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The Road Warrior

Original title: Mad Max 2
  • 1981
  • R
  • 1h 36m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
186K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,134
1,075
The Road Warrior (1981)
In the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline-rich community escape a horde of bandits.
Play trailer1:24
3 Videos
99+ Photos
ActionAdventureSci-Fi

In the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline-rich community escape a horde of bandits.In the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline-rich community escape a horde of bandits.In the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline-rich community escape a horde of bandits.

  • Director
    • George Miller
  • Writers
    • Terry Hayes
    • George Miller
    • Brian Hannant
  • Stars
    • Mel Gibson
    • Bruce Spence
    • Michael Preston
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.6/10
    186K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    1,134
    1,075
    • Director
      • George Miller
    • Writers
      • Terry Hayes
      • George Miller
      • Brian Hannant
    • Stars
      • Mel Gibson
      • Bruce Spence
      • Michael Preston
    • 403User reviews
    • 216Critic reviews
    • 77Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 8 wins & 10 nominations

    Videos3

    4K Trailer
    Trailer 1:24
    Watch 4K Trailer
    Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
    Trailer 2:40
    Watch Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
    Sneak Previews Season 4 Episode 40
    Video 30:36
    Watch Sneak Previews Season 4 Episode 40

    Photos271

    Mel Gibson in The Road Warrior (1981)
    Mel Gibson in The Road Warrior (1981)
    Mel Gibson in The Road Warrior (1981)
    Mel Gibson in The Road Warrior (1981)
    Mel Gibson in The Road Warrior (1981)
    Mel Gibson in The Road Warrior (1981)
    Mel Gibson in The Road Warrior (1981)
    Mel Gibson in The Road Warrior (1981)
    Mel Gibson in The Road Warrior (1981)
    Mel Gibson in The Road Warrior (1981)
    George Miller at an event for The Road Warrior (1981)
    George Miller and Doug Mitchell at an event for The Road Warrior (1981)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Mel Gibson
    Mel Gibson
    • Max
    Bruce Spence
    Bruce Spence
    • The Gyro Captain
    Michael Preston
    Michael Preston
    • Pappagallo
    • (as Mike Preston)
    Max Phipps
    Max Phipps
    • The Toadie
    Vernon Wells
    Vernon Wells
    • Wez
    Kjell Nilsson
    Kjell Nilsson
    • The Humungus
    Emil Minty
    Emil Minty
    • The Feral Kid
    Virginia Hey
    Virginia Hey
    • Warrior Woman
    William Zappa
    • Zetta
    Arkie Whiteley
    Arkie Whiteley
    • The Captain's Girl
    Steve J. Spears
    • Mechanic
    Syd Heylen
    • Curmudgeon
    Moira Claux
    • Big Rebecca
    David Downer
    • Nathan
    David Slingsby
    • Quiet Man
    Kristoffer Greaves
    • Mechanic's Assistant
    Max Fairchild
    Max Fairchild
    • Broken Victim
    Tyler Coppin
    • Defiant Victim
    • Director
      • George Miller
    • Writers
      • Terry Hayes
      • George Miller(uncredited)
      • Brian Hannant
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The dog used in the film, named simply "Dog", was obtained from a local dog pound and trained to perform in the film. Because the sound of the engines upset him (and in one incident, caused him to relieve himself in the car), he was fitted with special earplugs. After filming was complete, he was adopted by one of the camera operators.
    • Goofs
      When Max carries the 4 metal cans full of gasoline to retrieve the truck, the cans appear empty by the way they are swaying back and forth from the pole he's using to carry them. In addition, when the gyro captain drops them to the ground once they reach the autogyro the cans make a hollow-sounding noise, also indicating that they are empty.
    • Quotes

      [first lines]

