I’ve finally made it to the last Mel Gibson Mad Max movie. I’ve heard lots of negative things about Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, which has an 81% score on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to the love the other three films all garner.
Beyond Thunderdome is the continuing saga of Max in the post apocalyptic wasteland that’s become even worse than the world of the Road Warrior after a nuclear war has destroyed whatever was left of normal civilization. Max finds himself in need while entering Bartertown and becomes a pawn in the power struggle between Aunty Entity (Tina Turner) and duo Master (Angelo Rossito) Blaster (Paul Larsson). Max finds himself exiled from Bartertown and in the custody of lost children looking for home. This film features less action and doesn’t really make up for it with story, but does set the look for Fury Road quite a bit.
THE GOOD
Mel Gibson is great on screen, but the character doesn’t quite feel like the same man from The Road Warrior. He is still wild, but seems to be a little more willing to work with people than he did in the previous film.
The action scenes are traditional George Miller, but have an added comedic tone that isn’t quite the same as previous films or from Fury Road. There is plenty of over the top hilarity in Fury Road, but this features characters and sound effects that feel more like they belong in a Stooge’s film. Nonetheless, the car chases were still very entertaining.
The Thunderdome fight sequence is actually pretty cool, but still manages to be a bit odd. The need for the bungee cords seems a bit odd, but it does add for an interesting wrestling type cage match.
THE BAD
There are plenty of odd choices made, such as having the fuel source be pig shit and the monstrous villain being a midget riding what is later revealed to be a mentally handicapped individual. However, the oddest choice is the tonal shift that happens when Max encounters the lost boys…or something resembling an Australian Peter Pan film. It’s odd, but interesting at the same time.
There is a lot less action then what I’ve come to expect from the Mad Max films. These are action films set in an interesting wasteland that have odd characters who rise to power by seizing control of supplies. That’s the same overall premise, but spread out and most of the film is taken out of the vehicles that made the franchise.
Max also has a lot more dialogue then you have in the previous two films. This character was brooding and devastated by the events of the first film. He seems to have come to terms with it here, but that’s not what I expected of Max. The story works better when he’s a bit, well, mad! He doesn’t seem quite as crazy in this film as he did in the others.
THE VERDICT
I don’t think Beyond Thunderdome is as bad as I’d heard, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did the first two. There are some really weird elements in the film that make things odd. I give Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome 6 out of 10 embargos.
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