Mad Max

[flackbait]

I personally like Road Warrior the best. But hey thats just me

[trekgeezer]

I also picked Road Warrior, a prime example of how a sequel can outshine the original occasionally. I think I like Thunderdome a little more than most people do.

[flackbait]

Thunderdome was still good but it lacked something from the others. What I like about Road Warrior is how it shows how a good movie can be made with a rather low budget(compared to other films of the time).

[Derf]

Road Warrior is the most entertaining of the three, though Mad Max is the better movie in terms of storyline and character development. I voted for RW, but MM is right up there, too. Thunderdome has some good parts, but it gets far too preachy.

[rebel_1812]

Road Warrior is the most entertaining of the three, though Mad Max is the better movie in terms of storyline and character development. I voted for RW, but MM is right up there, too. Thunderdome has some good parts, but it gets far too preachy.

I agree, Mad Max had it's own tone and feel to it.  Pathos, I believe is the best word to describe it, and perhaps a better tone for a post-Apocalypse movie.   Road Warrior was more of a traditional action flick, but a very good action flick.

[Gerry]

I absolutely love MAD MAX, especially the SE DVD version that restores the original Australian dialog as opposed to the American dub job.  It is an amazingly deep movie for the genre.  That said, I voted for THE ROAD WARRIOR, which is simply THE defining post-apocalypse movie that set the bar for everything to follow, and one hell of an entertaining movie. 

Of course there are a number of apocalyptic movies that were clearly inspirations for that one, NO BLADE OF GRASS for example, but THE ROAD WARRIOR perfected the formula.

[BeyondTheGrave]

I went with the all mighty Road Warrior. Wheres odinn7 to back me up. 

Mad Max was a better movie in terms of story and is enjoyable.

[Scott]

Like the TERMINATOR films the second one TERMINATOR 2 is the better film, but you must love the orignal concept of both films.

ROAD WARRIOR better overall, but MAD MAX is a special film in it's own way. Almost a different kind of film than the second.

[ghouck]

Road Warrior all the way. Mad Max was good, , ,but Road Warior had IMO the better story, beter action, and more memorable scenes and characters.

[Neville]

"Mad Max" is a great movie, but it suffers of a low budget. There's just too many scenes revolving around Max and his family and the nomad bikers and too few focusing in his job and the revenge plot. Still, it is arguably the best of the three in terms of story / concepts. I like the idea of a progressive rather than sudden apocalypse (something that the second film appears to contradict), and the perspective of Max, who is neither a very important person nor one that pays special attention to the problem.

Still, my vote id for #2, because the pace and the progression of the plot are far more in sync with what is to be expected in a post-apocalyptic action film. Plus the action is fantastic.

Number three has its moments. I specially like Tina Turner's performance and the ending, which is sort of unexpected, specially in tone. However, I was very disappointed with the way they toned down the action and the violence.

[Yaddo 42]

Voted for RR, since it's the best film overall, a classic of the genre, of car chases, and you can watch and enjoy it without seeing the others.

Thunderdome has some good moments, like the chase and some of the dialogue. The Thunderdome fight makes a great little short film on it's own. But the film is has it's flaws and the story is uneven.

MM is very good, and the most believable of the three. Seeing it adds to the enjoyment of RR, because we know what made Max into the man he is in that film.

If I had to put one in a time capsule or show only one to a group, it'd be RR, so it gets my vote.

[StackAttack]

Road Warrior was the better for me because of the big car chase final. Mad Max was good in that cheap movie charm but it was annoying watching it with the english actors voices dubbed in for so long. Thunderdome should have stopped in the actual thunderdome because that was the best part of the movie along with the wheel of death and master blaster.

[akiratubo]

Mad Max was such precision movie making it's hardly believable anyone was able to accomplish it.  It hits the bullseye on all of its plot points:  The law is now just kind of a nice idea.  Max kills the leader of a motorcyle gang.  The gang is extremely deranged and wants revenge.  There exists one last supercar capable of running down the gang's bikes, and Max has access to it.  Finally frustrated to the breaking point by legal rigamarole, Max's chief gives him permission to just kill instead of arrest criminals (not in so many words, but ...).  The gang attacks Max's friends and family, destroying his life.  Max, with the established license to kill and his supercar, takes his revenge.

That being said, The Road Warrior is a superior film in that it is more accomplished technically, is every bit as raw and precise, and expands on the groundwork laid by the original in an organic and quite believeable way.  Also, The Road Warrior scored a knockout blow in the scene in which Max tries to outrun the Humungus's truck.  In Mad Max, we knew that Max's family was going to die.  However, we had been conditioned by Mad Max, previous parts of the Road Warrior, and other action movies to think that the hero is invincible when he uses his superpower (in this case, the Interceptor's blower).  Max being run down so easily was as hard hitting as anything I've ever seen in a movie: the mythic hero being swatted down like a fly.  With that one moment, all bets were off.  There was no guarantee that Max and the refinery people were going to survive; the Wez and the Humungus might win, after all.

Mad Max is an excellent example of how to make a good movie.  The Road Warrior is an excellent example of how to make a great movie.

[trekgeezer]

I guess Road Warrior could be declared the money maker of the three, it seemed to generate the most cheapo knock offs.

[Torgo]

I've always liked The Road Warrior the best.

It's like an improved version of the 1st film with a better budget and better car chase sequences.

I try to act like Beyond Thunderdome didn't exist at all BTW.