Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

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Although Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, the third part of George Miller's post-apocalyptic Mad Max trilogy, is certainly the least of the bunch (Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior is the undisputed masterpiece, and maybe the best action movie ever made), it has still got a good share of imaginative industrial-wasteland-pastiche imagery. And casting Tina Turner as Aunty Entity, the queen of Bartertown, was a masterstroke. Mel Gibson's character Max is pitted in a battle to the death against the bizarre Master Blaster in the Thunderdome, flying around on rubbery straps inside a sort of gigantic overturned colander with bloodthirsty spectators clinging to the outside. Miller's producing partner, Byron Kennedy, was killed in a helicopter crash while scouting locations for this film. Miller was devastated, only agreeing to direct the action sequences--and, somehow, you feel his heart wasn't entirely in it. --Jim Emerson

Customer Reviews:

No future in feudalism and slavery.......2007-08-13

The motor vehicles are going to be there, even a plane. The desert is going to be there too. But the whole world has regressed for a reason we don't know - but do we care? - losing all its technology and its energy. But Mel Gibson takes the orientation that humanity will not regress in inventiveness nor even in intelligence, which means it will reinvent some kind of civilization by developing new sources of energy, this time the energy that can be produced by pig slime, the gas that comes out of it that can be used in plenty of machines and for might. Thus they reinvent a civilization based on pig slime (and that is a Pauline element that must not be neglected: it is neither Jewish, nor Moslem) as the source of energy of their society. That's the positive point. But there is another side that is less positive. The necessity to establish some protective body and some protection against the outside world and outsiders that may try to intrude, some captured power and established their absolute authority over the others in a society that cannot afford the luxury of democracy, just some kind of rules that are not really written but chanted at any crucial moment like a performative prayer. Hence they reinvent feudalism for most people and slavery for some. They reinvent circus games to entertain the masses and control human emotions and passions. Gladiators reappear as such public performances: two men go in and one leaves, provided he kills the other one before. If he does not then he breaks the deal and has to face the wheel that can give him any kind of violent end, death by what ever torture you may imagine, the best choice (at least you survive some time without any direct physical torture and maiming) being the Gulag: to be sent in the heart of the desert and die there, at best of thirst. But Mel Gibson is already taken by the divine devil of some religious vision more or less inspired by the Bible. So the whole story is told by the survivors a certain hero-messiah-savior has helped escape this hell in order to move back to the derelict and ruinous cities of the old days. And this salvation is in fact a union of him, Mad Max, with these outcasts in order to re-enter Bartertown, the city of the dominant society that lives on pig energy. There they are able to recapture some vehicles to escape this world, at first a "train" that runs on rails, and, at the end of the tracks, a plane that was waiting for some opportunity to serve, with its pilot and a kid enjoying their permanent idleness. A rainbow alliance of all against this tyrannical society of Bartertown. And they manage to escape except Mad Max who has to sacrifice his own life to enable the others to fly away. And he will be left there in the middle of the desert to die of thirst probably. But what can we say about this vision of the future after the final catastrophe that will bring humanity back to antiquity? First the tyrannical society is led by a woman, mind you black, and she is a more violent and exacting leader than any fascist leader you can have met in history textbooks. Women, and black women at that, are not representing a soft and comfortable future. But maybe only black women will be able to govern the people to survive these dire straits? That's an idea. Especially since the one who is telling the story of Mad Max the Savior is a woman too, though white. Maybe after all women have to become central because of their role in procreation, and surviving in difficult circumstances is not a question of sex, or sex does not make the slightest difference, and yet the gladiators are men (listen to the chant) and the savior is a man. Is there some sexism and a touch of racism in Mel Gibson's vision? What's important after all is to be able to impose the discipline necessary to survive as a group with some indispensable hierarchy. Humanity will not regress to any inferior level of intelligence, as H.G. Wells had thought for example in The Time Machine. What will regress is the social order, the mode of production. No more supermarkets for humanity but only bartering. No more democracy but feudalism. No more free labor market but slavery and serfdom for most. No more virtual games and entertainments but real gladiators games and fights to the death. And no escape from this hell on earth but thanks to a savior that will lead the outcasts of this society to a migration back to the old cities and skyscrapers of the past where they will have to reinvent what is indispensable for humanity to become better, a religion based on a human savior who is also divine since he was the savior and died in his self-imposed mission. We can smile at the naivety of the idea, but it is inescapable and true that there cannot be any real humane civilization without a spiritual ideology or attitude, and that is called a religion or a philosophy, and these civilizing factors are based on the personality of one person, a savior in the Christian tradition, a prophet in the Jewish or Moslem tradition, or a founder in the Buddhist tradition. And it does not matter whether it is a myth or whether the action of the man has been distorted to stick to some kind of rite. What is important is that such a figure is the inspirer of humanism and human life. Humanity cannot be human without a religion of some spiritual belief.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne

