Do we like them?

Do we like Mad Max (Max Rockatansky)?

A character from Mad Max (1979–2015)

Our score: 7 out of 10. A gruff, haunted loner who says he only looks out for himself. Time and again he helps the people who need it most. We'd back him, as long as he's allowed to leave in peace.

Max Rockatansky first appears as a top pursuit driver in the Main Force Patrol, a highway police unit keeping order on the roads of a near-future Australia where society is fraying. He's quiet, skilled and tired of it all. The series follows him through a world that has since collapsed into a wasteland of fuel wars, gangs and warlords.

Across the films Max is a man of very few words who lets his actions speak. He wants to be left alone to survive, and he's good at it. He's tough, resourceful and can put up with a lot of pain. But his conscience keeps getting in the way of his self-interest, and he keeps ending up as the reluctant helper of desperate communities. That mix of rough edges and a buried decency earns him most of his score. The rest of the score is held back by his ruthlessness, his deals with questionable people, and his habit of walking away.

The first film turns on tragedy. A vicious motorcycle gang murders his family, and Max goes after them for revenge. That loss is what turns him from a cop into the wandering, hollowed-out drifter of the sequels, and it explains his wariness about getting close to anyone. By the later films, he's still doing right by people, but he never stays long enough to take the thanks.