User reviews

This movie was much maligned when it came out in 1985, but that was due to the spectacular qualities of its predecessors, "Mad Max" and "The Road Warrior." Taken out of comparison with the other two, this movie is still solid post-apocalyptic fun, but it's lighter and slightly less violent than "Road Warrior" (as is evidenced by the PG-13 rating.) The actors' performances are perfectly adequate for the action, and the chase scenes bear all the hallmarks of Miller's craftsmanship (which contemporary directors should seriously consider studying and revitalizing.) You just won't see any arrow-riddled bodies slamming into the pavement at 60 mph or watch manned motorcycles sucked under the wheels of a big-rig. This one is about the kids. Think Hook in the wasteland and that starts to approach it.

If you saw this movie in the theaters 25 years ago and walked out hating it, give it another chance. Just don't see "RW" right beforehand. No reason to hobble your experience with unrealistic expectations.

Who could not love this movie? It's got more imagination than five average postbomb flicks, incredible visual design, enough alternate societies with enough backstory apiece for three more movies (including an aboriginal clan who look like Peter Pan's Lost Boys and speak a dialect you'll be copying for days after you see it), car chases, amazing costumes, one of the most original death-duel sequences ever, Tina Turner, *and* Mel Gibson! I mean, goddamn, what more do you want? I personally want another movie just set in Bartertown AND a movie that follows what happens to Anna Goanna and her clan, and they don't even have to have Mel Gibson in them - that's how rich I think the imaginative depth of this movie is. I like it more every time I see it. Genuinely something special.

The first half of this film -- the part with Bartertown, Thunderdome, etc -- is brilliant, not just a repeat of THE ROAD WARRIOR but a totally new concept, thoroughly fleshed out. The second half, with the lost children, isn't as good -- and, more to the point, doesn't quite mesh with the first half, despite Miller's attempts to tie it all together at the end. Still, it's well above average in a genre that has increasingly come to believe (wrongly) that special effects are more important than plot and character.

Why why why did someone think it was a good idea to fill Max Max 3 with a bunch of annoying kids? Its like half way through the movie the crew was switched and they thought they were making Oliver!

Such a horrible way to end a most amazing trilogy.

Max goes from road warrior to babysitter.

Still any Max is better than no Max.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome was a bigger production than its predecessor: Road Warrior. I still think I like Road Warrior better. The nemesis was more nemesisee and Mad Max himself was in more peril.

Beyond Thunderdome was lighter as far as mood (which the presence of children may have caused). This time the nemesis was the incomparable Tina Turner as Aunty Enmity, but I couldn't bring myself to hate her. The character wasn't a real hatemonger and... it's Tina Turner. She was the Beyonce before Beyonce.

One thing I'll give Beyond Thunderdome over Road Warrior is the theme song. It's top ten in my book. In 2002, for Spider-Man, Nickelback sang: "they say that a hero can save us, I'm not going to stand here and wait." Well, Tina Turner laid the groundwork for that in '85 when she said: "We don't need another hero." And she knocked that song out of the park.

This stirring movie in comic-strip style is packed with unbelievable car stunts , thrills, chills and noisy action . Violent movie about a futuristic road-warrior cop with high-velocity action and kinetic energy . This classic is set a few years from now , a dangerous, desolate post-industrial future world where rules the strongest law . It concerns about the exploits and feats of an ex-police named Max (Mel Gibson) on the apocalyptic future world . Being stolen of his possessions by Jeddeiah (Bruce Spence) and his son while walking through the Australian outback , Max heads toward a remote city called Bartertown , a post-nuclear location full of kind of criminals and governed by Aunt Entity (Tina Turner). Bartertown runs on methane gas, which is produced from pig feces by prisoner-slaves. All methane comes from an underground cavern, Underworld . Max is forced to fight against Master Blaster on behalf of Aunt Entity in order that she gains whole control of the town . Max survives a battle-to-the-death in Roman style Thunderdome arena . But when the combat is over he is thrown back out into the solitary desert . Exiled Mad Max meets a group of orphans, the only survivors of a plane crash during the nuclear war . The group of children and teens is living as a strange commune ( similarly to ¨William Golding's Lord of flies¨) and take to Max as their Messiah named the 'Captain Walker' . Max says them that he's not Captain Walker and that civilization is gone , wiped out by the nuclear apocalypse . Later on , Mad Max along with them returns Bartertown to confront cutthroats and the revenge takes place . Max and the group wreak havoc on the city and escape from fortress but vengeance will be terrible and bands of depraved crazies thirsty for blood pursue them . They are besieged by motorized warlords and they'll have to fight against the cutthroats , a band of depraved crazies thirsty for blood and survive some battles to-the-death with lots of blood and gore, including throating-slit , beheading , impaling and blow up.

