Mad Max 2 (known as The Road Warrior and Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior in the U.S.) is a 1981 Australian post-apocalyptic action film written and directed by George Miller. The film is the second installment in the Mad Max film series, with Mel Gibson starring as Max Rockatansky. The film's tale of a community of settlers moved to defend themselves against a roving band of marauders follows an archetypal "Western" frontier movie motif, as does Max's role as a hardened man who rediscovers his humanity when he decides to help the settlers.^[4] Filming took part in locations around Broken Hill.^[5]

Mad Max 2 was released on 24 December 1981, and was critically acclaimed. Observers praised the visuals and Gibson's role. Noteworthy elements of the film also include cinematographer Dean Semler's widescreen photography of Australia's vast desert landscapes; the sparing use of dialogue throughout the film; costume designer Norma Moriceau's punk mohawked, leather bondage gear-wearing bikers; and its fast-paced, tightly edited, and violent battle and chase scenes. The film's comic-book post-apocalyptic/punk style popularised the genre in film and fiction writing. It was also a box office success and received six nominations at the Saturn Award ceremony, including Best Director for Miller, Best Actor for Gibson, Best Supporting Actor for Spence and Best Writing for Miller, Hayses and Hannant, winning Best International Film. Eventually, Mad Max 2 developed into a cult film: fan clubs and "road warrior"–themed activities continue into the 21st century. The film was followed by Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome in 1985.

Plot[link]

In a post-apocalyptic setting, following a global war and the collapse of civilization after the Earth's oil supplies have been all but exhausted, barbaric anarchy has become the world's everyday law. Max Rockatansky, traumatised by the death of his family, roams the desert in a scarred, black supercharged V-8 Pursuit Special, scavenging for food and petrol, which is now a very precious commodity. His only companions are an Australian Cattle Dog, and a rare functioning firearm — a sawn-off shotgun — for which the ammunition is very scarce.

After driving off a gang of marauders led by biker warrior Wez, Max collects the petrol from one of their wrecked vehicles and later checks an autogyro for fuel. The autogyro's pilot set a trap with a venomous snake; but Max outwits and overpowers the gyro captain. Bargaining for his life, the pilot tells Max about a small working oil refinery nearby in the wasteland. Upon verifying the pilot's words, Max witnesses the marauders, with a motley collection of cars and motorbikes, besieging the compound. They are led by a large, muscular man with a hockey mask over his disfigured face called "The Humungus", who tries to convince the settlers to surrender the facility in exchange for safe passage out of his territory.

The next day, a group of settlers attempt to break out of the compound. The marauders chase down and capture four settlers' vehicles. After Max witnesses the crew of one vehicle being viciously tortured to death, he goes down to the wrecked vehicles and kills one of the bikers. Max makes a deal with a mortally wounded settler that if Max returns the man to the compound, he will get a tankful of petrol. However, the man dies shortly after Max arrives in the compound and the deal is reneged on by their leader Papagallo, and the settlers nearly execute Max just before the Marauders return and Humungus once more repeats his offer. Max offers another deal to Papagallo: he will retrieve an abandoned Mack semi-truck he knows of in return for petrol and his freedom. The settlers accept Max's proposal, but keep his car. Max sneaks out of the compound at night, carrying fuel for both the truck and the autogyro. He catches up to the gyro captain, who has decided that Max is his friend and thereafter keeps following him.

With air support from the gyro captain, Max returns to the abandoned semi and drives it back to the compound, despite the efforts of Humungus' men to stop him. The settlers want Max to escape with the group, but Max opts to collect his petrol and leave. He tries to break through the siege, but is chased down by Wez in The Humungus's nitrous oxide–equipped car, resulting in his Pursuit Special being wrecked, Max being severely wounded and his dog getting killed by a crossbow. One of the marauders unknowingly triggers a booby-trap when they try to siphon the car's fuel; the Pursuit Special explodes, but Max is rescued by the gyro captain, who flies him back to the refinery, where the settlers are making hasty preparations to leave.

Despite his injuries, Max insists on driving the repaired truck with the fuel tanker. He leaves the compound in the now heavily armored truck, in the company of a feral kid he has befriended, several settlers in armored positions along the tanker, Papagallo driving an escort vehicle, and the gyro captain flying above the truck providing air support. While the Humungus and most of his warriors pursue the tanker, the remaining settlers flee the compound in a diverse caravan of vehicles, leaving the compound rigged with self-destruct explosive charges. In the ensuing chase, Papagallo and the settlers defending the tanker are killed, and the gyro captain also crashes as his engine is hit by arrows from a dart gun. Max and the Feral Kid find themselves alone against the marauders, who continue their pursuit. Wez ends up boarding the truck to kill the two survivors, but a head-on collision by Humungus' car results in the deaths of both Wez and Humungus. Max loses control of the tanker, and it rolls off the road. As the injured Max carries the Feral Kid from the tanker, he discovers that the tanker trailer contains sand, not fuel. The Gyro Captain manages to catch up to Max in his battered gyro copter.

