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From: reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.movies,net.sf-lovers
Subject: "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome"
Message-ID: <6299@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Date: Fri, 12-Jul-85 03:29:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.6299
Posted: Fri Jul 12 03:29:46 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 17-Jul-85 05:32:57 EDT
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     "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" is the occasion for a very rare
type of disappointment for me: the inevitable realization that
not every film made by a great director is going to be a master-
piece.  "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" is a good enough film, but
it is not nearly as good as "The Road Warrior" or George Miller's
segment of "The Twilight Zone".  It's just a solid action film,
not really anything special, and that disappoints me more than a
full-blown artistic failure.  The latter can be seen as overambi-
tion or merely a valiant effort that failed.  A perfectly average
film, though, suggests that maybe the director doesn't have a lot
of juice in him, maybe he's shown us everything he has already.
(For a good example of this contrast, compare "1941" and "Indiana
Jones and the Temple of Doom".  "1941" is definitely a failure,
but it's a failure because Spielberg tried something different
that just didn't work.  "IJTOD" failed because Spielberg lazily
tried to copy precisely what he had done before rather than do
the real work of coming up with something new.)

     "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome", co-directed by Miller and
George Ogilvie, is set in the same world as "Mad Max" and "The
Road Warrior", but several years after the latter film.  Mel Gib-
son, as Max, runs afoul of Auntie Entity, a powerful leader in
Bartertown, a fairly vile trading village she has built up from
nothing.  Bartertown runs on energy controlled by Master-Blaster,
a dwarf genius (Master) who rides a huge, brawny hulk of a fellow
known as Blaster.  Auntie Entity wants complete control of Bar-
tertown, and she intends to use Max to get it.  After a variety
of plot twists, Max finds himself out in the desert where he
meets a tribe of lost children who are expecting a messiah.  Max
involuntarily takes the role, leading to yet further complications.

     If the above description sounds a bit diffuse, there you
have the major problem of "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome".  Unlike
"The Road Warrior", it doesn't have a clean plot line.  Instead,
it has incidents strungs together rather uncomfortably.  The ear-
ly part of the film is best.  While not up to the previous films,
it is crisply directed and has a sense of purpose.  The latter
half of the film is muddled and uncertain.  We are given no sense
at all that Max has any plan worth speaking of when he returns to
Bartertown.  We don't know what he wants to do, and he doesn't
seem to, either.  Even the final chase scene, which has its mo-
ments, doesn't have the clarity of the chase in "The Road Warri-
or".  In that film, the chase was so perfectly constructed that
every incident in it seemed both inevitably correct and crystal
clear.  The chase in this film doesn't hang together, nor is
there the terrible sense of desperation present in "The Road War-
rior".  Hence, it just isn't as exciting.

     Mel Gibson also isn't as strong a presence as he was in ei-
ther of the first two films.  In those films, he really was the
center of the story, the one who made things go.  In this film,
he seems more acted upon than acting.  Neither is there the iron
core previously present in the character. Part of this may be due
to the fact that he doesn't have as clear a villain to work against.  
Tina Turner is quite good as Auntie Entity, but she isn't the pure 
force of evil and destructiveness the earlier villains were.  Miller, 
who co-wrote the screenplay with Terry Hayes, doesn't make it clear 
why Max should oppose her.  Master-Blaster certainly seems more 
unpleasant and dangerous.  Max's opposition could be made to work, 
but Miller, Hayes, and Ogilvie don't succeed.  The supporting roles 
are very well played, though the casting of Bruce Spence, the Gyro 
Captain in "The Road Warrior", in a completely unrelated yet similar 
part is more than a bit confusing.

     I don't want to get too down on "Mad Max Beyond Thunder-
dome".  It has some fine sequences, there is a point behind the
entire plot, and all involved deserve praise for attempting more
than a mere retread of "The Road Warrior".  Particular praise
goes to Grace Walker, the production designer.  The only reason I
can think of to see "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" again is to com-
pare the many subtle differences between the sets and costumes of
it and "The Road Warrior".  Obviously, much thought has gone into
deciding just how artifacts and communities are going to degen-
erate as things run out and wear down, and the results are some-
times more interesting than the plot.

     Co-direction is extremely uncommon in America and most of
Europe, but apparently happens a lot in Australia.  Contrary to
rumor, George Miller and George Ogilvie both worked on the entire
picture, side by side throughout.  Ogilvie's theatrical back-
ground shows up in some of the ensemble work with the children
and the citizens of Bartertown, but otherwise he seems to contri-
bute little.  Either he watered down Miller or that gentleman is
running out of steam, for his incredible ability to sustain the
tension of an extended action sequence is notably missing from
this film.  One cannot blame the failures of "Mad Max Beyond
Thunderdome" on Ogilvie, however, as Miller, who also served as
producer, could easily have made the film by himself, if he wished.

     "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" is a good adventure film which
I enjoyed, but it just isn't a classic.  If I hadn't seen "The
Road Warrior", I'd probably be perfectly satisfied with this
film.  Unfortunately, I have seen "The Road Warrior", four times.
I consider it the best film of the eighties, so far, and have
every intention of seeing it again.  On the other hand, I cannot
picture myself sitting through "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome"
again.  Much as I like the character and the setting, I think
Miller should retire him and try to find some entirely different.
-- 
        			Peter Reiher
				reiher@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU
        			{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher