IMDb user comments for
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) More at IMDbPro »

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 13:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Index

124 comments in total

---

34 out of 40 people found the following comment useful :-
Underrated, 20 April 1999
Author: Spaz-11 from Texas, USA

When I first saw Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, I felt disappointed. It was a letdown from its amazing predecessor. I knew its reputation as an unworthy sequel, but I still realized there was something good about it, something I had never heard from other people's points of view.

It wasn't until some time later when I watched the series a second time that I noticed what it was.

Those who think MMBT is not as exciting as The Road Warrior would be right. But those that think MMBT sucks because it is not as exciting as The Road Warrior would be missing the point. What makes MMBT a worthy sequel is its way of establishing a greater scope of the setting the series takes place in. The dredges of civilization were what set the stage for the series in the original Mad Max. The barren world of desert wastelands and sparse outposts take the idea of a post-apocalyptic world one step further in The Road Warrior. A squalid setting such as Bartertown and an oasis where the tribe of children lived in MMBT once again builds on the elaborate fantasy that makes the series as popular as it is. The final, chilling realization of just what became of civilization in the closing moments of the movie are more than enough explanation as to why the the world the viewer sees in the trilogy is the way it is.

I was too young when I first saw MMBT to understand this. It wouldn't be until I saw it again some time later, with more movie-viewing experience under my belt that I realized that what makes Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome tick is not action set pieces, but a far more subtle approach of atmospheric setting.

---

45 out of 65 people found the following comment useful :-
I can't believe how low the imdb rating is on this film!, 23 May 2000

Author: zetes from Saint Paul, MN

Sure it's probably the least good of the Mad Max films, but it is still entertaining as heck! It is maybe a little more Hollywood (which is a bad thing) than the first two. The music is overbearing at times, and some of the attempts at jokes were very cheap and American blockbusterish.

One of the main faults that has to be sited with this one is that the last thirty minutes or so are basically taken straight from The Road Warrior. The car chase and then the speech about how a stranger helped them establish a new society were taken right out of the 2nd installment.

It still is very creative, and the action has a wonderful momentum. I love the whole society that finds Max in the desert. I loved the recitation of their foundation, and I loved their dialect. I loved Masterblaster. And Tina Turner was actually cool, too. 8/10

---

30 out of 47 people found the following comment useful :-
What the Hell?, 22 March 2001
Author: darkgodmobutu from The Pit of Ultimate Darkness

What the hell happened with this one? I understand that it's the third entry into an otherwise flawless series and that George Miller didn't put his whole heart into it (suffering the loss of longtime friend and producer Byron Kennedy), and that it had two directors, but still...what the hell? This movie starts out top-notch, and it seems like it's going to be a superb follow up to the brilliant Road Warrior, and then about halfway through it turns into friggin' Peter Pan meets Lord of the Flies! Mel Gibson was great in this film, and working as hard as he could to make it work. Tina Turner was adequate, but not spectacular. I understand the film maker's intentions to try and take the series into a completely different direction and all, but why would you pick this direction? And what was up with that Gyro Captain guy from Road Warrior being cast as a similar character? Why not just bring his character back? I don't know, maybe it was the same character, I really wasn't awake for most of this film. If you want to catch a top-notch Mad Max film pick up either the first or second, both are far superior to this one.

I give this one * * 1/2 out of * * * * *

Oh yeah, and what's up with that annoying Ironbar guy not dying? He gets hit by a train, thrown off a bridge, and has his car destroyed with him in it, and yet he still doesn't die!

---

18 out of 28 people found the following comment useful :-
Mad Max, Lord Of the Flyers, 20 September 2005

Author: Hal-900 from WA, USA

Sequels to successful movies are always treated like unwanted children. I think this third film in the Mad Max saga deserves to be treated like a firstborn. I don't care much for the first Mad Max movie, but the second one is an action masterpiece. I love this second sequel because it does not try to copy the previous movies in the series; this is an entirely different creature. The film has its own energy, but it never betrays the ideas and characters of the first two movies. In fact, I think the only way to understand what the filmmakers are trying to do with the character of Max, is to watch all three movies. If we were to apply Christian values to the saga (I'm sure Gibson himself would not object to that), all three chapters can be seen as one long story of redemption. In the first movie Max loses his humanity. The second movie deals mostly with a soulless creature, and in the third film Max finally reclaims his humanity. From that perspective, this is a very interesting (final?) chapter. At first, the viewer is fooled into believing that this is going to be another action-filled story, but soon the real story unravels and we are treated with a terrific storyline that has philosophical undertones. Tina Turner is mesmerizing as the main baddie, and she also sings the great main song. A fitting conclusion to a very interesting saga, and still a very much unappreciated movie.

