Questions about "Mad Max" (Spoilers)

[Dave: Blackeye15]

Last week I rented the DVD of "Mad Max" I've already watched it twice, the first time it took me all to watch because i'm busy during the school week so the movie was watched in 15-20 minute spans. I watched it the second time on Sunday with the commendary and facts thing on. Anway it's sort of funny but I remeber reading on the box that this was a post-apocalitic (I mean when there's a big explosion of nukes and the world is all dead, I can't spell that word alright!) And threw out the week I was waiting for the big explosian to come and it never came. At first I thought it would come at the begining of the movie, then I thought it would come when Max got his arm and leg injuried by Toecutter and Co. (Like they leave him for dead and the nukes explode and Toecutter survials but bad for him so dose Max) then I thought it would come after Max kills that last guy with the explosion and I was thinking O.K. he killed the whole gang now the explosions are gonna come and Max kills gangs in the dead world, but then the credits roll. And I was like what! That's it, I admit I was a littie disappointed at first but when I watched it a second I was like "You know this movie is actually very good." So I like "Mad Max" a LOT now. Anyway my question are...
1)Does the world go to hell in the second movie and third movie?
2) Do the second and third movie have the orginal Austrialian Dialouge
3) Are the sequals anygood cuz I heard they are both good.
I am now definatly a "Mad Max" fan now.

-the first rule of fat club-

[Jim H.]

1. The world ia already post-nuke, they just didn't show it.  The world has started to go to hell, but all of civilization hasn't collapsed yet (in the Road Warrior, it pretty much has)

2.The second does have the original Aussie dialogue, as does the third I believe.

The second film is a much better film then the first, though I like both.  The Road Warrior is one of the best action movies ever made.  

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is just mediocre, unfortunately.  Mel Gibson has plans for a fourth, so keep an eye out for that.

[The Burgomaster]

1. The first movie was a fairly low budget film . . . so probably not enough money for Earth-shattering explosions.

2. Both sequels use the Aussie dialogue.

I agree with Jim H that BEYOND THUNDERDOME is just mediocre. It has some good ideas, but it doesn't have enough action.

I think THE ROAD WARRIOR is the most exciting of the 3 movies. But I think the original is a very close 2nd. The original has a less polished look and feel to it, making it a better cult film than the sequels.

I originally saw MAD MAX at the drive-in. It was part of a double feature with ROLLING THUNDER (a very underrated revenge movie starring William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones . . . highly recommended).

[Fearless Freep]

I was always of the impression that, while "Mad Max" was post-apocalyptic, the apocalyspe can not with a bang of nuclear exchange but a whimper of a break down of society

[Dave: Blackeye15]

What Makes people so sure it Post Apocalyptic?

-the first rule of fat club-

[AndyC]

I thought the same thing - civilization just fell apart. Of course, in Thunderdome, there is a definite mention of nuclear war - the "pocsaclypse." I think someone just added it at that point. I mean, the opening narration of The Road Warrior basically says that society continued its slide after Mad Max, with energy shortages being a big part of the cause. Either that, or Max simply moved from the city to the outback, where things were even worse.

If there were a nuclear war, I would have put it somewhere between Mad Max and The Road Warrior.

[ahab]

Im with fearless freep and andyc. i always thought that society just ground to a halt and went to hell. You should check out lyz's rewiew of mad max at and you call yourself a scientist. great review that covers this topic along with the other themes.

[Feathertop]

I saw THE ROAD WARRIOR (the best of the bunch) first, and when I saw MAD MAX later I remember thinking that it (Mad Max)didn't seem like a true post-apocalypse movie. It seemed to have more in common with biker flicks (with overtones of DEATH WISH).

[raj]

I'm in the same camp.  For those of us alive in the 70s (Mad max came out in 79) there was concern over oil/energy shortages, a breakdown in society, and a general feeling that we were running out of natural resources.  Oh, and there was a stink about whether or not we were entering a new ice age.  I always felt that Mad Max just took those feelings and ran with 'em.

[Funk, E.]

The intro to Road Warrior specifically talks about "Two great tribes" going at it to suggest the post-apocolyptic thing. It's never mentioned in the first though if I recall correctly. I suspect that it wasn't meant to be post nuke.

[Nathan Shumate]

What they mentioned about the two tribes was that they went to war, but supposedly a conventional one -- in which they disrupted each other's energy supply lines to the point that the economic structure fell apart.

The Road Warrior isn't technically post-apocalyptic, but it is post-civilized.  (It'll also be the first review coming up in my post-apocalyptic video binge in July.)

[Damien01]

I'm in the same camp. For those of us alive in the 70s (Mad max came out in 79) there was concern over oil/energy shortages, a breakdown in society, and a general feeling that we were running out of natural resources. Oh, and there was a stink about whether or not we were entering a new ice age. I always felt that Mad Max just took those feelings and ran with 'em.

Slightly true... I also think the Punk Revolution had something with it. Also, I was told that Mad Max was inspired from "Car Wars" a rpg game that was inspired from "Death Race 2000"...

[JohnL]

>I remeber reading on the box that this was a post-apocalitic

Putting aside the question of whether or not Mad Max qualifies, I think you got the definition of "post apocalyptic" a little off.

The official definitions I looked up for apocalypse say things like "a great revelation or disclosure" and mention the Bible. The common defintion is something like the end of the world, or the end of civilization. It doesn't necessarily mean it has to come from nuclear weapons. Also, "post" means after, so a "post apocalyptic" movie is set after the fall of civilization.