Rank the Mad Max Films

In the 80s it seems like many franchises can be accused of going 'family-friendly' or at least lighter and more accessible: Conan The Destroyer, Return of the Jedi, MM: Beyond Thunderdome, Star Trek: The Voyage Home, but there's one that did it and everyone seems to love it...

Terminator 2

I feel the crime here is higher than what some felt went down in RotJ or MM:BT. Here the Terminator itself went from this destructive wrecking ball that played to our fears of man vs machine...to a good guy with a kid side-kick and a no killing rule. People _love_ it. Myself, I'm not such a fan of T2, but maybe I haven't seen it enough. I dunno, maybe I'm hypocritical giving BT a pass on its kids, but not T2.

T2 was tonally lighter, but it had plenty of blood, death and pain in it. Possibly more deaths than the first movie. And it didn't have ewoks/feral kids.

JEM wrote: T2 was tonally lighter, but it had plenty of blood, death and pain in it. Possibly more deaths than the first movie. And it didn't have ewoks/feral kids.

Other than John Conner, that is. Just sayin'

T2 was AWESOME when I was 12. It blew my mind back then.

However, it really hasn't aged well. Linda Hamilton gave a hell of a performance and really made Sarah Connor the memorable character people think of today. She was good in the first movie too, but she took it to a new level in T2. Schwarzenegger also gives a hell of a performance. He is really at the top of his game here.

Still, the film relies more on spiffy CG special effects, spectacle level action set pieces and going to great lengths to show that the Terminator is now the good guy. For me it lacks that gritty suspense and tight runtime of the first film. In the original Terminator you felt like you never had a chance to relax. T2 is FULL of moments where it slows down to a crawl and the film just kinda breathes for a few minutes. It makes you feel like they could hide out from T-1000 pretty easily if they wanted to. Also, Ed Furlong is just a whiny shitbag kid, who you can't imagine will grow up to be the cool guy with the facial scar. Since his character is the heart of the film, as is his relationship with the Terminator, it really brings the whole thing down quite a bit. The film reaches for the stars and tries to pack an emotional wallop, but ultimately there is too much going on and it feels kinda bloated.

T2 is still a good movie, but I don't think it's one of the all time greats that people make it out to be. Time has not been kind to it.

Back to the OP...

1. Fury Road
2. Road Warrior
3. Beyond Thunderdome
4. Mad Max

Even the worst of these movies is really good. My ranking is affected heavily by the order in which I saw them. Fury Road was the first Mad Max movie I'd seen, and it's definitely the one that affected me the most. Frankly it's ruined me on almost every other blockbuster or action movie, both in terms of visuals and raw storytelling. It's only been out for a year or so, but it's the first movie that I've really been obsessed with since the original Lord of the Rings, where at times I really don't see a point in watching something else.

Road Warrior was the last one I saw, and the final car chase is just so good. It does a lot of the same world building that Fury Road does, and really it's why we all know what "Mad Max" looks like.

I agree with Jeff White that Beyond Thunderdome is awfully good, though it probably has the strangest pacing of all of them. I don't mind the kids, but they do kind of put the whole movie on hold. I pretty much love everything about Bartertown, and Thunderdome itself is just so iconic. To be fair, I'm generally pretty easy on these controversial entries into long-running series, like Return of the Jedi and T2. I love both of those movies too.

The original movie is excellent, but it almost feels like it's from a different series. The action is really great, but it is much more of a 70s revenge flick than the post-apocolyptic wasteland of the other three. I also have a tough time with scenes that imperil small children, even when it's done in the detached way this one does it. Still really good.

1. MAD MAX 2 aka THE ROAD WARRIOR
2. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

There are no other Mad Max films. Quit acting like there are.

1. Road Warrior - It literally had a "feral kid" yet was somehow awesome anyways.
2. Fury Road - Charlize Theron just wasn't as good in the role as Mel Gibson was.
3. Beyond Thunderdome - I actually feel the tacked on obligatory car chase at the end hurts the movie more than the kids.
4. Mad Max - Never been a huge fan of this one. I like it, but wouldn't miss it if I never watch again.

I agree T2 hasn't aged that well, but there are still some memorable moments. Remember back then reversing Arnold's role was a pretty cool thing to do - using the enemy against itself. Still, Sarah Connor's terrorized face when she first sees him is priceless.

Egg Shen wrote: T2 is FULL of moments where it slows down to a crawl and the film just kinda breathes for a few minutes. It makes you feel like they could hide out from T-1000 pretty easily if they wanted to.

Although you actually see the T-1000 do some actual infiltrating in his tracking, which is definitely cool.


Back to the main program, I love that the Necromunda Goliaths are straight descendants of Lord Humongous' lieutenant, Wez.

