Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome Review (1985)
7 / 10. We don’t need another hero – yes we do, and it’s Max, to save us from these pesky kids *MINOR SPOILERS*
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is a 1985 Australian post-apocalyptic action film sequel to Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, directed by George Miller and George Ogilvie and written by Miller and Terry Hayes.
The film begins sometime after Mad Max 2 and a nuclear war. Max grumpily continues to navigate the world alone, until his V8 is stolen and ends up at the dangerous, bustling Bartertown, which even has electricity. Bartertown is ruled by callous and ambitious Aunty Entity (Tina Turner), who offers Max his vehicle back in return for a favour. Deal with Master Blaster, who runs the methane refinery, by provoking them into a fight in the infamous gladiatorial arena - the Thunderdome.
Things don’t go to plan and Max is exiled with a cult of feral kids who live in the desert in a crashed Boeing 747, and think Max is their saviour.
Thunderdome was always my favourite of the original trilogy – even though it isn’t as good it as The Road Warrior, it was the first one I saw. My sister had the ‘making of the film’ book and I was obsessed with the world of Mad Max before I was even allowed to watch it. The gritty world building and design, costumes and names are all amazing. There’s clearly a massive budget this time, but this instalment still keeps some of its rugged indie charm with this transition.
The timeline has always been ambiguous even if you try to read up about it, George Miller is vague, but Max is now told more of the story. “In a desperate grab to secure the last reserves of oil, the world was drawn into a nuclear war that decimated the remaining natural resources. The world was dead.”
The feral kids also give a dodgy “pocalypse” explanation. Captain Walker (and Mrs Walker) flew the kids out of the city when everything collapsed, they now think Max is Walker – and Walker in the cave paintings also has the white streaks like Max…
They want Max to take them to Tomorrow – morrow Land (I’m sure that’s a house music festival in Germany).
The kid’s speech gets irritating, but it makes sense as there were no adults or school for proper language development. The shot of all the kids stood on top of the partly submerged plane is awesome.
Scrooloose looks like the War Boys in Fury Road and the 2015 video game.
Is he one of them?
So, is fury road before Thunderdome? I had the EXACT same Bugs Bunny toy!
Everyone knows Master Blaster, the much replicated Thunderdome and the “two men enter one man leaves” quote, and replicated, all the way to Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 7 with the Ubervamp. Also, who could forget “bust a deal, face the wheel” – of fortune? It seems they remembered TV gameshows if nothing else 😊
Tina Turner as Aunty Entity is inspired casting, she should have done more acting she’s a commanding presence, and We Don’t Need Another Hero is one of the best film soundtrack songs ever.
The gyro captain appears here again, in a different role to The Road Warrior, with a different kid? All very confusing.
The vehicle chase scenes are exhilarating with fantastic stunts as always, and Mel is great in his most iconic role.
“Well ain’t we a pair, raggedy man”. Indeed.