Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

The Road Warrior is a film I have seen many times and still enjoy. An action-packed post-apocalyptic blast and one of the top 5 action films of my childhood up there with RoboCop, Terminator, Alien, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Among other things, the film contains great costumes and technology, but above all, it manages to draw me into the plot and doesn’t let go for a second. (06/24/2016)

Bigger, better... Crazier. The second Mad Max is a great spectacle, action packed from start to finish, full of deranged characters, dusty, hot and uncompromising just like the post-apocalyptic landscape in which it is set. The action doesn't lack ideas, style or surprises, Mel Gibson is excellent, so what more could you ask for? It's a shame that it didn't quite work in the third film. (05/29/2015)

A breathtaking post-apocalyptic action flick during which you feel the ubiquitous dust in your own mouth. Perfectly chosen locations, a dynamic plot with a powerful atmosphere, unique action scenes with cars. The Road Warrior is even better than the very good first Mad Max. What I wouldn’t give to see it on the big screen! (06/15/2004)

I skipped the first episode as a precaution and went straight to the second one, expecting brisk and raw action, and suffocating post-apocalyptic atmosphere. Well, I guess I overestimated it. The beginning was very promising, with a quick explanation of the events that led to the collapse of civilization, and then it was full speed ahead. But right after the first chase there was a big lull that lasted unnaturally long. For a while it was interrupted by the ugly bad guys, but then things calm down again, the initially working atmosphere completely fizzles out and I was really getting bored. Moreover, Mel Gibson, as great an actor as I think he is, only uses two expressions in the whole film, and by the latter I mean his final smirk. The final car chase was spectacular and entertaining, but it ended somehow suddenly, without much of a climax. And that's what the whole film is: it does its job, but I can’t say it adds something more than the bare average, nah! But I can't deny that it’s a source of a lot of inspiration to this day. 65% (04/14/2022)

Unlike the first film, the director "bothered" to outline at least a little bit of the vision of the post-apocalyptic world. It's nothing groundbreaking, and a rough cut of war scenes from documentaries is the easiest way to go. The script is also certainly not groundbreaking, and thus the pile of clichés may not be to the taste of the contemporary viewer and even the more tolerant individuals will struggle to swallow the overly theatrical dialogue. Fortunately, all of this is balanced by completely unique action sequences, which are unthinkable to film nowadays because some of the special effects numbers would make Hollywood insurance people throw a fit. Cinematographer Dean Semler excellently shot a vast desert wasteland and dusty trajectories trailing behind the cars are literally pouring from the screen onto the audience. Mel Gibson stepped up in the lead role and the soundtrack isn't quite as annoying. The cheesy B-movie aspects have shifted to a crazy romp (the costumes were stolen by the filmmakers from an S&M parlor!), yet it has no dead spots from first to last minute and watching it is actually perverse fun. (05/21/2006)