Thunderdome

Starring:Nicholas Wright, Danica Dias, Sean Michael Beyer, Eric Flenner, Tamie Sheffield, Brad Bartram, Derek Allen, Mia Zottoli, Kevin Indio Copeland
Director: Dan Goldman (II)
Studio: Hanover House
Product Type: DVD
Average customer rating:
- Everthing and everone he knew is gone
- The End of Max?
- Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
- Lush continuation of 'The Road Warrior'. Buy It.
- One of those universal epics
|
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Starring: Mel Gibson , Tina Turner , Bruce Spence , Adam Cockburn , and Frank Thring
Director: George Miller (II) , and George Ogilvie
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
General
| Action & Adventure
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Futuristic
| Action & Adventure
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Mel Gibson
| Action Stars
| Action & Adventure
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Loners
| By Theme
| Action & Adventure
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Sci-Fi Action
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
General
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Adventure
| Kids & Family
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Science Fiction
| Kids & Family
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Australia & New Zealand
| By Country
| Art House & International
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Gibson, Mel
| ( G )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Grubb, Robert
| ( G )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Spence, Bruce
| ( S )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Thring, Frank
| ( T )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Turner, Tina
| ( T )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Ogilvie, George
| ( O )
| Directors
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Action & Adventure
| Warner Home Video
| Studio Specials
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Horror
| Warner Home Video
| Studio Specials
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
| Warner Home Video
| Studio Specials
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
All Titles
| Warner Home Video
| Studio Specials
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Kids & Family
| Warner Home Video
| Studio Specials
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
DVDs Under $15
| Warner Home Video
| Studio Specials
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Australia & New Zealand
| By Country
| Foreign & International
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
DVDs Under $7.49
| Today's Deals in DVD
| Special Features
| DVD
| Video
General
| Action & Adventure
| Today's Deals in DVD
| Special Features
| DVD
| Video
( M )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
Similar Items:
- The Road Warrior
- Mad Max (Special Edition)
- Escape from New York (Special Edition)
- Escape From L.A.
- Waterworld
ASIN: 0790731932
Release Date: 1997-07-30 |
Amazon.com
Although Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, the third part of George Miller's post-apocalyptic Mad Max trilogy, is certainly the least of the bunch (Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior is the undisputed masterpiece, and maybe the best action movie ever made), it has still got a good share of imaginative industrial-wasteland-pastiche imagery. And casting Tina Turner as Aunty Entity, the queen of Bartertown, was a masterstroke. Mel Gibson's character Max is pitted in a battle to the death against the bizarre Master Blaster in the Thunderdome, flying around on rubbery straps inside a sort of gigantic overturned colander with bloodthirsty spectators clinging to the outside. Miller's producing partner, Byron Kennedy, was killed in a helicopter crash while scouting locations for this film. Miller was devastated, only agreeing to direct the action sequences--and, somehow, you feel his heart wasn't entirely in it. --Jim Emerson
Customer Reviews:
Everthing and everone he knew is gone.......2007-06-06
He had a wife and son, both gone. I like that is set in parts of Austraila.
Tina Tuner, Mel Gibson
The End of Max?.......2006-09-24
The original concept for MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME didn't even include Mad Max. The original idea was about a group of orphaned children living out in the wild alone and a man who finds them. Then someone came up with the idea of Max being their "savior" and the film soon became a "Mad Max" project.
In MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME, Max is left alone to "die" in the desert. He makes his way through and comes to Bartertown, a city of last resort that has been able to maintain some of the technological capabilities of our former civilization. Bartertown might have been influenced by old Western bordertowns, but it reminded me of a poor-persons version of Mos Eisly from STAR WARS. Anyway, Max finds himself in the middle of a power struggle in the town and ends up fighting in a Coliseum like place called the Thunderdome, but people in Bartertown don't fight fair and after the fight Max is banished from the city into the desert. There he is found by a group of orphaned children who believe he is the pilot of their plane that crashed many years ago. Some of the children believe it is time to leave and return to their true home and they follow Max, but before they can return to their place of origin, they have to go through Bartertown.
MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME had the biggest budget of any Mad Max film. It re-united star Mel Gibson with director George Miller and a second director was hired so Miller could focus on the vehicle chases and action sequences. The film also has Tina Turner playing the villain, Aunty Entity. With all that going for it the film should have been something extraordinary.
