Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) Review

 

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

The Road Warrior picks up with Max again, this time finding himself in the middle of a gasoline war between two rival gangs.

It’s here in the 2nd movie of the series that we actually get some world building and backstory done for the world that Max lives in. Most of the common tropes and things that come to mind when thinking of Mad Max were introduced here, being more of a free-for-all wasteland where oil is the most important resource, and the cause for such chaos in the first place.

Max is very obviously still in a dark place and one of my favorite things about his character, starting here, is his reluctance to be the hero everyone expects him to be. He’s a man just trying to survive like everyone else. He doesn’t want fame, he wants food, water, gas, and his car, which sadly bites the dust in this one.

The villains, Lord Humongous and Wez, are nowhere as good as the first (a tall order) and were rather hokey. I’m also really unable to wrap my head around the weird fascination in a post-apocalyptic wasteland with the sexual leather vibe the bad guys have going on. Assless chaps and leather bondage straps just seem like an odd choice but they certainly add to the character of such quirky villains.

The cast did a decent job, with a few standouts in Vernon Wells, Michael Preston, Bruce Spence, Virginia Hey, and Mel Gibson. Once again, Gibson puts in a solid performance that starkly contrasts that of the unorthodox world around and frankly makes the film much more exciting than it should be.

The Road Warrior, directed by George Miller, turns Max into less of a hero of his own story, but a hero for others, though unwillingly. In many ways he has become a ronin, wandering the wasteland in search of purpose, finding such a purpose on the road, where whomever owns the oil, owns the world.

7.9/10