---

22 out of 36 people found the following comment useful :-
"Mad" Max + P.G.-13 = Tame and lame movie., 4 June 2004

Author: Captain_Couth (sirjosephu@aol.com) from Sacramento, CA

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) was a travesty. Even though it takes place in an even bleaker future, the filmmakers decided to line their pockets even further by making this one "family friendly (i.e. P.G.-13). What made the other films gritty and nihilistic is missing from this film. Only a few spots but other than that it's just other one of those sequels that morphed into a more mainstream movie (i.e Robocop 3). Needless to say I was very disappointed because when I was much younger I was a huge Mad Max mark.

The story takes place years after the events that transpired in part two. Max is content with his life out in the wastelands. But one day, the fates would appear. Someone has robbed him of his caravan and his old souped up vehicle (sadly no longer in running condition). When he recovers he finds that all roads lead to one of the last vestiges of civilization, an arm pit called "Bartertown". Whilst in "Bartertown" Max finds the person who cold cocked him but his unable to do anything about it. So, after a brief scuffle with the local authorities Max is taken to meet the "mayor" of "Bartertown" Aunt Enity (Tina Turner). After a brief display of his talents, Enity and Max strike a deal....

Like the other films, the world of Pro Wrestling has taken several themes and characters from this movie (i.e. The Thunderdome and The Master Blasters, etc..). Many knock-offs and wannabes have spawn off of this one as well. It even started up a sub-genre, children living in a post-apocalyptic society films. Not a bad film but die-hards of the first two will be disappointed.

C+

---

28 out of 49 people found the following comment useful :-
Watch and you will agree with the soundtrack song of Mad Max 3 - 'We don't need another hero.', 2 August 2003
Author: Old Joe from Hamilton, Australia

Mad Max 3 has shown me that this Australian film franchise is continuing to be big and successful. Part way through watching this movie, I felt that Mel Gibson was born to play the role of Mad Max, as he suits the character that was created. I was thinking that this film might have had a very 'Hollywood' feel to it. But to my surprise, I was glad to see and hear a very Australian flavour continuing, which has accompanied all the Mad Max movies to date.

Two men enter. One man leaves. That is the law in Bartertown's Thunderdome arena. But lawmaker Aunty Entity will soon add another: Do not get Max mad! Max is back as the hero who takes on the barbarians of the post-nuclear future - and this time becomes the savior of a tribe of lost children. However, the power-mad Aunty Entity, a dominatrix, is determined to use Max to tighten her stranglehold on Bartertown.

What was lacking in the second of the Mad Max movies was its script, which seemed to be underdeveloped, so I was hoping that the 'Beyond Thunderdome' would be better. Thankfully it was, as there was a lot more dialogue, some intriguing characters, and an even better story, which contained a lot of entertaining elements. I especially like the location of Bartertown, as it still had an 'Australian feel' to it, the idea of the Thunderdome was well explained and shown through the story. Then to have Max, be the protector of all these children made the story just that much better. MM3 was written once again by George Miller and Terry Hayes.

But George Miller also did so much more. He directed the third movie, giving it all the necessary touches that have made Mad Max, the movies they are today. Helping Miller in the director's chair is another George, director George Ogilvie. Having two directors I think only enhances the movie all the more. I like the way we see the famous 'Thunderdome' fighting scene, as Miller and Ogilvie focused very much on that event and the many elements within it. I also like the grand view of the open desert that we see numerous times through out the film, as both directors certainly wanted us to see that the conditions surrounding Bartertown were pretty harsh to both humans and animals. Credit for this section of the movie has to also go to the cinematographer, Dean Semler, who shot some great camera angles of the deserts.

