![]() ![]() ![]() The death and darkness is softened to be more appealing to a family audience. This is an action/adventure family movie. Here’s what happened to Thunderdome. The first couple of films are gritty action films. The world softens and not a whole lot of drama can take place. The Thunderdome fight, even though the bungee cords just seemed unnecessary, drove plot and action and was a fun sequence. Also, just as a setting, Bartertown has such a scrappy and dangerous feel to it and looks great. Containing the plot of two factions within a settlement that Max could have influence over was a great story. What intrigued me in the beginning was Bartertown, which had great potential. I think just the fact it was made in the 80s gives it a cheesy feel, so I don’t knock it too hard for that. Some scenes were incredibly cheesy, like Tina Turner’s introduction is underscored by an all too sultry saxophone, or when Max has to give up his weapons he pulls out like a dozen different weapons. When I was watching Thunderdome, I was alright for the first half hour. The stakes that made a lot of Road Warrior feel exciting was lost for humor in Thunderdome. Which takes some impact away from the whole fight scene. Yet, Ironbar lives! He is humorously stuck to the front of Max’s truck, black with soot and screaming like a little kid. In Thunderdome, one of the primary henchmen, Ironbar, drives directly into Max’s large truck, and the car is destroyed in a fiery explosion. Lord Humungus drives head long into Max, killing both him and Wez and rolling the tanker onto the side of the road in spectacular fashion. In Road Warrior, Wez, an enemy henchmen, is holding on for dear life onto the grill of the oil tanker Max is driving. One stunt that repeats between Road Warrior and Thunderdome speaks volumes about the shortcomings of Thunderdome. Well, this movie has exactly one car action set piece. Why go see a Mad Max movie? For crazy car action scenes, inspired production design, and creative ways for people to die. It’s not a bad movie it’s just a bad Mad Max movie. I admire the goal, but the follow through just made a movie that’s incoherent with the rest of the series. ![]() Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome continues the tradition of being a huge departure from the film before it and takes a misstep in the process. But I can talk about Star Wars later, back to post-apocalypse. Family friendly antics, worn plot devices, and some senseless world-building bog both down quite a bit. It actually has many of the same problems. It’s not Attack of the Clones bad it’s more Return of the Jedi bad. It’s not great, don’t get me wrong, but it certainly isn’t worth the disdain some have for it. I‘ll start by dispelling a common misconception: this movie is not terrible. ![]()
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