Everthing and everone he knew is gone.......2007-06-06

He had a wife and son, both gone. I like that is set in parts of Austraila.
Tina Tuner, Mel Gibson

The End of Max?.......2006-09-24

The original concept for MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME didn't even include Mad Max. The original idea was about a group of orphaned children living out in the wild alone and a man who finds them. Then someone came up with the idea of Max being their "savior" and the film soon became a "Mad Max" project.

In MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME, Max is left alone to "die" in the desert. He makes his way through and comes to Bartertown, a city of last resort that has been able to maintain some of the technological capabilities of our former civilization. Bartertown might have been influenced by old Western bordertowns, but it reminded me of a poor-persons version of Mos Eisly from STAR WARS. Anyway, Max finds himself in the middle of a power struggle in the town and ends up fighting in a Coliseum like place called the Thunderdome, but people in Bartertown don't fight fair and after the fight Max is banished from the city into the desert. There he is found by a group of orphaned children who believe he is the pilot of their plane that crashed many years ago. Some of the children believe it is time to leave and return to their true home and they follow Max, but before they can return to their place of origin, they have to go through Bartertown.

MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME had the biggest budget of any Mad Max film. It re-united star Mel Gibson with director George Miller and a second director was hired so Miller could focus on the vehicle chases and action sequences. The film also has Tina Turner playing the villain, Aunty Entity. With all that going for it the film should have been something extraordinary.

Instead MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME ended up being the least thrilling of the Mad Max films. There's more action in the film than in the previous films in the series and Aunty Entity is a nemesis with more character than ones we've seen Max face before. And of course there's an awesome chase sequence at the end of the film.

The major problem with MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME is that there is too much going on in the film. ROAD WARRIOR had a very strict plot and even MAD MAX with all the back-story and character build-up had a fairly simple plot, but BEYOND THUNDERDOME is filled with all sorts of convolutions. The movie opens promising enough with a little bit of humor (the opening scene reminds me of an INDIANA JONES humorous moment), but when the action moves to Bartertown things get complicated. First there's the whole idea of how Bartertown is operated. Then there's the power struggle that we have to be acquainted with. There's also the concept of the Thunderdome and the purpose it serves and why it exists. Along the way we also discover that there's a entire class system to Bartertown: the lower classes and untouchables are forced to work in the sties of pig poop that power the city and they are on the verge of revolting. Had the action been confined to Bartertown, things wouldn't have been too bad. But just as one thinks the movie is ending and entire new element is added: the orphaned children living in the wild who think Max is Captain Walker come back from the land beyond to save them. Of course, after the kids are introduced you just know that they are going to end up fighting the evil overlords of Bartertown and they do. The lost kids really screwed with the movie big time. In MAD MAX the bad guys ran over children for pleasure. In BEYOND THUNDERDOME we sense that these baddies are bad, but not bad enough to actually kill the kids. They just want to enslave them or raise them up as heirs. So, instead of enriching the movie, the second act ends up twisting it; think of INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM and how all those stolen children screwed up that film. Of course, there's also the problem of Tina Turner. She's about as convincing as an evil powerful warlord as Paris Hilton is as a spokesperson for being celibate.

