20 best sci-fi movies featuring women

7. Mad Max: Fury Road

Given the past history of the Mad Max film franchise, you might not have expected Mad Max: Fury Road to be so progressive and outright feminist. It’s not as if the films were devoid of female characters. After all, the third entry, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, featured the Tina Turner as the villainous Aunty Entity. Still, it was clear that the films centered on Mad Max himself, originally played by Mel Gibson.

Beyond Thunderdome released in 1985. Director George Miller went on to more tame fare, including directing the animated penguin movie Happy Feet and writing and producing Babe. Don’t sneer at this period in Miller’s career, though; Happy Feet won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Miller and his creative team have some serious cred.

So, it came as something of a surprise to learn that Miller was making another Mad Max film, to debut in 2015. Moviegoers were even more surprised to learn that the titular Max (now played by a gruff and nearly mute Tom Hardy) was actually more of a secondary character. Max was now playing second fiddle to an imposing woman known only as Furiosa.

But, Fury Road is just so breathtakingly good that both Furiosa and the film received widespread good reviews. Furiosa (Charlize Theron) is apparently a loyal servant to Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) a post-apocalyptic warlord. However, the movie soon reveals that Furiosa is taking Immortan Joe’s “wives” to freedom. These young women are held against their will and forced to bear Joe’s children.

The world of Fury Road is not a kind one, and what happens to these women is truly horrific. Yet, Furiosa stands out as exceptionally strong and determined.