![]() ![]() Pfft! I mean, come on! This is a “Mad Max” movie, for God’s sake, whose very raison d’etre is achieving excitement through stunts that actually put human life at risk - or at least give us the impression that’s what they’re doing – and not through simple camera trickery - and even worse, in this case, not particularly convincing trickery). ![]() The first follows our Mad-man Max, he of few words, on a mission to reclaim his vehicle, stolen in the opening moments by makeshift plane-flying Jedediah (Bruce Spence, with the actor in a slightly confusing return from the previous entry – a different character but with pretty much the exact same comedy relief description, as likeably sneaky pilot) and his son (Adam Cockburn) from where it ended up, namely, the barbaric Wild West-style outpost known as Bartertown (and right out of the gate, with the very first lazily executed action piece of Jedediah jumping from the plane to land easily in a seated position on the vehicle below… the first red flag was raised. The episodic narrative of “Thunderdome” is broken into three distinct sequences. The tale of “Mad” Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson, whose growing maturity as a full-fledged screen presence over the two films couldn’t have been more in synch with the character) would have been, right there and then, forever and satisfactorily complete a modern cinematic legend achieved.Īnd sitting down and taking in Beyond Thunderdome for the first time since its release (and promptly mostly forgetting it), I came to the conclusion that my misgivings about a continuation were… well… pretty right on. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (George Miller & George Ogilvie, 1985)Īs I wrote in my recent musings on The Road Warrior (aka, “Mad Max 2”), the second in the high-flying, adrenaline-fueled post-apocalyptic road saga we all know and love (or should love… at least the first two entries… hint, hint), I had the distinct impression as that film concluded (and as I pontificated on about, post-screening, to barely listening ex-wife and daughter) that this should have been where it all ended with the first entry introducing us to the dedicated road cop and transforming him into vengeance-seeking shadow of a human (due to loving wife and child being brutally killed by marauding biker gang), the second the tale of the reclamation of his humanity (saving a small community of last survivors along the way), with all of it concluding in near-perfection on that final image of our leather-clad, reluctant hero, alone amongst the fire of the wreckage-strewn highway, fading away into the ethereal embers of a child’s memory, directly on into legend and lore… and that would be it. ![]()
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