Instead MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME ended up being the least thrilling of the Mad Max films. There's more action in the film than in the previous films in the series and Aunty Entity is a nemesis with more character than ones we've seen Max face before. And of course there's an awesome chase sequence at the end of the film.
The major problem with MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME is that there is too much going on in the film. ROAD WARRIOR had a very strict plot and even MAD MAX with all the back-story and character build-up had a fairly simple plot, but BEYOND THUNDERDOME is filled with all sorts of convolutions. The movie opens promising enough with a little bit of humor (the opening scene reminds me of an INDIANA JONES humorous moment), but when the action moves to Bartertown things get complicated. First there's the whole idea of how Bartertown is operated. Then there's the power struggle that we have to be acquainted with. There's also the concept of the Thunderdome and the purpose it serves and why it exists. Along the way we also discover that there's a entire class system to Bartertown: the lower classes and untouchables are forced to work in the sties of pig poop that power the city and they are on the verge of revolting. Had the action been confined to Bartertown, things wouldn't have been too bad. But just as one thinks the movie is ending and entire new element is added: the orphaned children living in the wild who think Max is Captain Walker come back from the land beyond to save them. Of course, after the kids are introduced you just know that they are going to end up fighting the evil overlords of Bartertown and they do. The lost kids really screwed with the movie big time. In MAD MAX the bad guys ran over children for pleasure. In BEYOND THUNDERDOME we sense that these baddies are bad, but not bad enough to actually kill the kids. They just want to enslave them or raise them up as heirs. So, instead of enriching the movie, the second act ends up twisting it; think of INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM and how all those stolen children screwed up that film. Of course, there's also the problem of Tina Turner. She's about as convincing as an evil powerful warlord as Paris Hilton is as a spokesperson for being celibate.
Still, MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME does have its moments. George Miller knows how to film chase scenes and the final chase that makes up the last act of the movie is an extraordinary bit of filmmaking involving a flying machine, a train, and lots and lots and lots of other cars and motorized vehicles. Of course, there's also Mel Gibson as Max. ROAD WARRIOR was a superior movie, but the Max in BEYOND THUNDERDOME is the most likeable; he has all the wisdom and experience from the first two films, but regains the compassion and joy he had during most of the first movie. Maybe Max isn't so mad anymore.
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.......2006-08-10
so far so good . Have not watched it yet. Ocean7739
Lush continuation of 'The Road Warrior'. Buy It........2006-08-05
`Mad Max, Beyond Thunderdome', directed by Kennedy - Miller, and starring Mel Gibson and Tina Turner, is an obvious and explicit sequel to the iconic sleeper, `The Road Warrior'. In many ways, `...Beyond Thunderdome' is a better movie, but when all is said and done, `...Beyond Thunderdome' does just a bit too much copying of its precursor to stand on it's own two feet, like `Aliens', as an independent movie.
Some of the many things which are better are the acting, the believability of the heavies and their back story, the sound track, including two terrific performances by Tina Turner, and the subplot involving the gang of `lost boys' in the second half of the movie.
And yet, the story seems just a little contrived. Both the master-blaster character pair and the `lost boys' story seem just a bit too contrived. On the other side of the coin, the development of what may be called `The Lord of the Flies' premise, where children are left to their own devices, is masterfully done, enhanced so well by morphing the language from modern Australian slang to something bordering on a new dialect makes one want to check that the script wasn't written by Anthony Burgess (see his `Clockwork Orange', as realized by Stanley Kubrick).
My primary objective in writing this review is to celebrate my adoration for this movie, which affected me almost as much as `2001' and `Lord of the Rings', even though these are far superior movies overall. A fairer comparison is to `Silent Running', the ecodisaster story featuring Bruce Dern and a soundtrack of Joan Baez songs. Both movies simply struck a chord with their very effective warnings about how mankind may shoot itself in the food.
Unfortunately, both movies are also not strong enough to sustain an effective suspension of disbelief to last beyond the walk to the theatre doors after seeing them for the third or fourth time. Where `Alien' and `Blade Runner' work, these work just a bit less well.
But they are still important films.
One of those universal epics.......2006-07-10
Although the earlier 'Mad Max' films have achieved more renown, this is my favourite of the three, as it shows the hero redeemed by humanity. Max in this film becomes a saviour and regains some of his faith in the human race and the future. Although much of the music and imagery may be 'borrowed' from classics like 'Lawrence of Arabia', it nonetheless is very effective and the film possesses a lyrical quality that is unique, especially in the 'culture'developed by the children abandoned in the wilderness.
