Mad Max 2 became an international hit and has had a huge influence on the look and feel of the post-apocalyptic genre in all types of media. The fast pace and unrelenting action of the sequel wowed audiences, many claiming it was superior to the original film.
The film follows Max, who's now a drifter in what has become a post-apocalyptic wasteland. He agrees to help a colony of people who are defending a gasoline refinery against a gang of bandits led by The Humungus.
George Miller and Byron Kennedy, the creators of the Mad Max films, wanted to show humanity in its most primitive and aggressive form. They essentially wanted to convey, what would happen if the people of that time, with their craving for gasoline, were put in a position where fuel has become an extremely rare and valuable commodity. Whereas the heightened number of car accidents inspired the concept for the first film, this formed the basis of the second. It feels fresh which is something a lot of sequels struggle with, but the Mad Max series always brings new ideas to the table with each instalment.
The action scenes are brutal and unrelenting, with lots of variety with each sequence. There's lots of things which are very unique to Mad Max 2, like the gyrocopter (which is flown by the hilarious Bruce Spence), the punk looking bikers, all the used looking sets, props and costumes. It's also the only movie I've seen where someone gets killed by a boomerang, it's very original!
There's been some criticism of Mad Max 2... I know some who don't like the lack of a deep plot and prefer the more straight forward narrative of the first. It's a very visual film, cinema is a visual form and I admire how the filmmakers used that to their advantage with the use of minimal dialogue and told the story of the characters through their expressions and actions rather than throw away expository dialogue. The night sequences are too darkly lit and it's hard to make out what's happening. They are few and far between however and it's only a minor gripe for what's a classic and legendary action film.
The film follows Max, who's now a drifter in what has become a post-apocalyptic wasteland. He agrees to help a colony of people who are defending a gasoline refinery against a gang of bandits led by The Humungus.
George Miller and Byron Kennedy, the creators of the Mad Max films, wanted to show humanity in its most primitive and aggressive form. They essentially wanted to convey, what would happen if the people of that time, with their craving for gasoline, were put in a position where fuel has become an extremely rare and valuable commodity. Whereas the heightened number of car accidents inspired the concept for the first film, this formed the basis of the second. It feels fresh which is something a lot of sequels struggle with, but the Mad Max series always brings new ideas to the table with each instalment.
The action scenes are brutal and unrelenting, with lots of variety with each sequence. There's lots of things which are very unique to Mad Max 2, like the gyrocopter (which is flown by the hilarious Bruce Spence), the punk looking bikers, all the used looking sets, props and costumes. It's also the only movie I've seen where someone gets killed by a boomerang, it's very original!
There's been some criticism of Mad Max 2... I know some who don't like the lack of a deep plot and prefer the more straight forward narrative of the first. It's a very visual film, cinema is a visual form and I admire how the filmmakers used that to their advantage with the use of minimal dialogue and told the story of the characters through their expressions and actions rather than throw away expository dialogue. The night sequences are too darkly lit and it's hard to make out what's happening. They are few and far between however and it's only a minor gripe for what's a classic and legendary action film.