My Thoughts on: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

*note: This review was requested by Patreon subscriber @AlienPizzareia as part of his reward tier.

Believe it or not, all this time I’ve never seen a Mad Max film before. I’m not sure if Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome was the best place to start but for better or worse this was my introduction to the Mad Max series and I have…thoughts.

The one thing I did know about this film going in is that it’s set in a post-apocalyptic time, after nuclear conflict devastates the world. As a result, the land (Australia in this case) is crawling with insane gangs that ride around in souped-up ramshackle vehicles and dressed all kinds of crazy. As crazy as it all looks, it also feels scarily believable, like, if the world did exist past an apocalypse I could almost believe that it would be full of people like this, that dress and act like this.

I love Tina Turner as Aunty Entity. She comes across as something of a b*tch, but if you think about it, as sadistic and harsh as her “laws” are, they DO preserve some semblance of law and order in Bartertown (though I do use the words “law and order” extremely loosely). She is such a badass though, I liked watching her do her stuff. (And am I crazy or was she wearing an outfit made out of chainmail?)

My favorite part in the whole film was the fight in the titular Thunderdome. I didn’t think I would like this scene at all but I found myself getting into it, especially when the combatants started springing up into the rafters to get weapons and fight. That fight shouldn’t have been as good as it was, but I liked it and it just worked. Also, the reveal of Blaster as being mentally handicapped came as quite the surprise, since it made me re-evaluate everything the character had done up until the reveal (he’s not really evil, he’s just doing what he’s told and I have a feeling he doesn’t really understand the ramifications of what he’s doing).

I have mixed feelings however, about the plot with the children. It’s not a bad subplot, it’s just, compared to everything you seen Bartertown before this, the sequences with the children and their tribal way of life feels like it comes from a completely separate film. I did like though, how the “tell” narrated for the audience (and Max) how the children got into this situation without making it boring. One wonders how long they’ve been waiting for someone to rescue them. I initially thought these were the children of the adults who left but given how they talk with such mangled English, it’s entirely possible these are the children of the children that were left behind. I just think this plot would’ve worked better as its own film.

I’m glad I finally watched a Mad Max film, I get now why many people like them (those car chases are insane!). I think I’ll have to watch more Mad Max films in the future just to see how they stack up to this one.

What do you think about Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and have a great day!