Thunderdome

[SRP76]

I just watched the third Mad Max movie all the way through for the first time. I'm not happy. After sitting through the first two, it sets a pretty simple scene: the world is deadly, and freaks will rape and kill you over a gallon of gasoline. Great. In other words, there's an actual sense of danger and dread, and Max has to be a badass just to remain breathing. Then...."Beyond Thunderdome". What about this movie wasn't retarded?! The thunderdome concept itself was stupid; just a reason to have a group of fools chant catchphrases ("two men enter, one man leaves"), and, instead of just a straight-up fight arena....they have the "combatants" harnessed to some stupid bungee-cord trapeze. WTF is THAT **** all about? In addition to that, we have some idiotic "wheel of fortune" bull**** for punishing so-called "lawbreakers" (along with another childish "bust a deal, face the wheel!" rhyme). And all this leads to - what? - Max finding Peter Pan's little lost boys. W...T...F! Of course, even the villains and fighting are stupid. Rather than being deadly, the people chasing Max are more bumbling than the idiots from Police Academy. Complete with one guy that dies gag deaths about 5 times, never actually being killed. All in all, I say this movie was a total piece of garbage, and an insult to the first two movies in the series. Anyone have any comment on that?

[MikePizzoff]

I agree with you that this movie is trash. I get harassed by friends all the time, with their disputes that it's a great way to finish the trilogy. I feel that the only redeeming quality this movie has is the fact that Angry Anderson from Rose Tattoo is in it.

[slickwilly13]

Is Angry Anderson the mop-headed guy who flips Mad Max off at the end after crashing?

[EvilNed]

Personally, I love ALL Mad Max films. I think they're all great, and my favourite is always either the second or the third. Yes, I'll admit that the character of Iron Bar is just annoying, and should have been cut from the film altogether (he's the Jar Jar Binks guy who dies fifty million times), but the rest of the film is utter kick ass. I like that it deviates from the Roadwarrior in themes and plot, but still keeps the same soul and atmosphere. It's a hellish world, it's lawless and it's like a western, but where breaking the laws is actually encouraged. And the film is filled with great action scenes, gags and ideas. It's fresh thinking! How often do you get something like that in a third installment of a series? Almost never! And that is why the Mad Max series is so great. If you didn't like it, you didn't like it. But it's not trash. It's pure brilliance, in my eyes.

[Yojimbo]

Sorry to disagree with EvilNed, but I too thought Thunderdome was lousy. Like land of the dead, it looked like there was some BS studio interference (since I cannot wrap my head around what the hell Tina Turner was doing in the australian mad max world?)

[MikePizzoff]

Is Angry Anderson the mop-headed guy who flips Mad Max off at the end after crashing? Nah. Shaved head, about 4'7.

[EvilNed]

Angry Anderson played the Jar Jar Binks character. Worst. Character. Ever.

[zombie04]

I don't understand how anybody could like Beyond Thunderdome. It's so bad it almost reduces the value of the first two simply by association! Mad Max and the Road Warrior were great movies and really did not limit themselves to the violence that a person could be subjected to in this horrible world. Then you have a PG-13 rated sequel to round out the trilogy that involves a bunch of children and Tina Turner...holy f*(kin sh*t! It actually sounds a lot like Robocop now that I think about it. I was hoping Mad Max 4 -Fury Road would have washed the nasty infection out of my eyes after this one, but it was not to be. I think Mel Gibson should just stay away from third outings in film series. Lethal Weapon 3 wasn't so hot after the previous installment and this one I just try to forget about it all together.

[SRP76]

According to Wikipedia, Fury Road is still supposedly "in the works". No clues about what it would possibly be about, though.

[EvilNed]

And Mel Gibson is not going to be in Mad Max 4. George Miller has confirmed it. So I don't even see why he should bother. George Miller should do another post-apocalyptic film if that's what he wants. But can't have a Mad Max film without Mel Gibson.

[SRP76]

I'm surprised at that. With Stallone and Ford both coming back to do "the old man in the old role" deal recently, Gibson would be able to get away with doing it, too.

[Mike70]

mad max and the road warrior are two of the most seminal post-apocalyptic movies ever. thunderdome is not. i don't hate it, i am just indifferent to it for the most part. it does have its moments but nothing to challenge the ayatollah of rock-a-rolla.

[EvilNed]

I'm surprised at that. With Stallone and Ford both coming back to do "the old man in the old role" deal recently, Gibson would be able to get away with doing it, too. Well, Gibson is more or less not interested in acting anymore. He directs instead.

[Legion2213]

Yeah, the first two movies in this series were excellent, bad-ass psycho-bastards like "The Toe Cutter" and "The Lord Humongous" and some wondeful photography (the close up of "the nightrider's" eye just as he goes down in a hail wrecked car is awesome). "I am gravely disappointed. Again you have made me unleash my dogs of war." The third one could have been set in a different universe IMO.

[bassman]

I don't think it's a great film, but I've got no problem with it. It's a nice slice of Velveeta to go with my nachos.