Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

The whole plot of Mad Max: Fury Road fits on a sticky note. Drive out. Turn around. Drive back. Max himself spends the first stretch strapped to a car’s grille like a hood ornament and barely talks after that. None of it matters, because George Miller turned two hours of chase into the most exciting action movie in decades. Charlize Theron’s Furiosa is the real lead: buzz cut, metal arm and a stare that could stop a sandstorm. Nicholas Hoult’s Nux goes from screaming fanboy to sweetheart, and somehow you care. There’s a guy playing a flame-throwing guitar on the front of a truck, purely for the vibes. Critics rank it above 97% of movies, and every action film since has been trying to copy its homework. A 9.5 because it’s pure motion that never once gets confusing. $12.94 says you mutter something about Valhalla the next time you merge onto a highway.

What works: The practical stunts, the crystal-clear geography of every chase, and Charlize Theron owning the movie from her first scene.

What doesn’t: Max is basically a passenger in his own movie, and the story is so thin it’s mostly one long round trip.

Who it’s for: Anyone who thinks action movies got lazy, and anyone who has ever wanted to turn a road trip into a war.