The truck and its trailer are revealed to be a decoy, allowing the other settlers to escape with the precious fuel in oil drums inside their vehicles. With Papagallo dead, the gyro captain succeeds him as their chief and leads the settlers to the coast, where they establish the "Great Northern Tribe". Max remains alone in the desert, once again becoming a drifter, leaving the Feral Kid (as an adult and the Northern Tribe's new leader) reminiscing about him.

Cast[link]

• Mel Gibson as "Mad" Max Rockatansky, a former member of the Australian highway patrol (the MFP). However, after a biker gang kills his family, he leaves the force and hunts down and kills all of the gang members. The trauma transforms him into the embittered, "burnt out...shell of a man".
• Bruce Spence as the Gyro Captain, a wanderer who looks for fuel and supplies. However, instead of driving a car, the Captain flies in a ramshackle old gyrocopter powered by a VW air-cooled engine. He, too, decides to throw in his lot with the settlers, and help defend their compound. A Time reviewer called the Captain "a deranged parody of the World War I aerial ace: scarecrow skinny, gaily clad, sporting a James Coburn smile with advanced caries"; despite his quirks, however, the Captain proves to be wily and courageous. After the death of Pappagallo, the Gyro Captain succeeds him as the leader of the settlers.^[6]
• Emil Minty as the Feral Kid, a boy who lives in the wasteland near the refinery settlement. His speaks only in growls and grunts. The boy wears shorts and boots made from hide, and defends himself with a lethal metal boomerang which he can catch using an improvised mail glove.^[6]
• Michael Preston as Pappagallo, the idealistic leader of the settlers in the barricaded oil refinery. Even though the settlers' compound is besieged by a violent gang, Pappagallo "...carries the weight of his predicament with swaggering dignity."^[6]
• Virginia Hey as the Warrior Woman, an Amazon-like female member of the settlers who initially distrusts Max.
• Kjell Nilsson as The Humungus, the violent, yet charismatic and articulate leader of a "vicious gang of post-holocaust, motorcycle-riding vandals" who "loot, rape, and kill the few remaining wasteland dwellers". Announced by the Toadie as the "warrior of the wasteland, the Lord Humungus, [and] the ayatollah of rock-and-rollah", The Humungus' "malevolence courses through his huge pectorals, [and] pulses visibly under his bald, sutured scalp."^[6] The Humungus' face is never seen, as he wears a hockey goalie's mask. In a 1985 interview with Danny Peary, Miller posited that he thought the character "was a former military officer who suffered severe facial burns," and who "might have served in the same outfit as his counterpart, Pappagallo." ^[7]
• Vernon Wells as Wez, a mohawked, leather-clad biker who serves as The Humungus' lieutenant in the gang. Vincent Canby, the New York Times reviewer called the Wez character the "most evil of the The Humungus's followers...[a] huge brute who rides around on his bike, snarling psychotically."^[8] In the same Danny Peary interview, Miller states the characters of Wez and Max are near mirror images of each other, with each being chained by the leaders of their respective camps, and who both find themselves spurred on by the death of a loved one somewhere in their past, in Wez's case the relatively recent death of The Golden Youth at the hand of The Feral Kid.^[7] Empire magazine listed Wez as the greatest movie henchman of all time.^[9]
• Max Phipps as the Toadie, the gang crier. He is a thin, bespectacled man. He wears a decorated mink stole as a hat and has many automobile badges and hood ornaments on his clothes. His behavior with The Humungus and Wez make him a classic sycophant. Toadie takes pleasure in molesting helpless prisoners, but the gang has little respect for him.
• Arkie Whiteley as The Captain's Girl. She is the beautiful young woman of the settlers who became the Gyro Captain's lover.
• Moira Claux as Big Rebecca. She is the elderly aged woman of the settlers who wields a bow and arrow.
• David Downer as Nathan. He is the member of the settlers who tried to escape the settlement and was fatally wounded by some of Lord Humungus's bikers.

