Mad Max 2 (1982)

Saw none of the Mad Max movies when I decided to view this one running on TV to get a feel of what the series is all about. Minutes into it I could relate with the post-apocalyptic American movie Cyborg which I saw long back. There is little dialogue in this one, but the costume (had a touch of Star Wars), expressions, music, action sequences, typical of the 80s, did all the talking here. I was fascinated by the fact that it was running along a very thin line, where this unique directorial venture could either turn out to be a classic or a crap. I won't say I was particularly impressed by the movie but the style caught my eye, I found it different from what I saw till date. Hard to rate this one, would go with 6.5/10

The first film made the leading actor a star, before his breakthrough in Lethal Weapon of course, it was low budget, the sequel obviously moved up a gear, directed by George Miller (The Witches of Eastwick, Babe: Pig in the City, Happy Feet, Mad Max: Fury Road). Basically, in the wastelands of Australia in a post-apocalyptic future, former Main Force Patrol (MFP) officer 'Mad' Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) is still traumatised, following the death of his wife and child. Max roams the wilderness, scavenging for food and fuel in a scarred, black supercharged V-8 Pursuit Special, his only companions are an Australian Cattle Dog and a sawn-off shotgun with limited ammunition. Max is confronted by a biker gang, led by the unhinged biker warrior Wez (Vernon Wells), and then he encounters a Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence), piloting a boobytrapped autogyro, and tries to steal its petrol. The Gyro Captain is spared his life after telling Max about a small oil refinery nearby, but he finds the compound under siege by a motley gang of racers and motorcyclists called the Marauders, Wez is a member, their leader is a large disfigured man called "Lord Humungus" (Kjell Nilsson). Max bides his time and makes his move when a group of settlers attempt a break out of the compound with a fuel tank, while most are captured and subjected to torture, there is a lone survivor, the man shortly dies from his wounds. Max attempted to return him to the other settlers, their leader is Pappagallo (Michael Preston), they are on the verge of killing him, when the Marauders return, despite Wez wanting revenge for the death of his partner, killed with a metal boomerang, Humungus will allow the settlers to leave the territory unharmed in exchange for fuel. Max offers another deal to Pappagallo: an abandoned semi-truck to haul the fuel tanker, for him and the settlers, in exchange for petrol and his freedom, they accept, but keep his car. Max reaches the semi-truck, with the help of the Gyro Captain, with aerial support he drives it through the Marauders into the compound where a siege is being reignited by Humungus. Max abandons the settlers, wanting him to escape with them to a beach, he collects the petrol and leaves, but he is run off the road and wounded by Wez in Humingus's stolen nitrous oxide-equipped car. A Marauder kills Max's dog with a crossbow, then the Toadie (Max Phipps) unintentionally kills himself and two Marauders in an explosion, attempting to siphon the fuel. Max if left for dead, but the Gyro Captain rescues him, despite his injuries, Max insists driving the repaired and now armoured truck with a fuel tanker from the compound, the Feral Kid (Emil Minty), Papagallo and several settlers in armored vehicles accompany him for protection. Lord Humungus and most of his warriors pursue the tanker, remaining settlers flee the compound in a ramshackle caravan, and the compound is rigged to explode, Papagallo and the defenders are killed in the chase, the Gyro Captain is shot down, and Max and the Feral Kid are alone against Wez and the Marauders. A head-on collision between Humungus in his car and Wez in an out-of-control truck kills them both, the surviving Marauders leave, then Max rescuing the Feral Kid finds that the wrecked tanker is filled with sand, instead of oil, this was a decoy to allow the other settlers to escape with the precious fuel. With Papagallo dead, the Gyro Captain becomes the new chief, he leads the settlers to the coast, to establish the "Great Northern Tribe", while Max remains alone in the desert, and returns to becoming a drifter, the adult Feral Kid (Harold Baigent) reminisces about him, calling him the Road Warrior. Also starring Virginia Hey as Warrior Woman, Arkie Whiteley as The Captain's Girl, Steve J. Spears as Mechanic and Syd Heylen as Curmudgeon. Gibson remains just about as gritty and charismatic as before, this entry has much more of a dystopian atmosphere than before, the story is just about easy to follow, and there are plenty more stunts, chases sequences and explosions, most of which deliver, overall it is a worthwhile futuristic action adventure. Mel Gibson was number 47 on The 100 Greatest Sex Symbols, and number 17 on The 100 Greatet Movies Stars. Very good!

(Flash Review)Simple plot. Mad Max, a former policeman turned enforcer for hire, helps civilians living in a fuel refinery protect their resources from road pirates. This felt about as empty as the first one. Lots of time goes by without much story progression and just a little character development. A couple car smash and people bashing scenes through the first 2 acts. The last act was the behemoth car and truck chase scene on the endless dessert road. That was pretty exciting but I still feel this film is overrated but at least the story was more substantial then the first one.

Road Warrior was by far the best of the original trilogy as in terms of action, plot and style, which has been one of the most used in the majority of post-apocalyptic story- lines in films, TV series, comics and video-games. In short this one and the Terminator three years later are the archetype of how to make a world after we have destroyed your civilization. To the setting, years after the events of the first flick ,we see that the society has crumble due to the near complete exhaustion of the global oil reserves and now the wasteland is filled by motor crazy, gasoline hungry gangs and drifters who fight each other in order to get some petrol, because in the wasteland their but one rule : find oil by any means, because no oil, no mobility and then no food, water or protection. In general the creators of the film took inspiration from the oil crisis of 1973 and 1979 and went berserk with the idea. That was an amazing idea for the film hit hard then (and even now) to our dependence of the fossil fuels, which some day will be gone and then let's hope that we have find a solution to the problem.As for the plot, it is pretty simple in that desolation we follow our protagonist, the stoic Max Rockatansky, who shambles on oil rich community ,which is besieged by a gang of sadistic motorcyclist and decide to give them a hand for them to get out. That is,nothing more the rest in on the shoulder of the director George Miller, his co-writer Terry Hayes and the actors lead by Mel Gidson to make you invested to the plot and world they are in. Also that simplicity works to the favor of the crew and the film ,because they didn't have to think continuously what was happening and so they had their minds fixed on doing their best and in definitely paid of. As the production of the film, even though it had about tens times the budget of the 1979 predecessor it was still quit low so that premonition simple story allow them to focus it in them vehicles, stunts and costumes to bring this world to life.As for the action, holly cow dang(the no curse rules of IMDb is a bit annoying) even 36 years after holds up very well and the practical effects were amazing. Side note here one of the reason of why the stunts look so great and painful it is because some of them weren't stunts at all, the drivers for real lost control of their vehicle and face plant to the ground. Ah well you can't make an omelet with out breaking some eggs.In conclusion the flick rocks, it worth every minute of it (the 95 minute version) and if you want to make a film about how the world could be after we have devastated it then that is a good place to start your study!