Of all the famous sci-fi movie trilogies, this is certainly the most... Australian. And I'm not stating that with a snarky intent. Variety's the spice of life and all, so it's still novel to see a big screen, big budget vision of the cursed future coming from imaginations outside of the Northern Hemisphere. Here's the series that's rather important for launching the career of controversial artiste Mel Gibson and inspiring a whole slew of imitators. It also exhibits one of the more intriguing conceptual progressions, so throw your leather on, holster your sawed-off shotgun and pour some precious black fuel into your engine. It's time to look over the Mad Max trilogy...
Mad Max (1979) Dir. George Miller
Here’s another case of the original flick seeming strange to anybody who was introduced to the sequels first. If this is really supposed to be post-Apocalyptic Australia, it’s got to be the cleanest and most suburban wasteland ever depicted on film. Seriously, if you didn’t know what the setting was intended to be, you'd have to just assume that the crew put colorful costumes and outrageous scenarios into this because they wanted it to be more interesting than your average revenge movie. Really, it feels like it’s maybe only a feather or two away from Death Wish Down Under.
It’s analogous to the Evil Dead in some ways in the sense that you can see Miller working out ideas (high-speed demolitions, society disintegrating after an oil crisis, sexually-ambiguous biker gangs) he’d be able to explore more fully in the second go-round. Indeed, this was made on a super-tight budget which yielded an absurdly-huge return of investment (it was actually the most profitable film ever until Blair Witch Project came out.)
It’s not quite the classic that Road Warrior is, but it’s still a solid grindhouse flick and the “saw your own leg off or die” mercy game Max plays with the last goon is one of the meaner and more memorable acts of payback on film. That part alone has inspired scenes in stories as diverse Saw and Watchmen.
The Road Warrior (1982) Dir. George Miller
All hail the monomyth! Next to Star Wars, this is probably the most cited example of a director employing Joseph Campbell’s “Hero with 1000 Faces” theories to gainful benefit. Most times, I role my eyes about that--too often, it encourages cliché--but it was definitely needed here to give some guiding focus and direction to the rather messy revenge plot of the first. Obviously, it worked, because this is one of those few individual movies that unquestionably defined the iconography of an entire film genre (and, more importantly, several pro-wrestlers' gimmicks.) Name any post-Apocalyptic flick produced in the past 30 years and the real question will be over which of its elements weren’t fashioned in homage to this.
There’s no sense in trying to argue the merits of a classic that’s got 100% approval on Rotten Tomatoes, so instead I’ll say that this stands as further proof of why “sequel” isn't a bad word. Imagine if Miller and Gibson had decided not to make this because they “didn’t want to repeat themselves.” Like I mentioned, the crew finally had the dollars to realize the dreams and not only is this is a more legitimate visualization of a post-Apocalypse, the opening recap actually makes the first flick's feel more substantial and, well, mythic.
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985) Dir. George Miller
You have to admire how utterly random George Miller’s filmography is. Here’s a director who started out making violent exploitation flicks, went on to make quirky animated family movies and is now angling to return to his intense superhero franchise. On a smaller scale, it’s a totally out-of-left-field, but totally fitting, choice to have Tina Turner play the antagonist (and perform a power anthem for the soundtrack) of what ended up being the trilogy-capper.
Again, here’s a sequel to emulate; something that explored more corners of a world, deepened its mythos and delivered on the goods of what you’d come to expect from the series without being a formulaic retread. If the Rambo series ratcheted up the kill count with each installment, then the Max movies got progressively more peculiar. Mad Max might’ve been close to Death Wish, but Aunt Entity’s pig power, the lost tribe’s “talk” religion, the hideously dualistic Master/Blaster and his bungy cage match with Max pushes this toward something like el Topo.
My only knock on it would be that it doesn’t feel like a proper conclusion to the series. When the credits roll, you can’t escape wondering why this didn’t lead to a few more movies. It feels like there was a lot more of the world to explore and I guess the only consolation lies in considering spiritual successors like Doomsday, Cyborg and Waterworld, et al, to be the follow-ups.
You know what? There's no sense in not including the music video for "We Don't Need Another Hero..."
Good article, Tom.
There are those that think Thunderdome is the weakest of the three. I disagree, I think it holds its own. It adds complexity via a political power struggle and a sense of untouched mystery with the "children survivors."
All in all, Thunderdome makes the world more vivid in way that goes beyond just a desolate highway.