MM3 also had some fine performers. Mad Max (Mel Gibson) shows that he is still a force to be reckoned with. His introduction to Aunty Entity (Tina Turner) was highly entertaining, as Max takes an impossible situation to show that he is a person not to be taken lightly. Max, for part of this movie, has long hair, which I believe gives Max an even more silent, heroic, darker edge to his character. However I was not a big fan of Tina Turner's performance in the film, as she did not seem at all in her place as an actress, but the look of her character was effective. Tina sings the song 'We don't need another hero' for the movie's soundtrack.

I also liked the actors with minor roles in the film. Max is told to separate Master-blaster, who is two identities. There is the very small and intelligent Master (Angelo Rossitto), and the very muscular Blaster (Paul Larsson), who Max has the huge encounter with in the Thunderdome. There was also a very Australian feel to this cast. Pigkiller (Robert Grubb) was a peculiar character that I immediately liked. He genuinely wants to help Max's cause in any way he can. Of the nastier looking guys, you have Ironbar (Angry Anderson), who might not have much to say, but has many lives in the film. In fact, many incidents with him are humorous and breathtaking as well. Back in MM3 is Jedediah (Bruce Spence), who now has a son, Jedediah Jnr. (Adam Cockburn). Max and Jedediah have a very clear understanding, which continues here. Another major component to the film is the use of pigs. I will not say why they are used here, just that I liked their presence every time they were onscreen.

There are some amazing scenes attached to MM3. I have to agree that the film contains one the best movie fight scenes ever, as Max and gladiatorial Blaster face off with maces, chainsaws and anything not nailed down inside Thunderdome. It is truly an exhilarating scene to see playing out, (although I cringed when I saw Max drop-start the chainsaw). However the customary car chase scene, which MM is famous for, was not as great here, as in the previous two movies. But it did have the fun sequence showing Ironbar barely escaping with his life many times. I enjoyed the lead up scenes to the car chase, as they had a lot of action and involvement of many people from the cast.

While, I like the characters we see in this movie, I do not believe they are as well developed as the people created for the first movie, as they were a lot easier to get to know, love and understand. I guess the big question after this movie is, 'which Mad Max is better, one or three?' I am still a bigger fan of the original, as it is a great film, showing that a small budget filmmaking can be very successful. That does not mean I am not a fan of this film, because I am. 'Beyond Thunderdome' had such a fine conclusion, that perhaps they should have left the 'status quo'. But hearing that a 4th film in the series is being made as we speak, says to me, that Mel Gibson, George Miller and his talented crew have more in store for Mad Max fans. I cannot wait!

CMRS gives 'Mad Max - Beyond Thunderdome': 3.5 (Good - Very Good Film)

---

6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Gorgeous, delirious post-apocalypse fable, 20 May 2000

Author: angelynx-2 (angelynx@spookhouse.net) from Washington DC

Who could not love this movie? It's got more imagination than five average postbomb flicks, incredible visual design, enough alternate societies with enough backstory apiece for three more movies (including an aboriginal clan who look like Peter Pan's Lost Boys and speak a dialect you'll be copying for days after you see it), car chases, amazing costumes, one of the most original death-duel sequences ever, Tina Turner, *and* Mel Gibson! I mean, goddamn, what more do you want? I personally want another movie just set in Bartertown AND a movie that follows what happens to Anna Goanna and her clan, and they don't even have to have Mel Gibson in them - that's how rich I think the imaginative depth of this movie is. I like it more every time I see it. Genuinely something special.

---

11 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Another Great Abandoning, 27 January 2004

Author: Gabriel Arthur Petrie (eyenot@hotmail.com) from Lansing, Michigan, USA

(* Spoilers Ahead *) In Mad Max, a single police department with a few highway cops and patrolmen maintain civil order in a desolated region of Australia, apparently post-nuclear apocalypse. "Max" ends up losing absolutely everything civilized in his life -- everything. Not a drop of heart's blood is spared "Max" as he rips himself apart, trying to free himself of the chains and bonds of civilization in order to take revenge on the men who stole his world away. When it's all done, he wanders away from absolutely everything.

