Okay, look. Bottom line here. People may love Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, and that’s fine; but for my money, the movie’s really falls apart really fast and is awful. Once Max leaves Bartertown and joins up with a tribe of kids, the movie was crap to me. I understand that the filmmakers wanted to explore the paternal instincts of lone warrior Mad Max, and I see some clever exploration of the origins of religions and the groundwork of societies; but the movie’s second act is so slow, plodding, and dull that this movie’s many faults far outweigh its merits.

Frankly, Beyond Thunderdome is one of those legendary movies that has a single, fantastic and legendary sequence that CARRIES the movie’s popularity beyond its inital theatrical run. It’s a sad state of things considering how exceptional The Road Warrior, this film’s predecessor, was; but it’s the truth. The sequence in question is the infamous fight in Thunderdome between Mad Max & Blaster, a giant; and it is cool. Not amazing and life-changing, but original and good. Other than that, the movie is flat in every way. Honestly, the “big action sequence” at the end of the film is a B-rate rip-off of the chase in Road Warrior, and the movie kinda alters the character to the point that he has no charisma whatsoever.

All that being said, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome gets a 3. It’s only saving grace is the battle in Thunderdome itself and the events leading up to it. The movie does have that great quote, “Two men enter, one man leaves”; but other than that sequnce it has few if any redeeming qualities or moments. If you love it, more power to you; but I didn’t, and I’m sorry.