I've watched the first two Mad Max movies back in December of last year, and I've even watched the recent "Fury Road" movie which just came out last month in the theaters, but for some reason I never gotten around to watching the third movie in the series until now. I think it's because I was scared of trying it after hearing a lot of people say it's the worst in the series. But is it?Just like in all of the other Mad Max movies (with perhaps the exception of the first one), "Beyond Thunderdome" is set in the apocalyptic future where there's nothing but pretty much sand and dirt except for a few traces of towns and human life here and there if you're lucky. Do you need to see the others to enjoy this movie? Probably not since they all have different story lines although, I think it probably would be best if you saw the movies in chronological order here starting with the first so you can understand more about Max's past.
In "Beyond Thunderdome", Max (played by Mel Gibson) has his vehicle which is being pulled by camels stolen and then after following their trail, somehow stumbles upon this place called Bartertown. He's forbidden to enter at first, but is brought before the founder and leader of Bartertown, the ruthless Aunt Entity (played by singer Tina Turner). Some other crap happens, which I won't get into detail, which then leads to the queen banishing Max from the town and sent to the desert to die, until he gets saved by a tribe of children.
One thing I really appreciate about these movies is that they're so beautifully shot, and "Beyond Thunderdome" is no different. Everything has an enormous amount of color and attention to detail. Even the empty desert scenes are amazing to look at. It's so damn pleasing to the eye.
The action sequences are also really well done. There's one scene I really enjoyed which involves Max fighting in an arena against Aunt Entity's greatest warrior. The "dome" (which is called the Thunderdome) is a giant upside-down framework bowl. In the dome, the fighters are not just limited to fighting on the ground, as they are placed on harnesses on long elastic straps, so they can leap to top to bottom and from side to side with great lethal bounds. The weapons available like chainsaws, sledgehammers, broadaxes, and hung from the inside of the dome. It's very intense! The dome is an original idea for setting up a fighting match in a movie, and it works great! The finale, which is a chase scene involving cars, trucks, and trains, is really fun too!
I'm not sure how I feel about the second act involving the tribe of children. On one hand, it adds some interesting human drama to the movie, but on the other hand, it slowed the pace down a little. It's also a bit of a weird shift in tone from something dark to something that leans toward innocent. This didn't ruin the movie for me, but it did leave something to be desired.
Another thing I need to bring up is while I do appreciate and enjoy this series of movies a lot, I was never, well, completely obsessed over them. See, there are times when they just across as really bizarre in moments where certain characters (and their expressions) and motivations don't make any sort of sense. It's really hard to explain, and maybe this sounds really nitpicky, but I'm not going to pretend this problem doesn't exist, as this kept me from enjoying these movies to their fullest extent (including Beyond Thunderdome sadly). Again, this doesn't ruin the movie that badly, but it's worth bringing up.
With all that being said and done though, this movie is still pretty badass and a lot of fun. You may even overlook my honest qualms with it, and still have a good time. As far the series go, I would rank this movie maybe in 3rd place in terms of enjoyment under "Road Warrior" and "Fury Road". If you love action movies, give this series a try. "Beyond Thunderdome" is a pretty decent quality action movie.
I give Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985) co-directed by George Miller and George Ogilvie a 7 out of 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment