laj@wnuxb.UUCP (JOHNSON) (07/15/85)
When the helmet was torn off the Blaster, I sensed that Max recognized the face. Was this the retarded farm boy who made a brief appearance in "Mad Max" ? -- Larry Johnson Western ElectricAT&T TechnologiesInformation Systems ihnp4!wnuxa!laj ihnp4!wnuxb!laj
sdyer@bbnccv.UUCP (Steve Dyer) (07/16/85)
This is an incredibly disappointing movie. Like its execrable title,
it has the sound and look of a pastiche, a movie made by a committee
of Madison Avenue executives who have only the love of money to inspire
them. There is none of the wonderful tightness and purity of "Road
Warrior", nor the human interest of the original "Mad Max." This movie
is incredibly diffuse, and devoid of any thematic direction. It meanders
in front of us for two hours until it comes to an embarassingly preachy
ending. The dialogue is incredibly flat, the chemistry between Gibson
and Turner non-existent (bad enough to rival Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton
in TBLWiT) and the music incredibly annoying (lush and orchestrated
a la Williams at his worst.)
This thematic schizophrenia gives us three movies: the first is set in
"Barterville", a center of "civilization" where pig manure generates the
energy for the village. This is proto-capitalism cum barbarism, a setup
rife with possibilities for irony and humor which are skirted successfully.
The "Thunderdome" is a gladiatorial dome where two men battle to the death.
Other than the ability of its name to set off all sorts of Pavlovian reactions
in its potential audience ("Rollerball"? "Thunderball"?) it is actually
pretty mild stuff. Tina Turner stands around looking embarassed, as if
she were answering a particularly obnoxious "Entertainment Tonight"
interview. She is given no worthy dialogue to speak.
The second section of the movie concerns a lost group of children in an
oasis in the center of the desert who discover Max after he has been
set wandering by the rulers of Barterville. This is where the movie
really begins to lose any edge it ever had. It is an attempt at
Spielberg-type sentimentality and it fails miserably (can you believe it?
sentimentality in a Max Max film?) Worse yet, the culture of the children
is a blatant, blatant ripoff of Russell Hoban's brilliant novel "Riddley
Walker", where English has devolved into a kind of totemic mythology of
atomic apocalypse and what-has-happened. It was really disheartening to
see this misused (and without credit) in this movie, and it only cemented
my opinion of the callowness of the filmmakers and their total lack of
creativity.
FInally, Max and the kids cross the desert and return to Barterville
where they proceed to destroy the place. This is most like "Road Warrior"
with a fair amount of action scenes, but they seem forced, as if they HAD
to be there. Certainly, there wasn't the kind of brilliance manipulation
of the violence that was the raison d'ete of RW. The movie ends with a
tiresome preachy section about nuclear war.
Yuccch. Avoid it like the plague.
--
/Steve Dyer
{decvax,linus,ima,ihnp4}!bbncca!sdyer
sdyer@bbnccv.ARPAterryl@tekcrl.UUCP () (07/17/85)
>When the helmet was torn off the Blaster, I sensed that Max recognized >the face. Was this the retarded farm boy who made a brief appearance >in "Mad Max" ? Hmm, VERY INTERESTING!!! I couldn't figure out why Max didn't want to kill Blaster, and that bothered me. WGN just ran the original "MAD MAX" last week, and I have it on video tape (haven't watched it yet), so I'll look for this and report back.
sean@ukma.UUCP (Sean Casey) (07/21/85)
A lot of dramatic music without a lot of dramatic action.
--
- Sean Casey UUCP: sean@ukma.UUCP or
- Department of Mathematics {cbosgd,anlams,hasmed}!ukma!sean
- University of Kentucky ARPA: ukma!sean@ANL-MCS.ARPA