Review of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) by David G — 22 Sep 2017

It was always going to be tough to live up to what is probably the best post-apocalyptic movie ever made in Mad Max 2 and while Beyond Thunderdome is predictably not as good, it has a good old crack at it. The film has most of it's success in capturing the same outrageous atmosphere that made it's predecessor so special - menacing yet unashamedly camp qualities coming together to make such winners as the wretched hive of scum and villainy (tm) known as Bartertown with it's pig shit power plant Underworld and the Thunderdome itself - a hemispherical cage used to settle disputes amongst townsfolk through the use of bungee cords and various sharp implements. A classic post-apocalyptic shit hole with more shoulder pads and mohawks than you can shake an S&M leather cross-strap at. Then there are the characters - Tina Turner's Aunty Entity, Master Blaster, Angry Anderson's unassuming but unkillable Ironbar, even the random tribe of Captain Walker cultists to a degree - there are some great personalities and overall they hold up well against Lord Humungus, Wez and co. Mel Gibson plays "Mad" Max once again (a strange name since he's clearly the only sane person left in the world) and keeps the anti-hero core of the character intact - not giving a shit about anyone but himself under most circumstances but with an ingrained sense of honour and selflessness never far away from the surface.

The movie is great to begin with as Max, having been robbed of all his possessions out in the desert by Jedediah the Pilot (Bruce Spence in a weird semi-reprisal of his Mad Max 2 character) forces his way into Bartertown looking for retribution and in doing so finds himself working for the town's founder and boss Aunty Entity. She wants him to end a challenge to her rule by Master (Angelo Rossitto) by killing his "muscle" Blaster (they're a coexisting entity who share the same name - Master Blaster) in the Thunderdome. Following the fight (a great action sequence and a highlight of the film) Max is betrayed and sent out into the desert to die. Here we enter the second act and things start to go awry as Max is saved by a tribe of kids who believe him to be Captain Walker - the saviour of their quasi-religion. It's a good idea in theory but not executed very well, the kids with their mannerisms and silly way of talking irritate more than anything and the whole act is altogether rather slow and dull. Still, things start to pick up again as Max and several of the kids head back to Bartertown to kick off the final action sequence - a smackdown in Underworld followed by a chase through the desert. OK so it's a fairly tame retread of Mad Max 2's astonishing chase sequence but it's still heaps of fun and entertaining as hell not to mention notably different in that our heroes are manning a train rather than a reinforced tanker. The sequence isn't nearly as long as Mad Max 2's but it's still packed with stunts, crashes and even a healthy dose of humour thanks to Ironbar's subborn refusal to die! Actually one of my favourite moments in the film is where we see Ironbar catching up to the train on one of those hand-pumped carts! What a nutter! The funny thing is as soon as he catches the train he jumps off onto a nearby car! So, what was the point?! :).

To sum up, Beyond Thunderdome is not nearly as good as Mad Max 2 but then how could it be? It may have a dodgy midsection with too much emphasis on all the Captain Walker guff but it nails the wonderful, sleazy, camp atmosphere of MM2 and boasts some great action sequences and fantastic characters. Not an essential watch, even for fans of the previous films but well recommended none the less.