Mel Gibson's "Max" character returns in "Road Warrior", where the remnant of civilization has been left behind in favor of complete anarchy in the middle of the desert where an oil well refinery is the strongly-defended holdout of some kind of corporate collective, against growing bands of interested investors who would like to trade bullets and lives for the thinning lifeblood of petroleum. The leader of the wackos is absolutely cartoonish, sort of a psychotic pro-wrestler genius, while the leader of the recluses is dripping with ignorance and a desperate need to maintain his egotism. Every single person knows why they are in that desert, fighting -- because they can't get away from the the vehicles and the combustion. It's everything in their life. The distance between meals and drinks is dozens of miles. The distance to the nearest "real" civilization is not even survivable. Those who hold the vehicles hold the supreme power. "Max" delivers the oil-barons into salvation, but at a heavy loss, then once again wanders away from all that has come to pass.

Finally "Max", come into his own with a well-outfitted gravy train, is wandering the desert apparently finally convinced that he is the beacon of civilization, not some building or crowd. His delusion is sorely broken right at the beginning of the movie, and with nothing but his boots and a flute he's forced to rejoin humanity, but why we aren't exactly sure. He's been through it before and he knows what will happen, but still he saunters into "Bartertown" where he meets the sexy "Auntie Entity" (Tina Turner) who rules with elegance and ferocity, and agrees to scratch her back if she'll rub his.

Tina Turner's delivery as "Aunty Entity" is passionate. When she is stood off by the uppity "Master-Blaster", you can hear the hurt pride in her voice as she admits her humility. And when the real loser of Thunderdome is swiftly decided, you can see the fear in her eyes as everything, all the orders of civility she has cherished and sacrificed who knows what for, falls apart right under her hands. As the chaos grows, she looks above for guidance but sees only the mindless crowd, just as desperate as she and even more powerless. Her delivery from the middle of thunderdome is moving, but short compared to the brotherly storytelling of the very artful "Dr. Dealgood" (Edwin Hodgeman.) Nevertheless, what small part Turner is given to play is played from the bottom of her heart and you are thoroughly convinced that she is who she portrays. Her chain-mail suit could have been a little more transparent, though. The rest of the characters in "Bartertown", some recognizable from the earlier films, are real in a faery-tale sort of way that seems to follow naturally behind the previous films: in "Mad Max", the characters' selves were all dying like lights on their way to burning out; in "Road Warrior", their selves were completely gone, wasted with nothing but animal behaviors left; in "Thunderdome"'s "Bartertown", the desolation of the human inner being has proved to be merely a loss of luxury and comfort, and we see that deep inside these layers of modern dross most man and women really are larger than life, in their hopes and dreams and their achievements. "Max", unable to abandon life on his own this time around, is forced out into the desert wilderness to die.

We soon see the inherent human worth proved again in "Thunderdome"'s "Crack in the Earth", where little people, who never grew up with the bleak realities of technology and its apocalyptic inevitabilities as anything but faery-tales, are all as large of life as nature can provide for. The gorgeous "Suzannah" (Helen Buday, rhymes with boo tay,) drags "Max" back into life in a veritable Garden of Eden where children and children's' children, who are absolutely hysterical, spend every day of their lives in summer-camp dreamland. Finally, "Max" chooses not to abandon but to stay around and support -- whether because he's too tired to fight any more, or because he's learned to see a good thing when he's got it and not drop it for something better, it's hard to say -- maybe this is where he was on his way to in the first place. And yet none of this matters. Somehow, once again, humanity goes wrong over the same superstitions and arrogance as before, and a schism in the valley dwellers leads to calamity and a reconciliation with the recent past. "Max" decides to abandon the valley after all, proving finally that he really, truly is "MAD", sacrificing everything to return one more time to the truth that he and every man carries his best civilization with him wherever he goes.

---

4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
A misunderstood and often unfairly condemned entry in the Mad Max series, 28 August 2003
Author: John M Upton from Southern England

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

A misunderstood and often unfairly condemned entry in the Mad Max series

CAUTION! SPOILERS AHEAD!

