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. (24/06/2016)

Desert, cars, trucks, petrol, blokes dressed badass… all things I don’t like, but I still I expected some decent entertainment from the cult Mad Max, a film that set the slightly clichéd template for pretty much every post-apocalyptic film. I didn’t get it, unfortunately. I acknowledge it as a strong source of inspiration, but otherwise, it’s weak, very weak. (18/07/2011)

The model of the revenge film has been exchanged for a story set in a post-apocalyptic world, where oil is the most important thing a person can have, because without it, it will be very difficult to move forward in the barren landscape. The roads here are blocked by various scoundrels, but also by people who simply want to live. One of them is Max, who seeks revenge but has not given up on life. This time, however, he must face more scoundrels and help people defend their oil source. At times, it is absolutely iconic, the boy with the boomerang is perfect, at other times, it is quite ordinary, but it is important to realize that it is still a film that has already aged about 33 years. The environment will constantly make you feel incredibly hopeless. This is definitely a welcome effect. (05/03/2014)

Two years after the success of his breakthrough debut, director George Miller returned to the Mad Max character with a sequel that completely redefined the concept of the post-apocalyptic world in popular culture and, furthermore, set the bar very high for action spectacle. The Road Warrior became a phenomenon whose style and success dozens of other productions around the world tried to emulate. But no one has been able to bring such an abundance of raw energy to the screen, nor has anyone succeeded in inventing such a fascinating microcosm of relationships. The post-nuclear future meets the myths of the past as Miller brings elements of the western to life with the aid of roaring engines and rampaging savages clad in leather and rags in a world where a drop of gasoline is worth more than a human life. (Annotation for the series marathon at Kino Aero, 2019) (14/03/2021)

I prefer minimalism and anguish of the original over the overdone and loud action in the sequel. Though George Miller defines the post-apocalyptic genre in its essence and thus opens the doors for dozens of successors, it only answers the question for me of why I don't look for adventure in similar places. (23/05/2015)