Still, MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME does have its moments. George Miller knows how to film chase scenes and the final chase that makes up the last act of the movie is an extraordinary bit of filmmaking involving a flying machine, a train, and lots and lots and lots of other cars and motorized vehicles. Of course, there's also Mel Gibson as Max. ROAD WARRIOR was a superior movie, but the Max in BEYOND THUNDERDOME is the most likeable; he has all the wisdom and experience from the first two films, but regains the compassion and joy he had during most of the first movie. Maybe Max isn't so mad anymore.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.......2006-08-10

so far so good . Have not watched it yet. Ocean7739

Lush continuation of 'The Road Warrior'. Buy It........2006-08-05

`Mad Max, Beyond Thunderdome', directed by Kennedy - Miller, and starring Mel Gibson and Tina Turner, is an obvious and explicit sequel to the iconic sleeper, `The Road Warrior'. In many ways, `...Beyond Thunderdome' is a better movie, but when all is said and done, `...Beyond Thunderdome' does just a bit too much copying of its precursor to stand on it's own two feet, like `Aliens', as an independent movie.

Some of the many things which are better are the acting, the believability of the heavies and their back story, the sound track, including two terrific performances by Tina Turner, and the subplot involving the gang of `lost boys' in the second half of the movie.

And yet, the story seems just a little contrived. Both the master-blaster character pair and the `lost boys' story seem just a bit too contrived. On the other side of the coin, the development of what may be called `The Lord of the Flies' premise, where children are left to their own devices, is masterfully done, enhanced so well by morphing the language from modern Australian slang to something bordering on a new dialect makes one want to check that the script wasn't written by Anthony Burgess (see his `Clockwork Orange', as realized by Stanley Kubrick).

My primary objective in writing this review is to celebrate my adoration for this movie, which affected me almost as much as `2001' and `Lord of the Rings', even though these are far superior movies overall. A fairer comparison is to `Silent Running', the ecodisaster story featuring Bruce Dern and a soundtrack of Joan Baez songs. Both movies simply struck a chord with their very effective warnings about how mankind may shoot itself in the food.

Unfortunately, both movies are also not strong enough to sustain an effective suspension of disbelief to last beyond the walk to the theatre doors after seeing them for the third or fourth time. Where `Alien' and `Blade Runner' work, these work just a bit less well.

But they are still important films.

The Road Warrior / Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (Double Feature)

Average customer rating:

A good collection, don't know what everyone's griping about...
anoid
POINTLESS
Absolute Rubbish! Do not buy.
A FULL SCREEN rip-off

The Road Warrior / Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (Double Feature)
Starring: Mel Gibson , Bruce Spence , Michael Preston , Max Phipps , and Vernon Wells
Director: George Miller (II) , and George Ogilvie
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000NA1WGS
Release Date: 2007-05-22

Description

All roads lead to excitement for Mel Gibson's Mad Max! In a world destroyed by the ravages of nuclear war, gasoline is a currency of the realm. Enter Max, champion of underdog survivors living in a fuel-depot camp. Make way for him and The Road Warrior [Side A], the Apocalypse on wheels that put Gibson on the Hollywood map for keeps and ranks as one of the most mind-blowing stunt movies ever made. Our hero returns for more astonishing adventures in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome [Side B]. This time, Max defends the future - a group of abandoned children - and enters the gladiatorial maces-and-chainsaws combat inside Thunderdome arena. Awesome!

Customer Reviews:

A good collection, don't know what everyone's griping about..........2007-07-13

I've always been a fan of the Mad Max movies, but never got to see "The Road Warrior" until I found this DVD. It was only $9.99 at Kmart, and I figured, "2 movies on 1 DVD for 10 bucks, including the one MAD MAX movie I've never seen, sounds great!" So I bought it, watched it, and loved it!
Alot of people are complaining about the DVDs Full Screen aspect ratio, lack of special features, and poor picture quality... I have to say, I don't know what everyone's talking about... I can't stand Wide Screen (16:9) format, looks like you're squinting all the time! I'll admit, "The Road Warrior" didn't have many special features, but "Beyond Thunder Dome" had plenty. As for the DVDs picture quality, it looks fine. Although "Road Warrior" looked a little fuzzy, it was definitely better than anything I've ever taped off of TV.
I don't regret buying this DVD, and I'm happy with it.
I got 2 great movies on 1 disc for cheap, so I've got nothing to complain about.

If you're like me, and just want to watch MAD MAX 2 & 3 at home on your DVD player, then buy this DVD.
If you're a cinema junky who's obcessed with dual aspect ratios and loads of special features, then you're better off buying each movie separately.

anoid.......2007-07-08

These movies contain subtitles whether you want them or not I found this terrably distracting considering these movies are in english already. I cannot recomend this double feature. If other versions don't have the subtitles I'd go with that.

