MovieChat Forums > Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) Discussion > What a ridiculously underrated movie!!

What a ridiculously underrated movie!!

posted 9 years ago by gianlu-1
16 replies | jump to latest

I just finished watching this supposedly terrible sequel to the first two Mad Max movies and I have to say, I don't get it. I just don't get it. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is an imaginative, original, and creatively fun summer popcorn movie. Of course it is not a perfect film, and it has its many flaws to be sure, but overall, the good far outweighs the bad in this enjoyable fantasy adventure with an edge.

I don't get all the hate this movie has. Its definitely one of the better popcorn movies I've seen in my life. It has its fair share of originality (Master Blaster is one of the coolest characters I've seen in a fantasy adventure film), its very well shot and directed, and the action scenes are thrilling.

I think the reason why Mad Max fans despise this movie is because it is a little more kid friendly than the first two films. It has more of a whimsical charm to it than its rough darker predecessors. But you know what? So what. It delivers in almost every other way, and the car chase in the end is almost as good as the ending car chase in The Road Warrior.

All I can say is that this film isn't even close to as bad as most people make it out to be, in fact, its quite good. Thank God Roger Ebert, one of the greatest and most prominent film critics of all time not only loved this movie and gave it four stars, but put it on his top 10 list of the best films of 1985.

I'm glad Ebert was on my side.

[–] Necronomicon2016 8 years ago

OP is 100% right.

"Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" is one of the most visionary movies of all times and a massively underrated masterpiece.

MAD MAX MOVIE TIMELINES - Continuity explained!
http://madmaxtimeline.blogspot.com

[–] AnubisRaydeen (7897) 6 years ago

It has its merits but it is certainly the worst of the franchise due to its lack of self respect. They didn't really understand what made the first two good and went a little too campy with this one. Take out the razzy music, Tina Turner, and the bad writing of action scenes and you have a semi-decent RW film that is still poorly directed.
The setting is great, some of Barter Town, and the kids. That's about the best of it. They even borked the car fights in this.

TRW: 9/10
FR: 8/10
MM: 7.5/10
BT: 5/10

[–] Oblivioid (1392) 4 years ago

Thunderdome puts more lore and world building into the Mad Max universe than the other 3 movies combined. Think of Thunderdome in this way. It's all lore, I mean, we learn a lot more about the post-pockyclypse world of Max in this one film than any of the other ones don't we?

The first Mad Max movie is rather ambiguous, as it's not really stated there has even been a war at all, and civilization is still functioning at a reduced level. The Road Warrior is very limited in its world building, strictly taking place at the Refinery and Mundi Mundi Lookout, it's just an extended car chase sequence, albeit one of the greatest action sequences ever filmed.

Thunderdome, we find out there are pockets of civilization all over the continent, living vastly different lifestyles. Some, even oblivious to the rest of the world living like Pacific Islanders. Some people have learned to survive and live solitary lives out in the deep desert of the Wasteland by being bandits. People come from all over, from who-knows-where to visit and trade in Bartertown! When Max arrives at Bartertown, that scene shows hundreds of people converging on the town to enter it. Where do they come from?

Really, this movie enriched the lore of Mad Max so much, and it also set-up many possibilities for future expansion. It's really too bad most people want to ignore it as canon. Fans should just thank George Miller for bringing us this rich sequel to the series. I love Thunderdome, and always will!

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Yeah, not sure what the OP was talking about. Thunderdome was well received, albeit not so much as The Road Warrior.

Re: your comments re: world building... I totally agree and it's the reason that I stopped watching Fury Road about 20 minutes in. By all accounts it was a great action movie. But it wasn't a good Mad Max movie for the reasons you mention above.

In Road Warrior, we see Max scrambling for a bowl to catch a few drops of gasoline. Humungous carefully measures out the bullets for his gun. The entire movie revolved around scarcity.

Thunderdome expanded on this as we see barter becoming the new currency. The village's energy comes from pig shit.

The theme of both movies was about survival in a time of dwindling resources.

Almost the first scene of Mad Max is the ruler wasting shit tons of water just to lord it over his people. It was the scene with the flame throwing guitar -- pointlessly wasting gas at the same time -- that made me finally pack it in. Very cool scenes sure... but they made zero sense in the world of Mad Max.