This exciting picture packs kinetic action , thrills, chills , tension and abundant violence . Spectacular stunt-work plenty of fights , motorcycle races , cars with bounds and leaps and explosions . The picture is divided in three parts : the first happens on the boisterous city of Bartertown , the second on the sunny desert with metaphysical moments and Max surrounded by children and third , the conclusion , again on Bartertown and the subsequent getaway in ¨Mad Max 2¨ style . Top-notch Mel Gibson as road warrior at one of his first main roles , he embarks a spectacular adventure against vicious murderous and with some philosophical moments . Weird roles and fantastic atmosphere combine with stunning action scenes in this remarkable action film that completes perfectly the excellent trilogy . Rumbling score fitting to action by Maurice Jarre and emotive music including chores when are developed the scenes of the children . Special and weird futuristic atmosphere created by cameraman Dean Semler who reflects splendidly the barren outdoors . The motion picture is stunningly directed by George Miller ( and George Ogilvi) , author of the excellent post-apocalypse ¨Mad Max¨ trilogy along with the writer and producer Byron Kennedy . It's followed by numerous imitations as the recent ¨Doomsday¨(2008, Neal Marshall), rip offs, and exploitations ,especially Italians products . Rating : Good, better than average , the Mad Max trilogy result to be the most successful Aussie movies of all time . This remarkable action film will appeal to Science Fiction buffs. Rating : 7 , Above average. Well worth watching.

What the hell happened to the creative minds behind the first two Max Max installments? They had a HUGE budget to work with, and the star power of Mel Gibson and Tina Turner in their prime, and they still managed to almost completely wipe out all the good work that came before. It's as if someone said "Hey, that feral kid from Road Warrior was a brilliant character. Lets make a whole colony of feral kids! The stilted pidgin English is jarring and only pulls you out of the movie to reflect on how stupid they sound.

If you can get past the second act, with the children, you will have a semi-payoff back at Bartertown, but honestly, midway through the Hook/Goonies treatment of the children, I'd lost all interest. 3/10 is being generous, but at least we get to be reminded of how awesome Tina Turner was.

Sure it's probably the least good of the Mad Max films, but it is still entertaining as heck! It is maybe a little more Hollywood (which is a bad thing) than the first two. The music is overbearing at times, and some of the attempts at jokes were very cheap and American blockbusterish.

One of the main faults that has to be sited with this one is that the last thirty minutes or so are basically taken straight from The Road Warrior. The car chase and then the speech about how a stranger helped them establish a new society were taken right out of the 2nd installment.

It still is very creative, and the action has a wonderful momentum. I love the whole society that finds Max in the desert. I loved the recitation of their foundation, and I loved their dialect. I loved Masterblaster. And Tina Turner was actually cool, too. 8/10

The first 40 minutes were terrific, but when max meets those kids in the desert it all goes downhill. The first half had this dark gritty look to it even if the violence was toned down. But when Max meets those kids it becomes all bright and lighthearted. But why is this movie 18a here in Canada, all of the violence in this movie is restrained with the exception of the Master blaster fight in the thunderdome.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) was a travesty. Even though it takes place in an even bleaker future, the filmmakers decided to line their pockets even further by making this one "family friendly (i.e. P.G.-13). What made the other films gritty and nihilistic is missing from this film. Only a few spots but other than that it's just other one of those sequels that morphed into a more mainstream movie (i.e Robocop 3). Needless to say I was very disappointed because when I was much younger I was a huge Mad Max mark.

The story takes place years after the events that transpired in part two. Max is content with his life out in the wastelands. But one day, the fates would appear. Someone has robbed him of his caravan and his old souped up vehicle (sadly no longer in running condition). When he recovers he finds that all roads lead to one of the last vestiges of civilization, an arm pit called "Bartertown". Whilst in "Bartertown" Max finds the person who cold cocked him but his unable to do anything about it. So, after a brief scuffle with the local authorities Max is taken to meet the "mayor" of "Bartertown" Aunt Enity (Tina Turner). After a brief display of his talents, Enity and Max strike a deal....

Like the other films, the world of Pro Wrestling has taken several themes and characters from this movie (i.e. The Thunderdome and The Master Blasters, etc..). Many knock-offs and wannabes have spawn off of this one as well. It even started up a sub-genre, children living in a post-apocalyptic society films. Not a bad film but die-hards of the first two will be disappointed.