Reception[link]

Critical reception[link]

Mad Max 2 was well received by critics and is regarded by many as one of the best films of 1981.^[10][11] The film holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of May 2010.^[12] Film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and praised its "skillful filmmaking," and called it "...a film of pure action, of kinetic energy", which is "...one of the most relentlessly aggressive movies ever made". While Ebert points out that the movie does not develop its "...vision of a violent future world ... with characters and dialogue", and uses only the "...barest possible bones of a plot", he praises its action sequences. Ebert calls the climactic chase sequence "...unbelievably well-sustained" and states that the "...special effects and stunts...are spectacular", creating a "...frightening, sometimes disgusting, and (if the truth be told) exhilarating" effect.^[13] In his review for The New York Times, Vincent Canby wrote, "Never has a film's vision of the post-nuclear-holocaust world seemed quite as desolate and as brutal, or as action-packed and sometimes as funny as in George Miller's apocalyptic The Road Warrior, an extravagant film fantasy that looks like a sadomasochistic comic book come to life".^[8] In his review for Newsweek, Charles Michener praised Mel Gibson's "easy, unswaggering masculinity and hint of Down Under humor may be quintessentially Australian but is also the stuff of an international male star".^[14]

Gary Arnold, in his review for The Washington Post, wrote, "While he seems to let triumph slip out of his grasp, Miller is still a prodigious talent, capable of a scenic and emotional amplitude that recalls the most stirring attributes in great action directors like Kurosawa, Peckinpah and Leone".^[15] Pauline Kael called Mad Max 2 a "mutant" film that was "...sprung from virtually all action genres", creating "...one continuous spurt of energy" by using "...jangly, fast editing". However, Kael criticised director George Miller's "...attempt to tap into the universal concept of the hero", stating that this attempt "...makes the film joyless", "sappy", and "sentimental".

The film's depiction of a post-apocalyptic future was widely copied by other filmmakers and in science fiction novels, to the point that its gritty "...junkyard society of the future look...is almost taken for granted in the modern science-fiction action film."^[4] The Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction says that Mad Max 2, "...with all its comic-strip energy and vividness...is exploitation cinema at its most inventive."

Richard Scheib calls Mad Max 2, "...one of the few occasions where a sequel makes a dramatic improvement in quality over its predecessor." He calls it a "kinetic comic-book of a film," an "... exhilarating non-stop rollercoaster ride of a film that contains some of the most exciting stunts and car crashes ever put on screen." Scheib states that the film transforms the "...post-holocaust landscape into the equivalent of a Western frontier," such that "...Mel Gibson's Max could just as easily be Clint Eastwood's tight-lipped Man With No Name" helping "...decent frightened folk" from the marauding Indians.^[4]

Awards[link]

The film received much recognition from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. It won the Saturn Award for Best International Film. It received additional nominations for Best Director, Best Writing, and Best Costume Design. Mel Gibson and Bruce Spence received nods for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively. George Miller won the Grand Prize at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival. Mad Max 2 was also nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and was awarded the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award for Best Foreign Film. The film was also recognised by the Australian Film Institute, winning awards for best direction, costume design, editing, production design and sound. It received additional nominations for the cinematography and musical score.^[16]

Legacy[link]

In 2008, Mad Max 2 was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.^[17] Similarly, The New York Times placed the film on its Best 1000 Movies Ever list.^[18] Entertainment Weekly ranked Mad Max 11th on their list of The All Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture.^[19]

Soundtrack[link]

The film score was composed and conducted by Australian composer Brian May. The 35 minute-long recording is available on CD on the Varèse Sarabande label, catalog number VCD 47262. The music is presented out of order and sometimes retitled; part of the track titled "Finale and Largo" is actually the main title, "Montage" was written for the truck chase scene (and as such would fit between "Break Out" and "Largo") and the "Main Title" is actually the post-title montage. The sound effects suite that concludes the disc has two cues, "Boomerang Attack" and "Gyro Flight", that do not appear elsewhere on the album (the former is actually presented without any overlaying effects).

The soundtrack begins with the music for the "Montage/Main Title" sequence, which gives the back-story to the descent into war and chaos. The next selections accompany the action-packed sequences as Max and the settlers battle with the gang ("Confrontation"; "Marauder's Massacre", "Max Enters Compound"; "Gyro Saves Max"; and "Break Out"). The final tracks include the "Finale and Largo" and the "End Title" music, which is used while the narrator describes the settler's escape to the coast to start a new life. The recording also includes a suite of special effects sounds, such as The Feral Kid's "Boomerang Attack"; "Gyro Flight"; "The Big Rig Starts"; "Breakout"; and the climactic effects for "The Refinery Explodes", when the booby-trapped oil refinery turns into a fireball.