POINTLESS.......2007-05-26

FULL SCREEN?? Upon waiting and waiting for rerelease of The Road Warrior only to find it an even lesser format is quite a disappointment. Especially having paid for something I would have never wasted the money on if not being MISLED by the product information.
I can only hope someday Warner Bros. will do justice with a decent DVD release of the only worthy & brilliant follow up to Mad Max.

Absolute Rubbish! Do not buy........2007-05-24

Despite what the Product Details state, both movies are in Full Screen only, what a waste. (Unless you like Full Screen, then you're welcome to it). These movies have a solid audience, why can't Warner Bros. realise this and put out a decent version on DVD? The movies on this disc don't look much better than the ones I taped off television... a decade ago. I would send mine back, but I'd already opened it before I discovered what a ripoof this was. Had the Format been accurately stated, I wouldn't have purchased it in the first place. Very disappointing.

A FULL SCREEN rip-off.......2007-05-24

There's no excuse for these two films to be full screen only. Even at under $10 bucks it's a major rip-off. A resounding boooooooo to Warner Bros. for this botched double-feature.

The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (2 Pack)

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The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (2 Pack)
Director: George Miller , and George Ogilvie
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Product Description

The Road Warrior DVD new----------------------------In the annals of action movies few can compare with The Road Warrior, a full-throttle epic of speed and carnage that rockets you into a dreamlike landscape where the postnuclear future meets the mythological past. More simple, its also one of the most mind-blowing stunt movies ever made. Before he took aim in three Lethal Weapons and started in 1994's Maverick, Mel Gibson had already made his mark on movie history as Max, the heroic loner who drives the roads of outback. Australia in an unending search for gasoline. Arrayed against him and the other scraggly defenders of a fuel-depot encampment are the bizarre warriors commanded by The Humungus, notorious for never taking prisoners when they can pulverize them instead. When the battle is joined, the results are savage, spectacular and " a smashing good time at the movies" (Sheila Benson, Los Angeles Times). With The Road Warrior on your side, screen action doesn't get any better.Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome DVD new---------------------------------------Special features:- Interective Menus, Production Notes, Theatrical Trailer, Scene Access

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Thunderdome
Starring: Nicholas Wright , Danica Dias , Sean Michael Beyer , Eric Flenner , and Tamie Sheffield
Director: Dan Goldman (II)
Manufacturer: Hanover House
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0000VD10K
Release Date: 2004-02-25

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Thunderdome
Starring: Nicholas Wright , Danica Dias , Sean Michael Beyer , Eric Flenner , and Tamie Sheffield
Director: Dan Goldman (II)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B00009MGI9

Average customer rating:

No future in feudalism and slavery
Everthing and everone he knew is gone
The End of Max?
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Lush continuation of 'The Road Warrior'. Buy It.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome [Region 2]
Starring: Mel Gibson , Tina Turner , Bruce Spence , Adam Cockburn , and Frank Thring
Director: George Miller (II) , and George Ogilvie
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00004RYJD

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Customer Reviews:

No future in feudalism and slavery.......2007-08-13

Everthing and everone he knew is gone.......2007-06-06

He had a wife and son, both gone. I like that is set in parts of Austraila.
Tina Tuner, Mel Gibson

The End of Max?.......2006-09-24

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.......2006-08-10

so far so good . Have not watched it yet. Ocean7739

Lush continuation of 'The Road Warrior'. Buy It........2006-08-05

Average customer rating:

No future in feudalism and slavery
Everthing and everone he knew is gone
The End of Max?
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Lush continuation of 'The Road Warrior'. Buy It.

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B00004CXXA

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

No future in feudalism and slavery.......2007-08-13

Everthing and everone he knew is gone.......2007-06-06

He had a wife and son, both gone. I like that is set in parts of Austraila.
Tina Tuner, Mel Gibson

The End of Max?.......2006-09-24

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.......2006-08-10

so far so good . Have not watched it yet. Ocean7739

Lush continuation of 'The Road Warrior'. Buy It........2006-08-05

Average customer rating:

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00004VYLC

Average customer rating:

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

All Deals | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0000VD10U
Release Date: 2004-02-25

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