Average customer rating:
- POINTLESS
- Absolute Rubbish! Do not buy.
- A FULL SCREEN rip-off
- Great Movies! Crappy DVD!
|
The Road Warrior / Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (Double Feature)
Starring: Mel Gibson , Bruce Spence , Michael Preston , Max Phipps , and Vernon Wells
Director: George Miller (II) , and George Ogilvie
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
General
| Action & Adventure
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Mel Gibson
| Action Stars
| Action & Adventure
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Coppin, Tyler
| ( C )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Gibson, Mel
| ( G )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Hey, Virginia
| ( H )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Phipps, Max
| ( P )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Spence, Bruce
| ( S )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Wells, Vernon
| ( W )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Zappa, William
| ( Z )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Ogilvie, George
| ( O )
| Directors
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Action & Adventure
| Warner Home Video
| Studio Specials
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
All Titles
| Warner Home Video
| Studio Specials
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
DVDs Under $15
| Warner Home Video
| Studio Specials
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
DVDs Under $14.99
| Today's Deals in DVD
| Special Features
| DVD
| Video
( R )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
Similar Items:
- Mad Max (Special Edition)
- Flash Gordon (Saviour Of The Universe Edition) (1980)
- Fantastic Four - Extended Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition)
- Escape from New York (Special Edition)
- Waterworld
ASIN: B000NA1WGS
Release Date: 2007-05-22 |
Description
All roads lead to excitement for Mel Gibson's Mad Max! In a world destroyed by the ravages of nuclear war, gasoline is a currency of the realm. Enter Max, champion of underdog survivors living in a fuel-depot camp. Make way for him and The Road Warrior [Side A], the Apocalypse on wheels that put Gibson on the Hollywood map for keeps and ranks as one of the most mind-blowing stunt movies ever made. Our hero returns for more astonishing adventures in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome [Side B]. This time, Max defends the future - a group of abandoned children - and enters the gladiatorial maces-and-chainsaws combat inside Thunderdome arena. Awesome!
Customer Reviews:
POINTLESS.......2007-05-26
FULL SCREEN?? Upon waiting and waiting for rerelease of The Road Warrior only to find it an even lesser format is quite a disappointment. Especially having paid for something I would have never wasted the money on if not being MISLED by the product information.
I can only hope someday Warner Bros. will do justice with a decent DVD release of the only worthy & brilliant follow up to Mad Max.
Absolute Rubbish! Do not buy........2007-05-24
Despite what the Product Details state, both movies are in Full Screen only, what a waste. (Unless you like Full Screen, then you're welcome to it). These movies have a solid audience, why can't Warner Bros. realise this and put out a decent version on DVD? The movies on this disc don't look much better than the ones I taped off television... a decade ago. I would send mine back, but I'd already opened it before I discovered what a ripoof this was. Had the Format been accurately stated, I wouldn't have purchased it in the first place. Very disappointing.
A FULL SCREEN rip-off.......2007-05-24
There's no excuse for these two films to be full screen only. Even at under $10 bucks it's a major rip-off. A resounding boooooooo to Warner Bros. for this botched double-feature.
Great Movies! Crappy DVD!.......2007-05-23
What a dissapointment. I was anxiously awaiting this disc mainly for the rereleased Road Warrior. Getting Thunderdome was just a bonus. When I received this disc I was depressed to discover no extras for the disc (I thought it would at least have the bonus content that was on the Blu Ray & HD-DVD edition recently released) plus these films are in standard FULL SCREEN! What a waste. Just save your money for the hoped for special edition release later in the year.
Average customer rating:
|
The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (2 Pack)
Director: George Miller , and George Ogilvie
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
General
| Action & Adventure
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Mel Gibson
| Action Stars
| Action & Adventure
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
ASIN: B000S0ZN2W |
Average customer rating:
- Everthing and everone he knew is gone
- The End of Max?
- Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
- Lush continuation of 'The Road Warrior'. Buy It.