C+

What works beautifully about the third entry in the Mad Max cannon is its sense of heart. The first film explored society on the brink, the second looking at the chaos that follows. Beyond Thunderdome is a film about what comes next. At some point people must try and rebuild. The loss of Byron Kennedy during shooting clearly changed the feel of the film but in a lot of ways it still works, injecting a boost of development to Max's character and bringing a bit of light into the world with the introduction of the children.

There are some fantastic set pieces and costumes, and the wonderful and uniquely Australian brand of quirkiness is still there in spades. An end to the Gibson trilogy of films that grows on me more and more as the years roll by.

The film begins sometime after Mad Max 2 and a nuclear war. Max grumpily continues to navigate the world alone. He is then robbed of his now camel drawn V8 and his belongings and ends up at the dangerous and bustling Bartertown, which even has electricity.

Thunderdome was always my favourite - even though it really isn't as good it as Mad Max and The Road Warrior, it was the first one I saw. My sister had the 'making of the film' book and I was obsessed with the world of Mad Max before I was even allowed to watch it.

The world design, costumes and names are all amazing. There's clearly a massive budget this time, but this instalment still keeps some of its rugged indie charm with this transition.

Even allowing for my unabashed love of the first two films in the franchise, and sweeping away any sort of biased leanings I might of had for the character of Max, I just can't bring myself to rate at average this cartoonery waste of space that so nearly soils what had gone before it.

Gone is the rugged nasty streak that brought feeling to the character Mad Max Rockatansky, gone is the impacting feeling of desolation in an apocalyptic world, and more crucially, gone is director George Miller's passion for the franchise. The dreadful score matches the cartoon heart of the film, it seems that the makers didn't really know what to do with the amount of cash given to make this third instalment. Sure the stunts are spot on (to be expected by now), and of course Miller manages to paint a barren desert landscape by purely lifting from what he has done before. Yet he clearly struggled for fresh ideas with the action since "The Road Warrior's" crowning glory of the Petrol Tanker pursuit is replicated here, only he uses a train instead!!.

It's just a very poor show that may have seemed like an ambitious turn of events back in the mid 1980s, but when viewing the three films together now, Thunderdome just comes across as a director losing his edgy approach whilst sadly getting caught between the mix of comedy and fantasy action. And the truth is that neither of those genre slants would have worked singularly, in the context of this series, anyway. I give the film 3/10 purely for one real good Thunderdome fight sequence, while the stunt men here deserve some credit at the very least. But this is the third time I have tried to like this film, and as glutton for punishment as I undoubtedly am, I wont be trying again, ever.

When I first saw Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, I felt disappointed. It was a letdown from its amazing predecessor. I knew its reputation as an unworthy sequel, but I still realized there was something good about it, something I had never heard from other people's points of view.

It wasn't until some time later when I watched the series a second time that I noticed what it was.

Those who think MMBT is not as exciting as The Road Warrior would be right. But those that think MMBT sucks because it is not as exciting as The Road Warrior would be missing the point. What makes MMBT a worthy sequel is its way of establishing a greater scope of the setting the series takes place in. The dredges of civilization were what set the stage for the series in the original Mad Max. The barren world of desert wastelands and sparse outposts take the idea of a post-apocalyptic world one step further in The Road Warrior. A squalid setting such as Bartertown and an oasis where the tribe of children lived in MMBT once again builds on the elaborate fantasy that makes the series as popular as it is. The final, chilling realization of just what became of civilization in the closing moments of the movie are more than enough explanation as to why the the world the viewer sees in the trilogy is the way it is.

I was too young when I first saw MMBT to understand this. It wouldn't be until I saw it again some time later, with more movie-viewing experience under my belt that I realized that what makes Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome tick is not action set pieces, but a far more subtle approach of atmospheric setting.

Mel Gibson put his heart and soul into this film and I admire his great acting abilities as the role of Mad Max along with Tina Turner. However, this is just a story about Mad Max going into a desert and giving children of the desert a new life with happiness. This particular film was a big disappointment to me and I could have found a better way of spending my time than looking at a film that failed to live up to other Mad Max films. I am sure there was plenty of money spent in making this film, but it certainly does not measure up to the other Mel Gibson films. Love all kinds of films but this particular film was nothing I expected and I am glad it was produced and can be forgotten completely about.

