If the first Mad Max gives audiences a glimpse of the last vestiges of civilization, 1982’s Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior takes them full-on into George Miller’s Wasteland in one of the most celebrated action films ever.
On this episode, film critic Sara M. Fetters joins the show as we talk about how Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior builds on its predecessor, how it impacts the series’ future, and why it still holds up all these years later.
SYNOPSIS
After avenging the death of his wife and young son, Max (Mel Gibson) drives the post-apocalyptic highways of the Australian outback, fending off attacks from nomadic tribes that prey on outsiders. Falling into an encampment led by the relatively peaceful Pappagallo (Mike Preston), Max at first schemes to steal their oil. But soon he becomes the group’s reluctant defender against the hulking Humungus (Kjell Nilsson) and his ruthless marauders.
George Miller started the Mad Max franchise as an indie filmmaker. But by the third film, Hollywood was ready to enter the Wasteland with Mel Gibson’s title character facing off against music icon Tina Turner.
On this episode, Megan Kearns of Spoilerpiece Theatre joins the show as we talk about Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. We’ll discuss how the movie continues the series’ evolution, its PG-13 rating, and why it’s so underrated.
SYNOPSIS
In the third of the Mad Max movies, Max (Mel Gibson) drifts into Bartertown, ruled by Aunty Entity (Tina Turner). There he becomes a gladiator and gets dumped in the desert where he is rescued by a band of feral orphans who have been looking for help for years. When several of them take his appearance as a sign and go off into the desert, he follows them back to the town.
Mad Max rewrote the rules when it came to action movies back in 1979. And with each sequel, George Miller continued to raise the bar higher. So naturally, Mad Max: Fury Road is the culmination of all that came before it.
On this episode, filmmaker and music producer David Snyder joins the show as we talk about how Miller once again redefined a genre with Mad Max: Fury Road and what we hope to see in Miller’s Furiosa prequel.
SYNOPSIS
Years after the collapse of civilization, the tyrannical Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) enslaves apocalypse survivors inside the desert fortress the Citadel. When the warrior Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) leads the despot’s five wives in a daring escape, she forges an alliance with Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy), a loner and former captive. Fortified in the massive, armored truck the War Rig, they try to outrun the ruthless warlord and his henchmen in a deadly high-speed chase through the Wasteland.
