Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

This will be silly and disjointed for those who found the second mean and rampaging. Spielberg had intervened in popular imagination, so there's a kid friendly dash of Indiana Jones along with some Lone Ranger. But from Mad Max I come away with two things, the narrative edges of world we discover and the cinematic action of the chase.

I don't take to the Bartertown portion of the film, it may be closer to Road Warrior in spirit but all I see here is rushed spectacle intended for a boorish audience, contraptions. We do see a bit more of the Max world around this place but not in any way I care for. It feels like this part was bolted on when they decided to turn a separate script into a Mad Max movie.

No, I find myself oddly captivated by the Lord of the Flies portion. There are glimmers of magic for me in the way the narrative of something that crashed from the skies one day has been preserved in the minds of kids. The way it's revealed through a screen that frames remnants of half- remembered story, the chorus of awestruck kids for whom all of this has profound meaning.

It does open up a window to a whole swathe of Max world but this time with deep feeling, as myth the kids have vowed to keep in memory and bide their time for. Sure, we are in Goonies territory and again in the end with the city, but there's hushed yearning here, an almost Biblical kind.

The rest is in the big chase, a train this time, briefer than usual and over before it really exhilarates, as if more by obligation than real affinity for it. They would eventually build a whole other film around it, extending it to an entire circus around the rig, but that would have to wait for 30 years.

Who could not love this movie? It's got more imagination than five average postbomb flicks, incredible visual design, enough alternate societies with enough backstory apiece for three more movies (including an aboriginal clan who look like Peter Pan's Lost Boys and speak a dialect you'll be copying for days after you see it), car chases, amazing costumes, one of the most original death-duel sequences ever, Tina Turner, *and* Mel Gibson! I mean, goddamn, what more do you want? I personally want another movie just set in Bartertown AND a movie that follows what happens to Anna Goanna and her clan, and they don't even have to have Mel Gibson in them - that's how rich I think the imaginative depth of this movie is. I like it more every time I see it. Genuinely something special.

This movie was much maligned when it came out in 1985, but that was due to the spectacular qualities of its predecessors, "Mad Max" and "The Road Warrior." Taken out of comparison with the other two, this movie is still solid post-apocalyptic fun, but it's lighter and slightly less violent than "Road Warrior" (as is evidenced by the PG-13 rating.) The actors' performances are perfectly adequate for the action, and the chase scenes bear all the hallmarks of Miller's craftsmanship (which contemporary directors should seriously consider studying and revitalizing.) You just won't see any arrow-riddled bodies slamming into the pavement at 60 mph or watch manned motorcycles sucked under the wheels of a big-rig. This one is about the kids. Think Hook in the wasteland and that starts to approach it.

If you saw this movie in the theaters 25 years ago and walked out hating it, give it another chance. Just don't see "RW" right beforehand. No reason to hobble your experience with unrealistic expectations.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) was a travesty. Even though it takes place in an even bleaker future, the filmmakers decided to line their pockets even further by making this one "family friendly (i.e. P.G.-13). What made the other films gritty and nihilistic is missing from this film. Only a few spots but other than that it's just other one of those sequels that morphed into a more mainstream movie (i.e Robocop 3). Needless to say I was very disappointed because when I was much younger I was a huge Mad Max mark.

The story takes place years after the events that transpired in part two. Max is content with his life out in the wastelands. But one day, the fates would appear. Someone has robbed him of his caravan and his old souped up vehicle (sadly no longer in running condition). When he recovers he finds that all roads lead to one of the last vestiges of civilization, an arm pit called "Bartertown". Whilst in "Bartertown" Max finds the person who cold cocked him but his unable to do anything about it. So, after a brief scuffle with the local authorities Max is taken to meet the "mayor" of "Bartertown" Aunt Enity (Tina Turner). After a brief display of his talents, Enity and Max strike a deal....

Like the other films, the world of Pro Wrestling has taken several themes and characters from this movie (i.e. The Thunderdome and The Master Blasters, etc..). Many knock-offs and wannabes have spawn off of this one as well. It even started up a sub-genre, children living in a post-apocalyptic society films. Not a bad film but die-hards of the first two will be disappointed.

C+

The first half of this film -- the part with Bartertown, Thunderdome, etc -- is brilliant, not just a repeat of THE ROAD WARRIOR but a totally new concept, thoroughly fleshed out. The second half, with the lost children, isn't as good -- and, more to the point, doesn't quite mesh with the first half, despite Miller's attempts to tie it all together at the end. Still, it's well above average in a genre that has increasingly come to believe (wrongly) that special effects are more important than plot and character.