Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

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If I'm gonna be perfectly honest about the 'Mad Max' series and my personal taste, it has never been a series I truly loved or held close to my heart in any way. But I do enjoy looking back on them as fun action films that use a good amount of practical effects and stunts, making everything that much more natural and frankly better in execution. Frankly, I'm not entirely sure why this whole concept never really attached itself to me, because by all accounts, it's nevertheless appreciated by me. But I swear the only one I truly love is 'Fury Road'.

Having said that, I must admit that 'Beyond Thunderdome' actually sits as the one I probably find the second-most entertaining of the batch. 'Thunderdome' did a good job of doing something new with the series by introducing the likes of Bartertown and its infamous Thunder Dome, where, by law, disputes are solved in a fight to the death in what appears to be a giant jungle gym. Two men enter, one man leaves, and the whole thing is run by Tina Turner (as the character Aunty Entity).

Max finds himself stuck in Bartertown after his motorised vehicle one might be able to call a souped up car is hijacked by a bandit named Jedediah (Bruce Spence) and his son (Adam Cockburn). It seems kinda unclear as to whether or not Jed is the same character from 'Road Warrior', but I believe we're supposed to assume it is, all things considered. Anyway, Max follows the trail to Bartertown where he meets Aunty Entity, who offers to resupply him if he takes on "Blaster" for control of Bartertown.

"Blaster" (Paul Larsson) is a burly bodyguard for "Master" (Angelo Rossitto), a little person who rides around on his back, and together they call themselves "Master Blaster", which, if I'm not mistaken, has since become a fun game to play in the pool. Aunty's motivation for this is to kill Blaster so she can get to Master and bend him to her will, and take control of Bartertown. Things don't go quite right for Max, however, and he is eventually sent into exile on horseback, with no supplies.

It's not long until Max is discovered by a tribe of children and teenagers who are descendants of survivors of a plane crash, and who believe Max is there to save them all and take them to "Tomorror-morrow Land"; essentially what they believe to be a thriving city that has survived the apocalyptic wasteland that is the world of 'Mad Max'. Disillusioned, some still believe in such a place, as Max tries to stop them from leaving and ultimately getting themselves killed. But, as it goes, some kids just don't listen.

What follows is where the film kinda takes off, as Max and a bunch of reckless kids infiltrate Bartertown in search of the rest of the kids as well as Max's vehicle. Like all of these first three movies, it's really the last half hour plus of action that makes the film worthwhile. This took everything cool about 'Road Warrior', cranked it up, and added some lore to the whole world. At times it cal feel a bit draggy (I never did like the chanting of these kids), but altogether, it's a solid execution, and I'd argue the characters are just more memorable here.

A little extra is added here with Tina Turner's song 'We Don't Need Another Hero' on its end credits, and I'm personally a sucker for those retro credit tunes, so for me, it just adds to the whole experience of the time and era this film was released in. It's like a reminder that it IS a cheesy 80s action film, and it helps to take it less seriously and have more fun with it. But as far as I'm concerned, there is no 'Mad Max' title more fun than the next chapter, which wouldn't even come around until another thirty years after this third chapter! And totally worth it!

4/5

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