Mad Max 2

The last of the V8 Interceptors and the battle for gasoline!

It's post nuclear war Australia and the precious commodity is gasoline, all the varying degrees of survivors pursue it in anyway they can.

Director George Miller is here armed with considerably more cash than was available for the first cult hit offering in the series, and boy does it show as we get more destruction, even more outlandish stunts, and a fully realised apocalyptic vision of the future. It's incredible to note that there is no CGI here, this is pure raw stunt work, the film plays out as a standard good versus evil tale, but it's the realisation of the crash bang wallop sequences that lift it to being one of the most important sci-fi action movies of modern times...

Fighting for fuel in the post-apocalyptic wasteland of the Outback

In the years after a global holocaust, an ex-lawman (Mel Gibson) in remote Australia befriends people at a refinery compound and helps them escape a band of ruthless punk bikers who want their resources. Bruce Spence plays the Gyro Captain while Vernon Wells is on hand as a subordinate leader of the bikers.

"The Road Warrior, aka Mad Max 2 (1981) shows a grim, bleak, brutal future, but it's too comic booky and sometimes goofy to truly disturb because it screams exaggeration. A truly disturbing movie debuted fifteen years earlier, The Wild Angels (1966), which is shocking because its realistic rather than cartoonish. But The Wild Angels was an outlaw biker drama w...

Really great sequel that surpasses the original. While short on character moments, the action sequences were fantastic culminating with an adrenaline-filled finale. All in all highly entertaining with just enough weidness to make it stand out all the more... 4.0/5

The first film did us the favour of establishing the character, so this time we can cut quickly to the chase. "Max" (Mel Gibson) is now a fully fledged drifter. He still has a semblance of decency, comparatively speaking, as he travels the Australian wastelands trying to stay alive and keep himself fuelled. Along the way he meets up with the slightly wacky "Gyro Captain" (Bruce Spence) but it's when he encounters a besieged oil facility that things start to hot up. He agrees to try and help them fend off the menacing, mask-wearing, "Humungus" (Kjell Nilsson) and his menacing sidekick "Wez" (Vernon Wells) who has a distinctly Achilles/Patroclus style relationship with his cute, blonde, friend. These bandits are ruthless, violent, and determi...

I got more enjoyment from 'Mad Max 2'. It's a good watch!

Everything felt a bit more fleshed out to me personally. Mel Gibson's titular character is improved, as are his sidekicks and their antagonists. The action is still at the same high level, there's plenty to gain entertainment from in regards to that along with the more amusing aspects; but disappointing to see that the wacky eye bulge gag did not reappear! I will say that final sequence overruns, not a big deal though.

Most importantly, the story is more interesting. It is, in my opinion, much better befitting of the movie's dystopian setting and is, just generally, a more noteworthy watch compared to its predecessor's plot. Gibson puts in another solid showing, as do Bruce Spe...