The Mad Max Trilogy!

Mad Max (George Miller, 1979) is like the first hideous draft of a student essay whereas The Road Warrior (aka Mad Max 2) (George Miller, 1981) is what happens after, I'll be blunt, I take a red pen to Mad Max and correct the rather fundamental mistakes. I mean, like wow. Where are we at? WHEN are we even at? This is supposed to be post-apocalyptic? How do we know? What is the point of the night club scene? Why does the head mean dude lead the other mean dude into the water? Why is Brian May's score blaring over basic dialogue? And, the most pressing question of all, how on earth did this gross $100 million while its infinitely superior sequel grossed only $36 million? Were 1970s folk still hankering for Walking Tall/Death Wish revenge fantasies as late as 1979? Guess so.

The Road Warrior is three minutes longer but feels 45 minutes shorter. Miller takes just a few moments to set up the basic narrative premise. Was that so hard? And then, even better, he wastes no time with boring characterization or subplots. We get strapped into the rollercoaster and it doesn't stop blowing our wigs until the final credits. And, gawd bless close captioning, did you know the bad guys are called Smegma Crazies and Gayboy Berserkers? Tight, imaginative, with a twist modestly foreshadowed early on, this zero-body-fat actioner seems so easy that you wonder why there aren't dozens more.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (George Miller and George Ogilvie, 1985) uses its bigger budget to dazzling effect. In place of the sere visuals of the first two, Miller gives us Bartertown, a ramshackle colony run on pig shit and lorded over by Tina Turner as Aunty. The byzantine design is mirrored in the city's elaborate codes of conduct, a few of which are chanted by the inhabitants, e.g., "Bust a Deal, Face the Wheel," "Aunty's Choice" being one of the wheel options. Who wants life beyond the thunderdome when it's so fun here? Miller even maintains our interest in the dreamier middle section in which a group a children in dire need a conditioner engage in some seriously distorted oral culture. But the third act sags in what amounts to an empty retread of The Road Warrior. Great theme song, though.

Mad Max: C

The Road Warrior: A-minus

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome: B+