Mel Gibson Makes War On The Queen Of Rock In Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Classic
In 1983, two years after the release of The Road Warrior, Mad Max co-creator Byron Kennedy was killed in a helicopter crash in New South Wales, Australia. In order to fight through his grief, Kennedy’s friend and collaborator George Miller made Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. The threequel marks Mel Gibson’s final time as Max Rockatansky, and pits his hero against a villain played by the late Tina Turner.
Bartertown
George Miller’s post-apocalyptic saga offers few refuges of near-civilization to its doomed characters. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome introduces us to Bartertown, one these few heartless oases.
Robbed of almost everything in the desert by a clever pilot, Max finds his way to Bartertown with only one thing to trade—death. Proving his skill in an impromptu ambush/audition, Max makes a deal with Bartertown boss Aunty Entity (Turner) to assassinate her rival Master Blaster.
But Master Blaster isn’t just a man, but two men: there is the mechanical adept The Master (Angelo Rossitto) and the physically powerful man who carries him around, The Blaster (Paul Larsson). When Max comes close to accomplishing his mission but learns more about the nature of The Blaster, things go sideways between Max and Aunty.
Planet Erf
The hero of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is near death in the desert when he’s saved by the young Savannah Nix (Helen Buday), who believes him to be a mythical hero named Captain Walker.
Planet Erf is a genuine oasis inhabited a tribe of feral children who are descendants of plane crash survivors. According to the oral history passed down by the tribe, the plane’s captain left and promised to return one day. Max, they’re convinced, is their promised savior.
Shortly after Max arrives, Savannah and a small squad of children follow her into the desert. Max follows to save them—putting himself and the children on a collision course with Aunty and the warriors of Bartertown.
A Kinder, Gentler Mad Max
For better or worse, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is the least brutal in a film series known for its brutality.
Like most of the films, it ends with a climactic road clash—in this case with Max, the children of Planet Erf, the Master, and a former Bartertown prisoner known only as Pig Killer (Robert Grubb) packed into a few ancient train cars while fighting off Aunty’s cronies.
While the bloodletting of the final fight is nothing like what we see in franchise entries like The Road Warrior or Mad Max: Fury Road, it’s still a thrilling, suspenseful sequence.
A Funnier, More Hopeful Mad Max
It may almost be jarring to watch something like Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, especially if you were introduced to the franchise with a film like Fury Road or The Road Warrior. Along with being less violent, it ends on a more hopeful note than any movie in the series.
It’s also the funniest of the entries, and it gives us some of the most interesting villains. Along with the ruthless Aunty there’s her chief muscle—the almost hilariously unkillable Ironbar (Angry Anderson).
Stream It Now
GFR SCORE
Maybe it’s just nostalgia, maybe Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is just my comfort movie, but put a gun to my head and tell me I have to watch one of the Mad Max movies right now, and I’d be more likely to choose Beyond Thunderdome than most. Furiosa and Fury Road are better, The Road Warrior is the most iconic of the series, but there is something about Thunderdome‘s unique flavor that will always bring me back. You can stream it now on Max.