From the opening shot of wandering nomad and mulleted anti-hero Max Rockantansky (Mel Gibson), travelling along the endless Australian plains in a makeshift vehicle put together from spare auto-parts and whatever junk he came across on the road and pulled along by camels, we know that the world George Miller created back in 1979 has descended even further into apocalyptic turmoil, and we are now even further from civilised society than ever before. Max has his vehicle and supplies stolen by Jebediah the Pilot (Bruce Spence), so he is forced to wander barefoot through the desert until he comes across a community dubbed Bartertown, a place where you can trade anything or anyone.

Like the vehicles in the world of Mad Max, Bartertown is hammered together from spare parts. It is ruled by Aunty Entity (Tina Turner), who is locked in a constant power-struggle with Master Blaster, a grotesque tag-team who overlooks the pits below the town where pigs are farmed and harvested for methane gas. Master is a dwarf played by Angelo Rossitto who rides on the back of Blaster, a giant of a man who wears a huge concealing helmet, and is played by Paul Larsson. Master Blaster may be George Miller's most interesting creation, and as Max inevitably faces Blaster is the arena known as the Thunderdome - where all quarrels are concluded as two men enter but only one leaves - one of the most inventive scraps in cinema history plays out, as they bounce at each other on huge elastic bands and hack at each other with all manners of weapons.

Yet that is only half of the film. Miller resigned himself to just directing the action scenes following the tragic death of his friend and location scout Byron Kennedy, so the rest of the film was put in the hands of George Ogilvie. Narrowly escaping Bartertown with his life, Max discovers the young survivors of a plane crash who has developed their own little tribal society, and it's here that the film goes a bit Peter Pan. Whether this was down to Miller's absence or not - Beyond Thunderdome lacks the edge of its predecessors, occasionally dipping into traditional mainstream fantasy fare and losing focus of its antagonists motivation. Still, the film delivers where expected - the action scenes. Again we get a tanker being chased down by an army of baddies in doomsday vehicle's, and again we are treated to some awe-inspiring stunts that hold up even today. It's the weakest of the original trilogy but hugely entertaining stuff.

Whether you've seen Fury Road and are back peddling to the beginning of the series to see the original three films, or you're a complete newcomer altogether, I would say skip this one, for now that is. If you're expecting the very Aussie, low budget, cult, gritty, zany, over-the-top, exploitation-esque tone of the other installments of the series, you will be surely disappointed just as I was upon first viewing.

I had not seen this since it was in the theaters in 1985. My least favorite of all the Mad Max movies,, it holds up very well. Yes it's different. Yes the other three are a bit better. This is filmed beautifully. It has a very unconventional story-line. It's easy to forget how charming of a screen presence Mel Gibson was in his early days. Lots of fun. Excellent bridge between Road Warrior and Fury Road (quite a few years later). Plus, this has Tina Turner in a great role, not to mention her great songs.

Thumbs up. I give the other three a 10, this one gets a 9.

Also, get the 4K BluRay if watchingbon physical media at home. It's the only copy with an updated film transfer.

The Mad Max series ended with this third movie called "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" and if I'm honest, it was one too many. It certainly isn't as bad as some people like you to believe, but it has lost much of it's power because this is no longer that small independent Australian production. It even had Tina Turner playing a role in it.

This time Max is still traveling throughout the Australian dessert, when he manages to stumble upon Bartertown, a trading post for all kinds of criminals. His supplies have been stolen from him and he has no choice but to seek shelter in this outpost of technology where civilization has long gone. It is ruled by both Aunt Entity and Master Blaster, which leads to a lot of tension between the two leaders. Max will fight in an arena called the Thunderdome on behalf of Aunty, where he'll have to defeat Master Blaster. But when the fight is won, he's banished and chased back into the desert where he soon meets a group of children that survived a plane crash during the war. They believe he is their former pilot Captain Walker and some of the children leave to find their fabled tomorrow morrow land, leaving Mad Max no choice but to save them from the desert and from Auntie's Bartertown...

Of course I could say that I didn't like the fact that Tina Turner played a role in it, but if I'm honest, than I must admit that she didn't do a bad job. I quite liked her role and her acting. It even didn't bother me all that much that Mad Max was degraded to some kind of kindergarten hero. No, what bothered me most of all was that the movie didn't have much new to offer. Sure, there is the Thunderdome and Bartertown, but in the end this is exactly the same movie as Mad Max 2. What's more, the final part of the movie almost seems to be an exact copy. No, personally I find the first two movies better. Each of them was renewing and original, something that certainly can't be said about this one. I give this movie a 6.5/10. It's nice to watch, but not the best one of the series.

