brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (07/13/85)
Mad Max III: Beyond Thunderdome - 2.5 stars out of 4 Well, the 3rd Mad Max movie is out, and the critics love it, calling it the best of the three. I must differ. This film has nothing the first two movies had. Instead, it is a straight adventure film in the Indiana Jones style with some strange post WWIII visions thrown in. In fact, this is really two movies. One, an encounter in the desert with a strange tribe of children, and on the other hand, the rest. The quality of the two parts varies a great deal. The middle part doesn't belong in the adventure movie, and the adventure movie doesn't match this middle part. But the real problem is that the whole movie lacks the quality, characterization and originality of the Road Warrior. There is absolutely no character development for Max in this film, and except for Tina Turner, who is credible, there is nothing for the villains either. Mad Max I was the story of a hotshot cop who was a family man at heart. His family is destroyed by gangs, and it turns him into "Mad Max", a hateful man bent on vengeance. In the Road Warrior we see nomad Max finally given hope again by a brave group out to bring some civilization back to the world. In each, there is significant development of the Max character. In Beyond Thunderdome, Max enters and leaves the same. With that lost, it still could have been a credible adventure film, but the part beyond Thunderdome turns it into somebody's not-particularly- original concept of a post hollocost society. And this is where we lose, because the Road Warrior brimmed with originality. SPOILERS.... In this film, we are left with no statement on Max's morality. In this film, it's Max who is the wasteland warrior out to destroy an attempt at civilization, as imperfect as it is. Max breaks a deal, and faces the punishment of the local law. In the end he comes back to destroy the town in wrath. Tina Turner doesn't run a pleasant town, and she does have Blaster killed and Master enslaved, but she is also the closest thing to civilization in the wasteland. Very confusing. Also, WHAT THE HELL IS THE GYRO PILOT DOING IN THIS FILM??? At the end of the Road Warrior, he drove off as the new leader of the oil-refining people. They were heading north to the coast. Why is he back in the wasteland so quickly, and not a word about that tribe? -- Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. - Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473