Mad Max 2 (or The Road Warrior, as it is frequently referred to) is a visually impressive, thinly plotted action movie that does what it sets out to do with a great deal of success. Let it be noted from the start this film isn't trying to be the twentieth century answer to Shakespeare. The objective here is to present high-octane action and stunts in the most eye-popping, visceral manner possible. Within the parameters of its own agenda, Mad Max 2 is a great film. If you come to the film seeking great depth, ongoing characterisation, clever dialogue and such like, you won't find what you're looking for. If you want to experience an exhilarating action film and, let's face it, we all need to watch films for entertainment every now and again then Mad Max 2 delivers by the tanker-load!
Following the death of his wife and child, former Australian traffic cop Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) has become a scavenger who cruises the lawless roads of post-apocalypse Oz in search of fuel. Every time he finds an abandoned or crashed vehicle, he uses bowls, bottles and other such containers to bleed off whatever precious fuel may be left in it. The roads are riddled with similar scavengers, some of whom are even more violent and desperate than Max. Following a dramatic pursuit against a group that includes the fearsome, mohican-wearing Wez (Vernon Wells), Max befriends a man who pilots a primitive form of chopper, known simply as the Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence). The Gyro Captain guides Max to a nearby oil depot in the middle of the desert, populated by a bunch of relatively law-abiding and fair-minded people. However, the depot is under constant threat from a gang of marauders who circle it day and night, taunting those inside with threats of violence and torture, and capturing the desperate few who occasionally try to drive away from the oil compound in a bid for freedom. Among this gang of sadists is Wez, but he is nothing compared to the gang leader a terrifying masked goliath known as the Humungus (Kjell Nilsson). Max manages to get into the oil depot, where he offers his assistance to the defenders within if they will give him some fuel in return.
Mad Max 2 features a number of good points. The costumes are imaginative, the vehicles are intriguing, the setting looks appropriately bleak - while it is most definitely a low-budget film (admittedly, though, slightly more expensive-looking than Part One), the makers have come up with ingenious ways of concealing their limited funds. Performance-wise, the script doesn't ask much of the cast, although Gibson demonstrates a degree of charisma and Spence as the Gyro Captain turns in a weird but arresting acting job. Perhaps the most memorable performance comes from a young lad named Emil Minty, who plays the Feral Kid (a strange, animalistic boy who protects his people with a razor-sharp boomerang!) The stunt work is absolutely incredible, more so when one reflects that there are no fancy computer generated effects here, just a lot of meticulously prepared stunts and crashes performed by a team of extraordinarily brave stunt drivers. Also noteworthy is the intense music by Brian May. Mad Max 2 is violent, trashy, fast-paced fun a film that doesn't set itself ambitions above its station, and is all the better for it. Perhaps the best of the trilogy.
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