’s mother.
Three Thousand Years of Longing similarly failed commercially but continued Miller’s streak of critical acclaim. Starring Tilda Swinton as an inquisitive scholar and Idris Elba as an ancient djinn, the fantasy drama played out as multiple stories exchanged between this unlikely duo. Once you’re done with the adrenaline rush of the Mad Max movies and the heartwarming innocence of Babe 2 and Happy Feet, you should give Miller’s underrated classics a watch.
Why is Mad Max: Fury Road the best George Miller movie to watch?
While all the Mad Max movies are exceptional action thrillers in their own right, the 2015 blockbuster marks the peak of Miller’s directing skills. Ambitious in scope and narrative, the road movie benefits from a muted Tom Hardy performance, Charlize Theron’s act as the breakout character Furiosa, and some high-octane vehicular action. As an army of cars chases our hero, the villainous drivers even have a guitarist with a flame-throwing guitar on their side. Mad Max: Fury Road is that cool!
