Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

Year: 1985

Grade: C-

Country: Australia

Director: Miller/Ogilvie

Review

gene siskel said that this series keeps getting better, which implies that this is the best of the series. he was wrong, dead wrong. okay, sorry, low blow. at any rate, this film doesn’t really compare in quality to the first two. by the way, i think i neglected to mention in my recent review of road warrior that it’s one of the best sequels of all-time. at any rate, this one tries to emulate the success of the second one – they have similar hero themes and they end in pretty much the exact same way. i’m not perfectly certain what the filmmakers were doing with the story. it has three distinct acts, and acts 2 and 3 differ quite a bit from act 1. i presume there is symbolic story being told, some parable that is being imparted, but i didn’t quite pick up on it. there is some commentary on the nature of law and religion and scarcity of resources, but nothing as profound as the simplicity of road warrior. and that is really where this film fails – it complicates the story and tries to do too much. part of the reason the second one was so successful was its sparse and simple presentation.