      Narrator: My life fades. The vision dims. All that remains are memories. I remember a time of chaos... ruined dreams... this wasted land. But most of all, I remember The Road Warrior. The man we called "Max." To understand who he was, you have to go back to another time... when the world was powered by the black fuel... and the desert sprouted great cities of pipe and steel. Gone now... swept away. For reasons long forgotten, two mighty warrior tribes went to war, and touched off a blaze which engulfed them all. Without fuel they were nothing. They'd built a house of straw. The thundering machines sputtered and stopped. Their leaders talked and talked and talked. But nothing could stem the avalanche. Their world crumbled. The cities exploded. A whirlwind of looting, a firestorm of fear. Men began to feed on men. On the roads it was a white line nightmare. Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal enough to pillage would survive. The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice. And in this maelstrom of decay, ordinary men were battered and smashed... men like Max... the warrior Max. In the roar of an engine, he lost everything... and became a shell of a man... a burnt-out, desolate man, a man haunted by the demons of his past, a man who wandered out into the wasteland. And it was here, in this blighted place, that he learned to live again.

    • Alternate versions
      Slightly censored when first released in the US, but released without cuts abroad. The Australian version has several more seconds of Wez pulling the arrow out of his arm, and a few more seconds of Wez's partner on the ground with the boomerang embedded in his head. This footage was absent on the US VHS, LaserDisc, and DVD releases, but is present in the US Blu-ray release.
    • Connections
      Edited from Mad Max (1979)

    User reviews403

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    A true action treat!
    It's incredible to think that despite 40 years passing since it initially burst onto cinema screens around the world that Mad Max 2 (aka The Road Warrior), George Miller's action extravaganza, has lost none of its thrilling spectacle power thanks to its "for real" stunts and high-octane energy that still surpasses many modern films to this day.

    Ramping up things a hundredfold from the original Mad Max that featured a few car crashes amongst its post-apocalyptic wasteland adventure featuring Mel Gibson's ex-cop Max Rockatansky, Road Warrior was at the time of production the biggest budgeted Australian film of all time that saw Miller and his creative team enact carnage unlike we'd ever seen done on a local production, that also was an inspiration and benchmark for the action genre in the years to come.

    Often regarded as one of the best examples of an action experience committed to screen thanks to its endless barrage of car-fueled stunts and mayhem (Terminator director James Cameron sighted the film as an inspiration to his action work) and arguably only bettered when Miller's long time coming Fury Road finally roared onto screens a few years ago, Road Warrior is powered by the most barebones of plots you're likely to see in a feature but that matters little when the enthusiasm and eye candy on show is what you came to see.

    Barely uttering more than a few lines throughout the entirety of the film, the at the time still up and coming Gibson doesn't get much too do overall here and is far less charismatic than he would come to be known for in efforts like Lethal Weapon and Braveheart but in many ways that's the joy of the Mad Max character, with a simple man merely trying to survive an anything but simple time and place, a place where marauding bandits like Kjell Nilsson's Humungus commands running the barren dust swept lands of Australia as they seek out death and destruction and the much sought after gasoline.

    Rampaging along at a brisk pace that just passes the 90 minute marker, Road Warrior isn't at all interested in nuances or moments of reflection with Miller hellbent on ensuring that most of the films screen time is action first and questions and answers last and in an age where many modern films attach unneeded baggage and filler to their stories in hope people see deeper things in their flash and pizzazz, Road Warrior is still a joy to behold today as we witness and partake in organized chaos at its finest in the land down under.

    Final Say -

    There's not a lot happening under the hood of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior but the insanely choregraphed and orchestrated car-founded action is still a cinematic thrill to this day that was largely unmatched for years until Fury Road changed the game again.

    4 gyrocopters out of 5.
    helpful•6
    0
    • eddie_baggins
    • Sep 7, 2021

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    FAQ14

    • Max pulls out his shotgun when it looks like Wes is about to attack him. Max knew fully well that his shotgun was empty. He surely must have also known that it wouldn't have worked as a weapon for intimidation on a guy like Wes the same way it worked for the Gyro pilot. So why did he bother?
    • Why did they refer to it as "gasoline" or "gas"? In Australia it's called "Petrol".
    • What is Mad Max 2 about?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 21, 1982 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • Australia
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
    • Filming locations
      • Mundi Mundi Plains Lookout, Silverton, New South Wales, Australia
    • Production company
      • Kennedy Miller Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $3,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $23,667,907
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $2,527,864
      • May 23, 1982
    • Gross worldwide
      • $23,668,406
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 36 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.39 : 1

    Related news

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