- One of those universal epics
|
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome [Region 2]
Starring: Mel Gibson , Tina Turner , Bruce Spence , Adam Cockburn , and Frank Thring
Director: George Miller (II) , and George Ogilvie
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
General
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Gibson, Mel
| ( G )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Grubb, Robert
| ( G )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Spence, Bruce
| ( S )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Thring, Frank
| ( T )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Turner, Tina
| ( T )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Ogilvie, George
| ( O )
| Directors
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
( M )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
Similar Items:
- The Road Warrior
- Mad Max (Special Edition)
- Escape from New York (Special Edition)
- Escape From L.A.
- Waterworld
ASIN: B00004RYJD |
Amazon.com
Although Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, the third part of George Miller's post-apocalyptic Mad Max trilogy, is certainly the least of the bunch (Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior is the undisputed masterpiece, and maybe the best action movie ever made), it has still got a good share of imaginative industrial-wasteland-pastiche imagery. And casting Tina Turner as Aunty Entity, the queen of Bartertown, was a masterstroke. Mel Gibson's character Max is pitted in a battle to the death against the bizarre Master Blaster in the Thunderdome, flying around on rubbery straps inside a sort of gigantic overturned colander with bloodthirsty spectators clinging to the outside. Miller's producing partner, Byron Kennedy, was killed in a helicopter crash while scouting locations for this film. Miller was devastated, only agreeing to direct the action sequences--and, somehow, you feel his heart wasn't entirely in it. --Jim Emerson
Customer Reviews:
Everthing and everone he knew is gone.......2007-06-06
He had a wife and son, both gone. I like that is set in parts of Austraila.
Tina Tuner, Mel Gibson
The End of Max?.......2006-09-24
The original concept for MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME didn't even include Mad Max. The original idea was about a group of orphaned children living out in the wild alone and a man who finds them. Then someone came up with the idea of Max being their "savior" and the film soon became a "Mad Max" project.
In MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME, Max is left alone to "die" in the desert. He makes his way through and comes to Bartertown, a city of last resort that has been able to maintain some of the technological capabilities of our former civilization. Bartertown might have been influenced by old Western bordertowns, but it reminded me of a poor-persons version of Mos Eisly from STAR WARS. Anyway, Max finds himself in the middle of a power struggle in the town and ends up fighting in a Coliseum like place called the Thunderdome, but people in Bartertown don't fight fair and after the fight Max is banished from the city into the desert. There he is found by a group of orphaned children who believe he is the pilot of their plane that crashed many years ago. Some of the children believe it is time to leave and return to their true home and they follow Max, but before they can return to their place of origin, they have to go through Bartertown.
MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME had the biggest budget of any Mad Max film. It re-united star Mel Gibson with director George Miller and a second director was hired so Miller could focus on the vehicle chases and action sequences. The film also has Tina Turner playing the villain, Aunty Entity. With all that going for it the film should have been something extraordinary.
Instead MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME ended up being the least thrilling of the Mad Max films. There's more action in the film than in the previous films in the series and Aunty Entity is a nemesis with more character than ones we've seen Max face before. And of course there's an awesome chase sequence at the end of the film.
The major problem with MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME is that there is too much going on in the film. ROAD WARRIOR had a very strict plot and even MAD MAX with all the back-story and character build-up had a fairly simple plot, but BEYOND THUNDERDOME is filled with all sorts of convolutions. The movie opens promising enough with a little bit of humor (the opening scene reminds me of an INDIANA JONES humorous moment), but when the action moves to Bartertown things get complicated. First there's the whole idea of how Bartertown is operated. Then there's the power struggle that we have to be acquainted with. There's also the concept of the Thunderdome and the purpose it serves and why it exists. Along the way we also discover that there's a entire class system to Bartertown: the lower classes and untouchables are forced to work in the sties of pig poop that power the city and they are on the verge of revolting. Had the action been confined to Bartertown, things wouldn't have been too bad. But just as one thinks the movie is ending and entire new element is added: the orphaned children living in the wild who think Max is Captain Walker come back from the land beyond to save them. Of course, after the kids are introduced you just know that they are going to end up fighting the evil overlords of Bartertown and they do. The lost kids really screwed with the movie big time. In MAD MAX the bad guys ran over children for pleasure. In BEYOND THUNDERDOME we sense that these baddies are bad, but not bad enough to actually kill the kids. They just want to enslave them or raise them up as heirs. So, instead of enriching the movie, the second act ends up twisting it; think of INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM and how all those stolen children screwed up that film. Of course, there's also the problem of Tina Turner. She's about as convincing as an evil powerful warlord as Paris Hilton is as a spokesperson for being celibate.
