Review of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) by Alan L — 18 Nov 2010

This film is the third and final instalment in the Mad Max trilogy, picking up after the events of the Road Warrior. Max is back at it wandering the deserts of Australia with his newest contraption, an old truck that is hauled by a team of camels! However, when his new "vehicle" is stolen from him by a man and his son who patrol/salvage the skies in their airplane, Max then heads to Bartertown to acquire new wheels and possibly seek vengeance for said theft.

Bartertown is a colony that has been envisioned from the ground up by a lady named Aunty Entity (played by Tina Turner). Goods and services are swapped freely in Bartertown and Aunty prides herself on the "civilized" society she has been able to produce from the ashes of the nuclear devastation.

Max enters in to a deal with Aunty Entity to take out her main rival, a duo that control the underworld of Bartertown named Master & Blaster. Max manages to pick a fight with Blaster, and in Bartertown all quarrels are solved in Thunderdome.

Two men enter . . . one man leaves. During the course of the fight Max realizes he's been a little bit duped by Aunty and refuses to finish the job. As a result Max's fate is going to be decided by the desert as he is banished to the wastelands, tied up on the back of a horse! A strange woman rescues Max and takes him back to her camp, a small civilization of children inhabiting an undiscovered bit of paradise amidst all the devastation.

The children believe Max is their long rumoured saviour, a man named Captain Walker who somehow exactly matches Max's description! Max refuses to help them and tries to warn them of the dangers of the outside world as they all seem so intent on leaving their home in search of something better.

Max encourages them to stay where they are but when a group of them escape during the night and head to Bartertown, Max has to mount a rescue mission. What results is a whole lot of destruction and another epic chase scene! This was a really good movie, but I still prefer the Road Warrior to this one.

Thunderdome is more of a classic action style of film whereas the Road Warrior was something a lot different and very unique. What really drew me to the Road Warrior was how grim and quiet the film mostly was, interspersed with amazingly choreographed chase scenes.

Mad Max went in a bit of a different direction, but it did have some good action scenes and another good chase scene at the end. The cast was good and I also really liked what they did with all of the environments and equipment, they made everything seem so genuine.

It's another classic!