1. "Montage/Main Title" – 4:53
2. "Confrontation" – 2:32
3. "Marauders' Massacre" – 3:13
4. "Max Enters Compound" – 4:08
5. "Gyro Saves Max" – 3:55
6. "Break Out" – 3:26
7. "Finale and Largo" – 5:06
8. "End Title" – 3:19
9. "SFX Suite" – 4:36

Expanded track listing "Main Title" – 1:06 "Montage/First Chase" – 3:17 "Confrontation" – 3:00 "Gyro Captain" – 1:59 "The Refinery" – 1:40 "Mauraders Massacre" – 3:13 "Max Enters the Compound" – 4:08 "Close the Gate" – 1:31 "Wez Loses It" – 1:24 "Trek For Fuel" – 2:50 "Gyro Flight" – 0:27 "The Vengeance of Humungous" – 2:28 "The Leaving" – 2:13 "Interceptor Wrecked" – 2:35 "Gyro Saves Max" – 3:55 "Break Out" – 3:25 "The Chase Is On" – 1:55 "Papagallos Death" – 0:23 "U-Turn" – 1:26 "Collision/Finale" – 4:00 "End Title" – 2:49 Box office[link] Mad Max 2 grossed A$10,847,491 (Australia)[20] In popular culture[link] Main article: Mad Max series legacy and influence in popular culture References[link] ^ IMDb: Box office for Mad Max 2 Retrieved 2012-04-19 ^ Film Victoria – Australian Films at the Australian Box Office Retrieved 2012-04-19 ^ Box Office Information for Mad Max 2 Retrieved 21 May 2010 ^ a b c Scheib, Richard (1990). "Mad Max 2 aka The Road Warrior". Moria. http://www.moria.co.nz/sf/madmax2.htm. Retrieved 24 May 2010.  ^ Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior Filming Locations. Madmaxmovies.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-18. ^ a b c d Corliss, Richard (10 May 1982). "Apocalypse... Pow!". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925397-2,00.html. Retrieved 24 May 2010.  ^ a b Danny Peary on "Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior.". Thefilmist.wordpress.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-18. ^ a b Canby, Vincent (28 April 1982). "Road Warrior". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0DE3DB103BF93BA15757C0A964948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 24 May 2010. "has a film's vision of the post-nuclear-holocaust world seemed quite as desolate and as brutal, or as action-packed and sometimes as funny as in George Miller's apocalyptic The Road Warrior, an extravagant film fantasy that looks like a sadomasochistic comic book come to life."  ^ Top 10 Movie Henchmen. Empireonline.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-18. ^ "The Greatest Films of 1981". Filmsite.org. http://www.filmsite.org/1981.html. Retrieved 21 May 2010.  ^ "The Best Movies of 1981 by Rank". Films101.com. http://www.films101.com/y1981r.htm. Retrieved 21 May 2010.  ^ "The Road Warrior Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/road_warrior/. Retrieved 21 May 2010.  ^ Ebert, Roger (1 January 1981). "The Road Warrior". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19810101/REVIEWS/101010363/1023. Retrieved 24 May 2010.  ^ Michener, Charles (31 May 1982). "Shane in Black Leather". Newsweek.  ^ Arnold, Gary (20 August 1982). "The Warrior Western Back on the Road Again". The Washington Post.  ^ "Mad Max 2: Award Wins and Nominations". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082694/awards. Retrieved 21 May 2010.  ^ "Empire's The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time". Empire Magazine. http://www.empireonline.com/500/41.asp. Retrieved 21 May 2010.  ^ "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made". The New York Times. 29 April 2003. http://www.nytimes.com/ref/movies/1000best.html. Retrieved 21 May 2010.  ^ "Entertainment Weekly's 20 All Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20268279_10,00.html. Retrieved 24 May 2010.  ^ Film Victoria – Australian Films at the Australian Box Office. film.vic.gov.au External links[link] Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mad Max 2 Mad Max 2 at the Internet Movie Database Mad Max 2 at Rotten Tomatoes Mad Max 2 at Box Office Mojo Mad Max 2 at AllRovi v t e George Miller's Mad Max Films Mad Max • Mad Max 2 • Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome Soundtracks Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome • "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" • "One of the Living" Other Max Rockatansky • Pursuit Special • Mad Max (video game) • Legacy/Influence v t e Films directed by George Miller 1970s Mad Max (1979) 1980s Mad Max 2: Road Warrior (1981) Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) The Witches of Eastwick (1987) 1990s Lorenzo's Oil (1992) 40,000 Years of Dreaming (1997) Babe: Pig in the City (1998) 2000s Happy Feet (2006) 2010s Happy Feet Two (2011) v t e Saturn Award for Best International Film Scanners (1980) Quest for Fire (1981) Mad Max 2 (1982) Pan's Labyrinth (2006) Eastern Promises (2007) Let the Right One In (2008) District 9 (2009) Monsters (2010)