Still, MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME does have its moments. George Miller knows how to film chase scenes and the final chase that makes up the last act of the movie is an extraordinary bit of filmmaking involving a flying machine, a train, and lots and lots and lots of other cars and motorized vehicles. Of course, there's also Mel Gibson as Max. ROAD WARRIOR was a superior movie, but the Max in BEYOND THUNDERDOME is the most likeable; he has all the wisdom and experience from the first two films, but regains the compassion and joy he had during most of the first movie. Maybe Max isn't so mad anymore.
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.......2006-08-10
so far so good . Have not watched it yet. Ocean7739
Lush continuation of 'The Road Warrior'. Buy It........2006-08-05
`Mad Max, Beyond Thunderdome', directed by Kennedy - Miller, and starring Mel Gibson and Tina Turner, is an obvious and explicit sequel to the iconic sleeper, `The Road Warrior'. In many ways, `...Beyond Thunderdome' is a better movie, but when all is said and done, `...Beyond Thunderdome' does just a bit too much copying of its precursor to stand on it's own two feet, like `Aliens', as an independent movie.
Some of the many things which are better are the acting, the believability of the heavies and their back story, the sound track, including two terrific performances by Tina Turner, and the subplot involving the gang of `lost boys' in the second half of the movie.
And yet, the story seems just a little contrived. Both the master-blaster character pair and the `lost boys' story seem just a bit too contrived. On the other side of the coin, the development of what may be called `The Lord of the Flies' premise, where children are left to their own devices, is masterfully done, enhanced so well by morphing the language from modern Australian slang to something bordering on a new dialect makes one want to check that the script wasn't written by Anthony Burgess (see his `Clockwork Orange', as realized by Stanley Kubrick).
My primary objective in writing this review is to celebrate my adoration for this movie, which affected me almost as much as `2001' and `Lord of the Rings', even though these are far superior movies overall. A fairer comparison is to `Silent Running', the ecodisaster story featuring Bruce Dern and a soundtrack of Joan Baez songs. Both movies simply struck a chord with their very effective warnings about how mankind may shoot itself in the food.
Unfortunately, both movies are also not strong enough to sustain an effective suspension of disbelief to last beyond the walk to the theatre doors after seeing them for the third or fourth time. Where `Alien' and `Blade Runner' work, these work just a bit less well.
But they are still important films.
One of those universal epics.......2006-07-10
Although the earlier 'Mad Max' films have achieved more renown, this is my favourite of the three, as it shows the hero redeemed by humanity. Max in this film becomes a saviour and regains some of his faith in the human race and the future. Although much of the music and imagery may be 'borrowed' from classics like 'Lawrence of Arabia', it nonetheless is very effective and the film possesses a lyrical quality that is unique, especially in the 'culture'developed by the children abandoned in the wilderness.
Average customer rating:
- Everthing and everone he knew is gone
- The End of Max?
- Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
- Lush continuation of 'The Road Warrior'. Buy It.
- One of those universal epics
|
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome [Region 2]
Starring: Mel Gibson , Tina Turner , Bruce Spence , Adam Cockburn , and Frank Thring
Director: George Miller (II) , and George Ogilvie
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
General
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Gibson, Mel
| ( G )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Grubb, Robert
| ( G )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Spence, Bruce
| ( S )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Thring, Frank
| ( T )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Turner, Tina
| ( T )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Ogilvie, George
| ( O )
| Directors
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
( M )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
Similar Items:
- The Road Warrior
- Mad Max (Special Edition)
- Escape from New York (Special Edition)
- Escape From L.A.
- Waterworld
ASIN: B00004CXXA |
Amazon.com
Although Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, the third part of George Miller's post-apocalyptic Mad Max trilogy, is certainly the least of the bunch (Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior is the undisputed masterpiece, and maybe the best action movie ever made), it has still got a good share of imaginative industrial-wasteland-pastiche imagery. And casting Tina Turner as Aunty Entity, the queen of Bartertown, was a masterstroke. Mel Gibson's character Max is pitted in a battle to the death against the bizarre Master Blaster in the Thunderdome, flying around on rubbery straps inside a sort of gigantic overturned colander with bloodthirsty spectators clinging to the outside. Miller's producing partner, Byron Kennedy, was killed in a helicopter crash while scouting locations for this film. Miller was devastated, only agreeing to direct the action sequences--and, somehow, you feel his heart wasn't entirely in it. --Jim Emerson
Customer Reviews:
Everthing and everone he knew is gone.......2007-06-06
He had a wife and son, both gone. I like that is set in parts of Austraila.