I'd probably rank them:
Road Warrior
Fury Road
Beyond
MM

We've mentioned last year how Fury Road is slightly less believable than RW - there's just a bit too much suspension of disbelief in the Warhammer-esque huge skull in the cliff face, for instance. So it gets second place.

1. Fury Road
2. Road Warrior
3. Beyond Thunderdome
4. Mad Max

The only reason BT edges MM is all the times at work we've yelled "EMBARGO ON!"

Egg Shen wrote: This is pretty easy to do.

1. Fury Road
2. Road Warrior
3. Thunderdome
4. Mad Max

When I first watched Fury Road (and loved it) I didn't think it topped Road Warrior. However, after watching it 4-5 more times since then I can easily place it on the top of the list. It's not just the best Mad Max movie...it's one of the best films to come out in the last 15 years or so.

Road Warrior is a classic that is so ingrained within pop culture that most people don't even realize stuff they like is heavily influenced by it. It is still the go to "playbook" for post apocalyptic stuff...even all these years later. It doesn't hurt that that the film is a timeless classic.

I've never understood the hate towards Beyond Thunderdome. It's the "Hollywood" version of Mad Max. You can tell the grimy wasteland had to be cleaned up a bit for mass consumption. If the movie wasn't so much Goddamn FUN I'd have a problem with that. This thing is a riot and just incredibly entertaining. It's more of a live action Mad Max cartoon and I love all the crazy stuff going on. Still the world building is there...we learn more about Max..the action is great. And yeah, I don't mind the lost tribe children stuff.

Mad Max is one that I WANT to like more than I do. Each time I revisit it I'm just kind of underwhelmed. Still, I'm convinced that there is going to be this one time where I pop it in, watch it, and come away from it with a new found appreciation. That just hasn't happened yet.

Somehow you have written my feelings word for word.

Beyond Thunderdome suffers to some degree in the same way that Twilight suffers in that the extreme worst part was the fundamental idea in the storytelling process, and so the writer never realized that it was the thing holding it back. George Miller came up with the idea of a story about lost kids in the desert, and a draft or two in was pondering who would find them and then realized that Max was a good match and so turned it into a Mad Max film. The reason Thunderdome is such an interesting concept is that it was a natural follow on from The Road Warrior in that it was about communities starting to reestablish themselves after the destruction, and thus once the story leaves the establishing community the film goes downhill.

Brewmiester wrote:
The only reason BT edges MM is all the times at work we've yelled "EMBARGO ON!"

For all its flaws, Thunderdome remains the most quotable of all the films. Fury Road needs a lot of years of "Witness Me!" and "shiny and chrome" to catch up.

"Who run Bartertown?"
"Two men enter, one man leave!"

One of my favorites is always "You think that I don't know the law?" Useful in so many situations.

I will grudgingly concede that Beyond Thunderdome is the most quotable of the four movies.

On the other hand, the other three movies all have better villains, including the original Mad Max.

Shellhead wrote: I will grudgingly concede that Beyond Thunderdome is the most quotable of the four movies.

On the other hand, the other three movies all have better villains, including the original Mad Max.

Also true, but I still like Ironbar. That poor bastard takes such a beating throughout the whole movie.

Shellhead wrote: I will grudgingly concede that Beyond Thunderdome is the most quotable of the four movies.

Given Max has only 16 lines in The Road Warrior and 7 in Fury Road, this is fairly inevitable.

Not Sure wrote: For all its flaws, Thunderdome remains the most quotable of all the films. Fury Road needs a lot of years of "Witness Me!" and "shiny and chrome" to catch up.

I always liked:
"But how the world turns. One day, cock of the walk. Next, a feather duster."

Regarding the series bad guys....I'm still gonna have to put some chips on BT. All of the flicks have great, memorable villains, but the other three are essentially evil warlords/gang leaders who simply need killing. Aunty Entity stands apart from the other three. A nobody before the fall who is now trying to rebuild, she first enlists Max's help, then later lets him go out of respect.

"Well, ain't we a pair, raggedy man."

Her relationship with Max has more depth than any of the others. Even the mini-bosses in BT are fun. Master Blaster, Iron Bar. So, I'm not sure I'd say that all the other three had better villains. Some better, some worse. Maybe about the same in the end, but Entity is definitely unique among the four main baddies.

I guess I can understand people rating it 4th as it departs from the formula and maybe not what people expected in their Mad Max, but I just don't live in a world where Beyond Thunderdome is a 'bad' film.

Mad Max had some good quotes as well.
"I'm a fuel injected suicide machine. I am the rocker, I am the roller, I am the out-of-controller! I'm the Nightrider, baby."