Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

It's now over eight years since I wrote about the Mad Max films with Mel Gibson and then the 2015 sequel with Tom Hardy but I left one out; Mad Mad Beyond Thunderdome. This was one that I had never heard anything good about and so I gladly skipped on it until news came around of the next sequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which made think it was time to see if I had been too quick judge. 

The first two films from director, George Miller, are quite different with one being a low-budget thriller set in the Australian outback and then the high-budgeted sequel putting the same character in a desolate post-apocalyptic setting filled with punk-style bandits all fighting for control of what's left in the world. I recall liking both films a lot but it was the sequel, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, which easily ranks as my favourite of the two, and is most alike to Tom Hardy's Mad Max: Fury Road, which I still enjoy today.

Released four years after The Road Warrior, Beyond Thunderdome sees Max captured while wondering the desert and is put to work in a settlement ruled by the late, great Tina Turner's ruthless, Aunty Entity. He soon finds himself in her good graces but realises he has chosen the wrong side and must fight to escape. 

The film gets off to a promising start as we see Max find himself in a new environment and Turner makes for a great addition to franchise but it quickly becomes apparent things aren't all well here as I found the story to become too much of a slog. Miller's flair for weirdness also feels a bit too crass here and the bizarre decision to make this a child-friendly adventure with its own version of Peter Pan's Lost Boys just doesn't work, making for a sanitised experience while failing to deliver on any of the exciting action expected from the franchise by this point.

Making matters worse, we are only treated to one car chase, which is the only highlight of the film, but this comes right in the closing minutes and is far too brief. The stunt work and use of practical effects are great but it's not enough to justify the price of admission. Gibson still does his best in his final outing as Max but the story gives him so little to work with and the film had me checking my watch to see how much was left. 

I'm glad Miller returned thirty years later to right the wrongs made here and deliver a film fans would enjoy. This feels as if he had seen The Goonies and Temple of Doom, and wanted to make his attempt at a kids film but the studio demanded more of Max. So it has to be said that I can't recommend Beyond Thunderdome in the slightest and would suggest skipping this like a bad episode in a sitcom when seeing where this franchise began.