Tina Tuner, Mel Gibson
The End of Max?.......2006-09-24
The original concept for MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME didn't even include Mad Max. The original idea was about a group of orphaned children living out in the wild alone and a man who finds them. Then someone came up with the idea of Max being their "savior" and the film soon became a "Mad Max" project.
In MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME, Max is left alone to "die" in the desert. He makes his way through and comes to Bartertown, a city of last resort that has been able to maintain some of the technological capabilities of our former civilization. Bartertown might have been influenced by old Western bordertowns, but it reminded me of a poor-persons version of Mos Eisly from STAR WARS. Anyway, Max finds himself in the middle of a power struggle in the town and ends up fighting in a Coliseum like place called the Thunderdome, but people in Bartertown don't fight fair and after the fight Max is banished from the city into the desert. There he is found by a group of orphaned children who believe he is the pilot of their plane that crashed many years ago. Some of the children believe it is time to leave and return to their true home and they follow Max, but before they can return to their place of origin, they have to go through Bartertown.
MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME had the biggest budget of any Mad Max film. It re-united star Mel Gibson with director George Miller and a second director was hired so Miller could focus on the vehicle chases and action sequences. The film also has Tina Turner playing the villain, Aunty Entity. With all that going for it the film should have been something extraordinary.
Instead MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME ended up being the least thrilling of the Mad Max films. There's more action in the film than in the previous films in the series and Aunty Entity is a nemesis with more character than ones we've seen Max face before. And of course there's an awesome chase sequence at the end of the film.
The major problem with MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME is that there is too much going on in the film. ROAD WARRIOR had a very strict plot and even MAD MAX with all the back-story and character build-up had a fairly simple plot, but BEYOND THUNDERDOME is filled with all sorts of convolutions. The movie opens promising enough with a little bit of humor (the opening scene reminds me of an INDIANA JONES humorous moment), but when the action moves to Bartertown things get complicated. First there's the whole idea of how Bartertown is operated. Then there's the power struggle that we have to be acquainted with. There's also the concept of the Thunderdome and the purpose it serves and why it exists. Along the way we also discover that there's a entire class system to Bartertown: the lower classes and untouchables are forced to work in the sties of pig poop that power the city and they are on the verge of revolting. Had the action been confined to Bartertown, things wouldn't have been too bad. But just as one thinks the movie is ending and entire new element is added: the orphaned children living in the wild who think Max is Captain Walker come back from the land beyond to save them. Of course, after the kids are introduced you just know that they are going to end up fighting the evil overlords of Bartertown and they do. The lost kids really screwed with the movie big time. In MAD MAX the bad guys ran over children for pleasure. In BEYOND THUNDERDOME we sense that these baddies are bad, but not bad enough to actually kill the kids. They just want to enslave them or raise them up as heirs. So, instead of enriching the movie, the second act ends up twisting it; think of INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM and how all those stolen children screwed up that film. Of course, there's also the problem of Tina Turner. She's about as convincing as an evil powerful warlord as Paris Hilton is as a spokesperson for being celibate.
Still, MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME does have its moments. George Miller knows how to film chase scenes and the final chase that makes up the last act of the movie is an extraordinary bit of filmmaking involving a flying machine, a train, and lots and lots and lots of other cars and motorized vehicles. Of course, there's also Mel Gibson as Max. ROAD WARRIOR was a superior movie, but the Max in BEYOND THUNDERDOME is the most likeable; he has all the wisdom and experience from the first two films, but regains the compassion and joy he had during most of the first movie. Maybe Max isn't so mad anymore.
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.......2006-08-10
so far so good . Have not watched it yet. Ocean7739
Lush continuation of 'The Road Warrior'. Buy It........2006-08-05
`Mad Max, Beyond Thunderdome', directed by Kennedy - Miller, and starring Mel Gibson and Tina Turner, is an obvious and explicit sequel to the iconic sleeper, `The Road Warrior'. In many ways, `...Beyond Thunderdome' is a better movie, but when all is said and done, `...Beyond Thunderdome' does just a bit too much copying of its precursor to stand on it's own two feet, like `Aliens', as an independent movie.
