If civilization has collapsed,where are all these cars getting their gasoline?

Easily Fury Road. The first two were low budget b-grade movies at best, while the third was just silly. Fury Road has flame throwing electric guitar powered vehicles. And Charlize Theron.

B-grade though it may be, I still gravitate towards the human drama at the center of Road Warrior more than any of the others. I can appreciate the spectacle of Fury Road, but Miller's decision to over-emphasize the visual aspect of the film left me unconnected from most of the characters, especially Max. I get what Miller was trying to do, and he was successful, but the overall effect wasn't as satisfying for me.

Road Warrior for me.

Part of the problem here is that Fury Road isn't even good.

Jay, you just don't, like, get it, man.

I liked Fury Road, but it reminded me of a Michael Moorcock style recycling of ideas - Max is the 'eternal champion' and George Miller is the auteur who's decided to reconfigure the same mythic tropes over and over in slightly different styles or combinations (as Moorcock did in his Elric, Jerry Cornelius, Prince Corum and Dorian Hawkmoon novels). It's the same adventure, same struggle, with slightly differing protagonists or - in the case of the Road Warrior - the same protagonist in a very different setting.

With the second movie, Miller really hit his stride with the idea of a post-apocalyptic dystopia. It spawned an army of imitators but was never bettered, IMO. The first Mad Max movie is different - it shows us a society in decay, on the verge of collapse, but still limping along. It shows us the beginning of the end.

Road Warrior is in the tradition of stuff like A Boy & His Dog, only it's peculiarly Australian in lots of ways that I can't really define. It's one of the most Australian movies that's ever been made, I think. It has a particularly Australian sense of humour about it, and the idea of the Feral Kid growing up to be the elderly man who's narrating the story of Max (and of how the world ended and began again) at the beginning is a great touch. That whole concept echoes throughout Beyond Thunderdome (the kids from the oasis who revere Max as their mythic folk hero 'Captain Walker' who's arrived to help them 'get home', and he actually manages to live up to their expectations), and is a major part of Fury Road: in all three of these movies Max's selfless heroism is integral to the rebirth of what will eventually become civilisation, and he's ultimately responsible for the liberation of those who'll create the future/rediscover the lost knowledge of the past.

He's also more genuinely 'mad' in Fury Road than we've ever seen him before, and is hallucinating constantly. He's almost an animal when the War Boys capture him, and he struggles to reassert his own humanity throughout the story.

Road Warrior, though, is my favourite. It's completely insane, and I'd never seen anything quite like it before when it came out.

Is there a Moorcock analogue for the Gyrocaptain?

I like all of them for different reasons.

Mad Max: Introduces the Interceptor. Young Mel Gibson is something to see. Good revenge story.
Road Warrior: Overall, just awesome.
Thunderdome: I like so much of this movie. Love Bartertown, the battle in the Thunderdome, and even the lost children story line. Only complaint is that it should've been R rated.
Fury Road: Spectacular follow-up. BUT, miss Mel Gibson, miss the Interceptor, felt like it was more of Furiosa's movie and not Max's. But, that said, still thoroughly enjoyed it.

I went with The Road Warrior. More than any of them, it captured the bleakness - both of the world, and his spirit - the best. And by humanizing the people for longer during the film, it added more weight to the climactic battle scenes. Fury Road was visually stunning, but less emotionally satisfying.

The blind captain who steers the ship on the ocean between different realities in The Sailor on the Seas of Fate might be a decent analogue for him.

It's my own insane theory, but I think Miller has read Moorcock's stuff and is effectively doing the same thing with Mad Max.

There are various characters who are masked in the Mad Max movies, and that means different things in each case, but it's a recurring image. It can be the main bad guy (Immortan Joe or The Humungus), or someone who's unexpectedly revealed to be pitiable once their mask is removed (Blaster, or the guy with the flamethrower guitar).

Miller uses the removing or putting on of masks to surprise the audience or alter their perception of a character, often in the midst of a moment of violence.

Fury Road
Road Warrior
Mad Max







Beyond Thunderdome

Come on, now...Thunderdome had some awesome car chases in it, and some great stunts.

It also had Tina Turner over-acting to a toxic degree, and possibly Mel's worst performance in a movie...but the car chases save it for me.

I do love all these movies, but my list would be...

The Road Warrior
Fury Road
Mad Max






Beyond Thunderdome.

I just don't see any problems with the performances in Thunderdome. Sure, the movie is a significant tonal shift from the Road Warrior, but not any more so than the tonal shift from Mad Max to Road Warrior.

Let me clarify that last post: Tina Turner may be over-acting, but for me, it seems consistent with her character. I also don't see Mel's as his "worst performance in a movie".

It's just my personal opinion. I thought he was mugging way too much...although, for all I know, that was the director's fault. I dunno. I just remember being underwhemed by it.

For me, the musical score in Thunderdome is just way too twee.



"Let's go on an adventure with our new dad, Max!"

But I used to love that title song they released as a single. Because it actually mentions ♫ life bey-aahhnd . . . the THUNDERDOME! ♪.

Contrary to popular opinion, Jay, in fact, did indeed need another hero.