Mad Max, l, II, III, love, hate, don't care?

Did I miss something?????

 

I love the first flick, and of course RW is a classic. The third was fluff, not without redeeming value, but still a poor ending to a great concept.

 

Up until the point when Max is found by the brats, Thunderdome threatens to be the best and most imaginative movie of the trilogy, then as everyone here has noted, it completely runs off the rails (pun intended) in the final third. Getting to see sanctuary at the end was an especially grievous mistake, as in fable-like tales such as this it takes on dimensions similar to that of a grail quest, something that is to be longed and searched for, but never found (much less seen). That fact that it turned out to be nothing more than an insipid, touchy-feely "Kumbaya" festival made you realize why Max kept wandering, as who the hell would want to live the rest of their life in a place like that.

A shame, as it was a missed opportunity as if it had stayed the course it could have been one of the finest conclusions to any film franchise in cinema history. Instead, it's ends on a "meh" note, and ends up tainting the whole enterprise in the end.

 

I did a report in cinema class in college where I compared the Road Warrior against all the required story elements and archetypes that are to be found in (and required of) all those classic films comprising the Western genre, and found that it fit that template to a "T."

For all intents and purposes, Road Warrior is basically nothing more than a post-apocalyptic Shane.

 

I remember that Newsweek's review back in the day called Road Warrior "Shane in black leather." For those interested, there's a piece on the making of the new Fury Road in this week's Entertainment Weekly.

 

Back in the early '80s, my friends and I discovered a little gem of a movie called Mad Max playing on HBO, and proceeded to watch it dozens of times. One day, a movie hit our local theater called The Road Warrior. None of us had heard anything about it, but the name sounded cool, and we had nothing better to do. I still vividly remember our reactions during that opening shot with the camera driving up the road toward a dark figure, and the voice-over telling a story about a guy named "Max", complete with black-and-white flashbacks to a film that looked very familiar. We all looked at each other and said "Holy crap, it's Mad Max!" (I later found out that the movie was called Mad Max 2 in Australia.) That was a joyous moment of revelation. We were stoked. And the movie turned out to be amazing.

When Beyond Thunderdome came out, we all reunited to see it. It has some great parts, and gave the world Master/Blaster, but all-in-all was a failure. We all know that anytime a series adds children it's a pretty good sign that it has jumped the shark. This, unfortunately, was no exception.

Years later, I found a copy of the original Mad Max not only in widescreen, but with an original dialogue soundtrack! After seeing it so many times in the dubbed version, the original version was like watching a completely different film. It seemed wrong, because it wasn't what I was used to, but also seemed so much more right.

I give Mad Max 3.5 out of 4 stars. It's a little "foreign" feeling to Americans, but is a great movie that captures its time... the punk, cold war, DIY aesthetic that was big in the late '70s/early '80s. It has a special place in my heart, since it was where I started.

The Road Warrior (aka Mad Max 2) is a near-perfect film. Still is the baseline benchmark for vehicle chase scenes. Nothing short of brilliant, and made Mel Gibson a household name. 4 stars.

Beyond Thunderdome, on the other hand, is a big disappointment. I've seen the other two films dozens of times each. I've probably seen BT only three or four times completely, and it's been at least 20 years since my last viewing. It's just not as magical as either of its predecessors. I think the fact that Mel Gibson had become such a big star hurt the film. It was hard to see him as Max anymore, and not as Mel. I also remember thinking at the time how lame it was that they were shoehorning in Tina Turner, just because she had a recent hit album and celebrated comeback. She acquitted herself fairly well, but it seemed like a total "Hollywood" move, betraying the indie style of the others. 2 stars.

 

My ranking of the three:

1) Road Warrior (Mad Max 2)
2) Mad Max
3) Thunderdome

 

I really liked Road Warrior, which I saw before Mad Max. Thunderdome I just found so-so. Unfortunately, my intense dislike of sMel makes it hard for me to watch anything he's in anymore.