Some of the many things which are better are the acting, the believability of the heavies and their back story, the sound track, including two terrific performances by Tina Turner, and the subplot involving the gang of `lost boys' in the second half of the movie.
And yet, the story seems just a little contrived. Both the master-blaster character pair and the `lost boys' story seem just a bit too contrived. On the other side of the coin, the development of what may be called `The Lord of the Flies' premise, where children are left to their own devices, is masterfully done, enhanced so well by morphing the language from modern Australian slang to something bordering on a new dialect makes one want to check that the script wasn't written by Anthony Burgess (see his `Clockwork Orange', as realized by Stanley Kubrick).
My primary objective in writing this review is to celebrate my adoration for this movie, which affected me almost as much as `2001' and `Lord of the Rings', even though these are far superior movies overall. A fairer comparison is to `Silent Running', the ecodisaster story featuring Bruce Dern and a soundtrack of Joan Baez songs. Both movies simply struck a chord with their very effective warnings about how mankind may shoot itself in the food.
Unfortunately, both movies are also not strong enough to sustain an effective suspension of disbelief to last beyond the walk to the theatre doors after seeing them for the third or fourth time. Where `Alien' and `Blade Runner' work, these work just a bit less well.
But they are still important films.
One of those universal epics.......2006-07-10
Although the earlier 'Mad Max' films have achieved more renown, this is my favourite of the three, as it shows the hero redeemed by humanity. Max in this film becomes a saviour and regains some of his faith in the human race and the future. Although much of the music and imagery may be 'borrowed' from classics like 'Lawrence of Arabia', it nonetheless is very effective and the film possesses a lyrical quality that is unique, especially in the 'culture'developed by the children abandoned in the wilderness.
Average customer rating:
|
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome [Region 2]
Starring: Mel Gibson , Tina Turner , Bruce Spence , Adam Cockburn , and Frank Thring
Director: George Miller (II) , and George Ogilvie
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
General
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Gibson, Mel
| ( G )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Grubb, Robert
| ( G )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Spence, Bruce
| ( S )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Thring, Frank
| ( T )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Turner, Tina
| ( T )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Ogilvie, George
| ( O )
| Directors
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
( M )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
ASIN: B00004VYLC |
Average customer rating:
|
Thunderdome
Starring: Nicholas Wright , Danica Dias , Sean Michael Beyer , Eric Flenner , and Tamie Sheffield
Director: Dan Goldman (II)
Manufacturer: Hanover House
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
General
| Action & Adventure
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
DVDs Under $14.99
| Today's Deals in DVD
| Special Features
| DVD
| Video
General
| Action & Adventure
| Today's Deals in DVD
| Special Features
| DVD
| Video
All Deals
| Today's Deals in DVD
| Special Features
| DVD
| Video
( T )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
ASIN: B0000VD10U
Release Date: 2004-02-25 |
Average customer rating:
|
Thunderdome
Starring: Nicholas Wright , Danica Dias , Sean Michael Beyer , Eric Flenner , and Tamie Sheffield
Director: Dan Goldman (II)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
General
| Action & Adventure
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
( T )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
ASIN: B00009MGI9 |
Average customer rating:
|
Thunderdome
Starring: Nicholas Wright , Danica Dias , Sean Michael Beyer , Eric Flenner , and Tamie Sheffield
Director: Dan Goldman (II)
Manufacturer: Hanover House
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
General
| Action & Adventure
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
DVDs Under $14.99
| Today's Deals in DVD
| Special Features
| DVD
| Video
General
| Action & Adventure
| Today's Deals in DVD
| Special Features
| DVD
| Video
All Deals
| Today's Deals in DVD
| Special Features
| DVD
| Video
( T )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
ASIN: B0000VD10K
Release Date: 2004-02-25 |
DVD:
- Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars
- Glory Years
- The Killer
- Once Upon a Time in China and America
- Kite Pencilboard
- Snatch (Special Edition) / Memento / Dogma
- Compelling Evidence
- Shandra: the Jungle Girl
- Professional
- Kull the Conqueror
DVD List
DVD
DVD
Bob the Builder - Bob's Favorite Adventures
Saboteur
The Professionals - Vol. 3
DVD: Posse
Ally McBeal - Season 5