Mad Max Retrospective Part 2 (The Road Warrior 1981) *spoilers*

For part two of the Mad Max retrospective, my girlfriend and I watched The Road Warrior. This is a very direct sequel to Mad Max and takes place after humanity has had World War III. During the chaos, the world has exhausted all of its fossil fuels putting everything at a stand still. With gasoline so rare, people go out in search of a it so they can survive in this harsh wasteland. Max rides through the outback in his trusty super charger V8 with his canine sidekick, Dog.

 

This movie is about Max finding a crazy gyro copter pilot who says there is a community that is refining gasoline and has a near limitless supply of it. Eager to get more gas, Max and the gyro pilot head to the community. However, a man named Lord Humungus and his band of leather clad bikers are harassing the community in order to get the limitless gas. Max gains passage into the community and gains their trust by going out to the wasteland and picking up a tractor trailer to haul their gas supply. The gas supply is meant to move the community far enough away from the wasteland and Humungus and reach a paradise where they can live peacefully. Max gets them the rig and gets his gas reward, but upon being asked another favor he declines. The people wanted Max to drive the rig for them, but he just wants the gas. Max drives off into the distance with his stash of gasoline and the community is left heartbroken. The biker gang chases Max and cause him to crash his car. The car explodes and they think Max is dead. Luckily, Max had escaped and was saved by his friend, the gyro pilot. Max comes back to the community and he agrees to help them and drive tanker. There is a very long chase scene at the end and Max does what he is asked to do and saves the community. The last we see of Max is him in the distance as the community drives away to paradise.

Jason Voorhees never skips leg day

This movie is fantastic; I love it. I think Max looks awesome especially with the costume design. It even incorporates him wearing a leg brace and his sleeveless right arm (he got shot in the leg and his arm ran over in the first movie). I think they made his character look not only brave and quick, but intelligent too. The villains in this movie have the same skills Max has, but they aren't smart like him. Max always has a trick up his sleeve. Whether it rigging his gas tank to blow under tampering or having a shot gun pointed at someone even though it has no bullets. I think the villains are really terrifying, especially Humungus and his red mohawked lackey. They work as a unit and use scare tactics to make people feel cornered when they have the upper hand. Humungus is the biggest and strongest of the group which is why he is leader. Actually, Jim Goose (Max's original partner) was supposed  to be Humungus but it never panned out. If you look at Humungus' head, it is very burned looking like Goose was in the first movie. The biker group also has a lot of police cars and men dressed in police garb further showing the intent of having Goose be Humungus. The introduction of Dog was also neat because it shows Max isn't as bad as he wants people to think he is. Plus, Dog is such a cute character but he can be viscous when he needs to be. The people in the community also aren't helpless, they are pretty strong characters, especially the wild kid with the metal boomerang, but they just need some extra guidance from someone that was very different from them. The movie is great, but there are scenes of extreme violence that really would make people draw back. While it's predecessor was no stranger to violence, The Road Warrior is extremely brutal in some scenes. I think my girlfriend found this movie okay, but I think Mad Max was a bit more to her liking. Never the less, she is still excited to see Mad Max Fury Road.

So yeah, something like that

The Road Warrior really set the stage for post-apocalyptic genre. Any movie like this really owes a lot to Max. This movie is great on its own and an excellent addition to the series. Mel Gibson has few lines, but the ones he delivers are well spoken and just plain cool. I even love the gyro pilot and how he brings some levity to the scenes involving him and Max. I give The Road Warrior nine large barrels of gas out of ten. If you're a fan of action and chase scenes, then this is your movie. Be sure to check back for when I post part 3 of my retrospective for Mad Max Beyond Thunder Dome.

Okay, I'll watch The Road Warrior