This is one of the best teaching instruments for comparative government ever made--and a great action film as well! After studying comparative ideology and systems, have students watch and compare the communities of Bartertown and the Crack in the Earth--they love it!

and they learn from it!

Trust me, I've been using it for 10 years now and it never ceases to amaze me the genuine academic and intellectual discussion you can get a class to have concerning Max' adventures! It's even better than Gulliver's travels!

After being ambushed and robbed of all his possessions in the wasteland, Max (Mel Gibson) travels to the settlement of Bartertown a city of pure and unlimited commerce ruled over by Aunty (Tina Turner). With nothing to do barter with except his skills and combat prowess, Aunty makes him and offer to have all his stolen possession returned if he helps her in a feud with The Master (Angelo Rossitto) the ruler of Underworld who is responsible for the energy that makes Bartertown possible and uses it as leverage. Upon challenging The Master's proxy Blaster (Paul Larsson) in the gladiatorial arena known as Thunderdome, the situation becomes far less clear cut.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is the third entry in the Mad Max series. After the death of George Miller's friend and producing partner Byron Kennedy in a helicopter crash, Miller was uncertain he'd even want to continue on due to the grief but eventually decided to do the film as a healing experience and helped lighten the load by hiring George Ogilvie as co-director. While the film was still commercially successful, it didn't make the impact The Road Warrior or even the first Mad Max film did not matching their Australian box office (earning only half of what Road Warrior made) but earned enough to not be labeled a bomb. While critical reception was positive with some critics such as Roger Ebert putting the film on the year's best list, others felt the lighter tone and prominent child characters were ill-fitting within the Mad Max series. There's a lot I do respect about Beyond Thunderdome and it's intention as a tribute to Byron Kennedy is admirable, but it does feel like a film with a crisis of identity.

Being the biggest budgeted Mad Max film, the movie gives us the greatest scope of scale of this world yet complete with the bustle of Bartertown, the dark grungy abyss that is Underworld, or the vastness of the desert there's a solid variety of locations on display that are all visibly distinct. Despite Tina Turner being a calculated attempt at catering to the American market, I think she does well as Aunty and the dynamic between her and The Master played by Angelo Rossitto is quite interesting with some solid satire of reliance on one source of energy (even if it's underutilized by the end). On the surface the film feels like it has everything a Mad Max movie should have even if it's odd the movie has a PG-13 (albeit 80s PG-13 before the rating became something of a rubber stamp), but there's a big elephant in the room when it comes to Beyond Thunderdome and that's its prominent child characters.

During the second half of the film Max falls in with an all-child society who are sort of like a kinder gentler version of the Children of the Corn (complete with their own sort of religion). This is where we get a lot of silly shenanigans and while the Mad Max series has always had a sense of humor (such as the feral child from Road Warrior or the exaggerated biker culture) these elements involving the children feel like they're heavily inspired by the blockbuster school of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg with a lot of the grit and edge filed down considerably and even a climactic chase in the third act feels like it's shot more like a sequence from Indiana Jones than Mad Max. This is where I find myself at odds with myself because while there are good things I can say about Beyond Thunderdome, there's a jarring tonal clash between the grunge and grit of Bartertown and the whimsy and mischief of the tribe of child that never felt like it reconciled. With Miller dedicating this to his dead friend the presence of so much sentimentality makes sense (especially an ending monologue that hits harder with that context) but I couldn't help but feel it was a case of a square peg through a round hole.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is a movie I wish I liked better than I do because there are some good ideas and set pieces on display, but they often feel at odds with the more whimsical and sentimental elements in the second half that feel heavily borrowed from Spielberg and Lucas. Depending on how much leeway you can afford that combo: your mileage may vary.

I was 9 or 10 when this was on the cable television movie channels constantly. It starts off taking the themes established to the next level with a form of government taking seed in the post apocalyptic landscape years removed and who knows how many miles away from the first movie. I thought it was going well until the thunderdome scene ends. After that, the movie drifts and drifts badly.

Now that I am older, I get how the movie was trying to show a different side to this grim futuristic vision and also how it was playing off the then populist fear of nuclear war. That makes this film feel like a preachy mess of a movie and that always turns me off. That ruined Superman IV too though it didn't help with fearmongers desperately trying to make people feel such a war was inevitable in those days. I wonder what George Miller's ultimate vision would have been had Byron Kennedy not died because this is easily the weakest Max movie ever made.