***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** Emergency room doctor-turned-director George Miller, and a ravaged-looking Mel Gibson, first made significant marks in the US with this wildly inventive, unbelievably high-intensity chase thriller. The middle segment of a trilogy (between the shambolic but interesting 'Mad Max' and the pretentious, rambling mess 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome'), MM2 was hugely influential for its grungy, comic-book style and kinetic feel. It remains easily the best of its type and one of the finest action films ever made.
Note: description may contain spoilers--
The film opens on a world where civilization has collapsed and the Australian desert is peopled by nomadic scavengers fighting each other for increasingly scarce resources, particularly fuel for the few remaining motor vehicles. One of these lost souls is the loner Max Rocketansky (Gibson), a former cop who wanders this Wasteland in his battered V-8 Interceptor with only a mongrel dog for company.
After a run-in with a twitchy, half-crazed aviator, the Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence), who tries to rob Max of his gear, Max spares the Captain's life when he reveals the existence of a nearby encampment where fuel is abundant. With his reluctant prisoner in tow, Max heads for the compound, where he discovers that it is under siege by a horde of thugs under the direction of a fearsome, merciless warlord known as the Humungus (Kjell Nilsson). Talking his way in between attacks, Max learns that the relatively civilized (and unfortunately, rather colorless) inhabitants have a tankerload of fuel and are planning to use it in a breakout run to the coast. The problem: they have no truck that can haul the tanker. Max, however, knows where one can be found. A deal is struck, but first Max must get past the Humungus and his chief enforcer, the mohawk-wearing maniac Wez (Vernon Wells)...
As much a re-imagining as a sequel to Miller's low-budget Aussie hit 'Mad Max', the movie displays a bleak, unrelentingly violent vision of the future that will be off-putting to some, but packs a definite wallop. Highlights include Gibson's subtle, nearly wordless performance as a man who has withdrawn from life but, in aiding the trapped people of the compound, gradually regains his humanity; Wells' counterpoint as the barking mad, gleefully savage Wez; Miller's clever mixing of Western, Samurai, Horror and Sci-Fi story elements; superb widescreen photography and Brian May score; and of course the breathtaking action sequences, climaxing in a 45-minute chase involving dozens of vehicles and done entirely with practical stunts.
Although the plot is little more than a way to string the chases and battles together, and a good portion of the dialogue is embarrassingly banal, Miller packs the screen with so many bizarre characters and fascinating details that the movie remains entertaining throughout. An essential film.
Note: description may contain spoilers--
The film opens on a world where civilization has collapsed and the Australian desert is peopled by nomadic scavengers fighting each other for increasingly scarce resources, particularly fuel for the few remaining motor vehicles. One of these lost souls is the loner Max Rocketansky (Gibson), a former cop who wanders this Wasteland in his battered V-8 Interceptor with only a mongrel dog for company.
After a run-in with a twitchy, half-crazed aviator, the Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence), who tries to rob Max of his gear, Max spares the Captain's life when he reveals the existence of a nearby encampment where fuel is abundant. With his reluctant prisoner in tow, Max heads for the compound, where he discovers that it is under siege by a horde of thugs under the direction of a fearsome, merciless warlord known as the Humungus (Kjell Nilsson). Talking his way in between attacks, Max learns that the relatively civilized (and unfortunately, rather colorless) inhabitants have a tankerload of fuel and are planning to use it in a breakout run to the coast. The problem: they have no truck that can haul the tanker. Max, however, knows where one can be found. A deal is struck, but first Max must get past the Humungus and his chief enforcer, the mohawk-wearing maniac Wez (Vernon Wells)...
As much a re-imagining as a sequel to Miller's low-budget Aussie hit 'Mad Max', the movie displays a bleak, unrelentingly violent vision of the future that will be off-putting to some, but packs a definite wallop. Highlights include Gibson's subtle, nearly wordless performance as a man who has withdrawn from life but, in aiding the trapped people of the compound, gradually regains his humanity; Wells' counterpoint as the barking mad, gleefully savage Wez; Miller's clever mixing of Western, Samurai, Horror and Sci-Fi story elements; superb widescreen photography and Brian May score; and of course the breathtaking action sequences, climaxing in a 45-minute chase involving dozens of vehicles and done entirely with practical stunts.
Although the plot is little more than a way to string the chases and battles together, and a good portion of the dialogue is embarrassingly banal, Miller packs the screen with so many bizarre characters and fascinating details that the movie remains entertaining throughout. An essential film.