Very nice feature.
Big point of contention about the first film though: Mad Max does not take place after an apocalypse. It is during the breakdown of society, that is why it is still clean and buildings are standing, etc. If that expectation muddied anyone's enjoyment of this film, please rewatch. There is nothing incongruous about Mad Max's setting; the apocalypse happens somewhere between then and The Road Warrior.
We always saw Thunderdome as the Godfather III of the Mad Max trilogy but I'd have to check it out again to be sure. It seemed to me as though they'd really lost the plot.
If I had to rate them it would go RW > MM > TD.
Who run Bartertown???!!!
I would rate my liking of the movies the same as @enemymouse
I love all the movies, but something about Thunderdome always turned me off. Still good movies, and a good article.
I personally think Beyond Thunderdome was terrible and just not entertaining at all (never mind plot holes and things that just don't make sense). But you each his own, I suppose.
Never gave any thought to how "clean" the desolate desert appeared in Mad Max. It is the desert. Perhaps the nukes wiped out a lot of debris; who cares, trivial point, but an interesting one to bring up.
Beyond Thunderdome was a victim of the success of Mad Max. It was a victim of 80's era movies in general. Bunch of in your face scenes and a bit of a contrived plot and some questionable acting by some supporting character actors didn't help any. Even with all the faults, though, it is OK, but pales in comparison to Road Warrior and Mad Max.
Not that it matters, my cat is named Max. Guess you could say I like these movies a bit.
now that you mention it that was a really clean environment in mad max
Thunderdome was a mix. One one hand it did have some great sets and characters, but it also dragged quite a bit and the story was weaker than the first two.
I'll be interested to see if Mad Max: Fury Road gets off the ground in April as Tom Hardy has said. I don't know that it will really flesh out the Mad Max world the way that I would like, but after all of the time off this franchise has had, I'm definitely interested in what they do with it. Tom Hardy is a good choice for Max.
@JoeyF: Master Blaster!
Haha that's exactly what happened to me. When I saw his house, I legitimately wondered if this was occurring before the said apocalypse that turned everything into a barren wasteland.
They had a nice 2 story villa, running water, everything was as clean as if they had just moved in... they even had windchimes.
I found the second one to be the best Mad Max film out of the trilogy mainly for the chase scene at the end of it, sadly the third one was a dissapointment because it took out the violence and therefore the threat that was felt in the first couple of films.
@enemymouse said:
Mad Max and Road Warrior are incredible. Thunderdome is fun, but meh at best. Road Warrior is Empire Strikes back and Thunderdome is Return of the Jedi.
One thing I've never understood until recently is Max's motivation. Throughout the sequels, we're told it's because the road gang killed his wife and child, but in MM we're told explicitly that his wife survived.
Was this retconned in a voice-over in Road Warrior or something? Never picked up on how she went from surviving to having been killed in the same incident.
@GetEveryone:
What? I don't remember any line about her surviving, unless that was added in the infamous 1980 dub.
@GetEveryone: Errr the wife dies at the hospital duder
Road Warrior is one of my favorite movies. Every time I see it on I don't care if it's half way done, just starting or it's the fight I'll tune in to watch.
It's just paced so perfectly.
@enemymouse said:
Are you sure? Where did you read that?
I always thought that the apocalypse happened not too long before the first Mad Max but it wasn't really affected in that part of the world/country. Like they were in a safe zone and Max left society to find the true post-apocalyptic wasteland.
EDIT: I just re-watched the intro for Road Warrior and yeah even in the intro timeline they talk about the great societies before and how their house of straw was destroyed.
Then he mentions how scavengers mobile enough for the highways thrived and he talks about Max. Then he says Max left society to wander out into the wasteland.
Man, Mad Max is really weird to go back to after watching the sequels.
@Aetheldod: @Dallas_Raines: From the IMDB page...
While on holiday, Max's wife, Jessie, (played by Joanne Samuel) runs into Toecutter's gang, who harass her. She escapes, but the gang manages to track her to the home where she and Max are staying. While attempting to escape from the gang again, Jessie and her son are run down by the gang, who leave their crushed bodies in the middle of the road. Max arrives too late to intervene. His son is pronounced dead on the scene, while his wife suffers massive injuries. (It is revealed in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior that she later died from her injuries.)
I swear they say explicitly that she survived. At least in the copy I have (which may have ADR, but isn't the dubbed American version).