In the beginning was the era of the White Line nightmare, the collapse of civilisation as a few struggled to keep law and order against the rising tide of anarchy. That was Mad Max the original movie.

Then came Mad Max 2 (The Road Warrior) and the story moved on, the struggle to survive after the collapse that had begun in the era of the first film.

Beyond Thunderdome attempts to bring the saga full circle as some resemblance of civilisation and organisation begins to rise from the ashes and the cities become populated once again, hopefully setting the scene for the battles and action in the forthcoming Fury Road.

Thunderdome does suffer from a slight 'Hollywoodisation' and many will recognise a few elements straight out of the action movie handbook probably at the insistence of the studio.

However the spirit of Mad Max is still there, the struggle to survive against the odds in the ever changing world. Many have bemoaned the lack of decent car chases in the same way as the previous two films, which is understandable, however it must be remembered that this is fifteen years after the fall of civilisation and oil is non-existent practically.

A chase between a train (we will skip over the nicely maintained track myster!) and various bespoke vehicles is a bit of a rehash of the excellent chase from Road Warrior but fills the bill. It does appear a little stilted and short though as though there was meant to be more of it but we will probably never know.

Annoyingly Brian May who did the amazing soundtrack for the first two Max films was passed over here in favour of Maurice Jarre (Studio insistence?) However he still manages a good soundtrack here (sadly missing several key sections on the CD of the music). Tina Turner does the contractual obligation of most films post 1985 by providing opening and closing songs.

Overall the performances are good as usual from Mel Gibson as our slightly reluctant hero. Tina Turner lords it up for all she can get as Auntie, the leader of Bartertown with the usual supporting cast of henchmen and loonies in weird outfits driving even weirder machines!

Of the supporting characters, Helen Buday was excellent as the young warrior princess Savannah Nix which makes it a shame she has not done more film work, Robert Grubb as Pigkiller was a character I felt needed more explanation and development whilst Bruce Spence is back as a similar (although apparently different!) character to his Gyrocaptain from The Road Warrior.

Nothing however compares with the quite simply stunning closing sequence with the ruins of Sydney (Harbour Bridge, Opera House, etc) that was achieved with amazing accuracy using real models - who needs CGI?

This and the other Mad Max films do deserve decent DVD releases though with load of extras, the full soundtrack and deleted scenes I feel if they are to bring any justice to them. Hopefully with the new Fury Road on the way, someone at Warner Bros DVD Dept might take the hint?

So with Savannah closing with her 'tell' we see Max set off into the wasteland sunset hopefully to return in Mad Max 4 - Fury Road.

---

8 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Gibson of Australia, 7 April 2008
Author: tedg (tedg@FilmsFolded.com) from Virginia Beach

You can tell a lot about a person from which of the three Mad Max films they think is best. I believe, however that it will be hard work, because there are things going on in these that register on the viewer, but are not obvious.

There's something quintessentially Australian about these. Though I'm not an Aussie myself, I've become attuned to some notions that seem peculiar to the Australian spirit. Which of those that are picked out by a viewer are what tells you who they are.

For me, this one is the one I like the best. Its reputed to have been influenced by Kurosawa samurai films and their derivative spaghetti westerns. But when I see this one, I see an Australian "Lawrence of Arabia." I almost see every scene as something from Lean's epic filtered through different Ox prisms: deliberate looseness, the perspective of the saved rather than the savior, the notion of distance, rugged children, Aboriginal myths, totemic kinship, civilization via barter, "laws."

But we keep Lean's desert, train, sun, tribal release and matters of "energy." We keep the playing fast with religious superstitions and mob dynamics. We even keep the tent.

What's added isn't much: a cargo cult backstory and an American woman who is notable for how ill suited she is for her surroundings. A couple of Mel's scowls. The sense of fair play.

Terry Hayes wrote this and the previous one excepting stunts. I think its pretty good, what he's done in terms of adding some structure to the tell.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

---

---

Page 1 of 13:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Add another comment

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Amazon.com summary	Ratings
Awards	External reviews	Parents Guide
Plot keywords	Main details	Your user comments
Your vote history