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The Road Warrior aka Mad Max 2 (George Miller, 1981)
The second Mad Max film qualifies as the best to me. The interesting thing about the trilogy is that the three films are all entirely self-contained. It's true that in the prologue of this film, there are scenes which show why Max (Mel Gibson) went mad, based on what happened in the first film, but they basically have nothing to do with what happens in this film. We are still in a post-apocalyptic world. There are remnants of civilization who are refining oil and turning it into gasoline. And then, there are the violent crazies who need the gas to perpetuate their concept of a dog-eat-dog world.
One of the reasons I like this movie the best is that it definitely has the greatest collection of oddball characters. I mean, the "good guys" even have such wackos as the Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence) and the Feral Kid (Emil Minty), and the bigtime bad guys have the Lord Humongous (Kjell Nilsson) and his truly insane, subhuman lieutenant Wez (Vernon Wells) who goes bonkers when his boyfriend bites it. This film also has the best car chases and stunts, and they're well-paced throughout the film. This is also probably the funniest Mad Max film.
Of course, the unifying factor which brings the entire film together is Max, and Gibson plays him as both world-weary and looking for a way to survive and thrive in a wasteland. Max fits comfortably between the "Good" and "Bad" sides because he knows that he has both of those characteristics within him. I'm not trying to say that people enjoy the Mad Max flix because they are deep, but, along with being a cool, entertaining popcorn flick, this one also has an intelligence about it which makes it clear that if you're looking for some meaning here, then you will probably find it.
The second Mad Max film qualifies as the best to me. The interesting thing about the trilogy is that the three films are all entirely self-contained. It's true that in the prologue of this film, there are scenes which show why Max (Mel Gibson) went mad, based on what happened in the first film, but they basically have nothing to do with what happens in this film. We are still in a post-apocalyptic world. There are remnants of civilization who are refining oil and turning it into gasoline. And then, there are the violent crazies who need the gas to perpetuate their concept of a dog-eat-dog world.
One of the reasons I like this movie the best is that it definitely has the greatest collection of oddball characters. I mean, the "good guys" even have such wackos as the Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence) and the Feral Kid (Emil Minty), and the bigtime bad guys have the Lord Humongous (Kjell Nilsson) and his truly insane, subhuman lieutenant Wez (Vernon Wells) who goes bonkers when his boyfriend bites it. This film also has the best car chases and stunts, and they're well-paced throughout the film. This is also probably the funniest Mad Max film.
Of course, the unifying factor which brings the entire film together is Max, and Gibson plays him as both world-weary and looking for a way to survive and thrive in a wasteland. Max fits comfortably between the "Good" and "Bad" sides because he knows that he has both of those characteristics within him. I'm not trying to say that people enjoy the Mad Max flix because they are deep, but, along with being a cool, entertaining popcorn flick, this one also has an intelligence about it which makes it clear that if you're looking for some meaning here, then you will probably find it.