 

Love Mad Max 1&2, not so keen on 3. A lot of Mad Max 1 was shot in and around the suburb I grew up in.

 

Love them...huge fan of Mel.

 

that's cool! did ya take a ride around to find the exact locations in the movies? I would have. love that stuff.

 

Don't care, but thanks for asking just the same. Impossible to threadcrap, very nice touch.

 

The Road Warrior, a film that succeeds as few action pictures do--credit the script, as minimal as it is (3 pages?), the direction and cinematography, acting, the location, soundtrack, etc. etc. Nothing at all wasted in that film. George Miller could have retired after that. He had nothing left to prove.

The others: Steve Bisely (Goose) is really the main value in Mad Max I--great Australian actor in an iconic performance. I enjoyed Thunderdome for what it was, two different movies basically, with some great elements. It was great in the theater at the the time. I saw it twice.

 

I know exactly where many of the locations are, no need to look

Parts of the opening car chase are filmed on a main road that leads out of my suburb. A lot of the film is filmed in Little River, about 25 mins from where I live. You may know that name

Also, the Gyrocopter pilot from Mad Max 2 lived in my town.

 

well I guess that's it!

 

I loved and was blown away by The Road Warrior. Had seen Mad Max in the badly dubbed American version just before TRW. Third one was OK filled with Hollywood compromises. The new one looks interesting as well. tom Hardy is a good choice.

 

I loved both "Mad Max" and "The Road Warrior" (seeing this one twice in the theater when it came out) and disliked "Beyond Thunderdome". I remember when "Thunderdome" was coming out, they interviewed Mel Gibson in some magazine while he was on the set and he said, "it's a piece of ****". Even the star of the movie knew it was a turd. That said, it does have a few good moments, but the whole chase thing at the end was pretty weak and the ending more so.

 

Exactly. Well, one out of three is pretty good.

 

The trailer is up!

 

Here is a question....

Is the gyro captain in Road Warrior the same character as the pilot in Thunderdome? I know it is the same actor. But I have always wondered this.

 

I'm in the don't care camp, if there is one. I was never a fan of these movies.

 

Hmmmm, might be good.

 

Here's how I'd rank 'em:

1. The Road Warrior (I have difficulty referring to this as "Mad Max 2")
A total classic that easily made my top 100 favorite films of all time list last year (I would still likely put it at #6):
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/your-top-100-movies.324843/page-3#post-9200428
The way the introduction morphs into panoramic awesomeness must be seen on the big screen to be fully appreciated. Even so, the story is strong enough that the movie still works on the small screen, and I watched it many times on cable over the years. Those punk styles date it somewhat, and lend the movie a certain cheese factor, but the non-stop non-CGI action remains riveting. Can't say I'm too thrilled about Fury Road, though....

2. Mad Max
This film was always kind of meh, for me. Not "bad" per se, but nothing I've ever really wanted to re-visit. Perhaps if I check out the Australian version, which I may well do, I might feel differently, but I wouldn't bet on a 180 degree turnaround. The montage footage from this used in the sequel sets up that film brilliantly, such that I think it can stand alone without needing to watch all of this one.

3. Beyond Thunderdome
Now this was just plain awful, and effectively killed the franchise, I thought for good. I agree with what a lot of others are saying here in that it started out promisingly enough, and casting Tina Turner seemed like a good if overly commercial idea, but that whole last part was completely tedious for all the reasons previously mentioned (the comparison to Return of the Jedi is especially apt), rendering the entire movie a major let-down. You know you're in trouble when the promotional videos and still photographs are more interesting than the film proper, and we'll see if that turns out to be the case with Fury Road.

 

I really wonder how different Fury Road may have been had it been filmed back in 2001 when it was supposed to with Gibson on board. Yes I know this one isn't even out yet. But I bet it would have been an improvement over Thunderdome (Which I still enjoy except for the kids). And I don't think Gibson is too old to play Max either. Just alter the script so it takes place years after the 3rd film rather than before it. Problem solved. I remember when it was announced with Gibson I was really looking forward to it.