Also, I rewatched Fury Road just now. The reason you don't remember Max's ambitions being that important is because over 50% of that movie is the same action sequence. Max absolutely has Protagonist Vision over the course of the movie, not just in the fights, but also with stuff like those dumb hallucinations that never went anywhere, which are entirely about his plot, his history, and his "manpain".

Not saying you’re wrong about this, just saying that this is not the narrative.  “Furiosa is the real protagonist, which is why the movie is good” is a take that I have seen numerous times.  And I assume that you, more than anyone, understand that the public narrative that forms around a piece of art can easily swallow the art’s actual traits.