MovieChat Forums > Mad Max 2 (1982) Discussion > This is the best Mad Max movie

This is the best Mad Max movie


I watched Fury Road twice already, very good movie. But it just can´t beat Mad Max 2 The Road Warrior. In fact, if Fury Road has 8.7/10, Mad Max 2 should have a higher score. I just re-watched MM2 again, and it´s a much better movie in every aspect. The "strangeness" is bigger and better. I love Tom Hardy, but Max is Mel.

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Agree!!

"Men like you don't die on toilets." Mel Gibson-Riggs, Lethal Weapon

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Agreed. I went into Fury Road actually hoping (and almost expecting) it'd top The Road Warrior, but it just can't beat it. It's amazing.

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I just got back from seeing Fury Road for a second time tonight, and it's still great. However, I agree with you that The Road Warrior is still the best. My ranking would go like this:

1. The Road Warrior
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
3. Mad Max
4. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

For the record, I like all of them (even Thunderdome).

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I agree that The Road Warrior is the best. It featured Mel at his badass finest, boasted amazing chase sequences (the tanker chase is one of the all-time great action scenes), and brought a mythic grandeur that understandably made Max an all-time favorite movie character.

I just saw and loved Fury Road, as I thought it had some of the best chase scenes and cinematography I've seen in all of action cinema history. The chase, essentially divided into three major setpieces that ran over ten minutes each, were all mind-blowingly amazing and somehow each setpiece managed to top the previous one. Furiosa and Nux were absolutely fantastic characters that I loved, wonderfully portrayed by Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult. And yeah, the guy playing flaming electric guitar is awesome and deserves his own action figure!

Yet, Tom Hardy's portrayal of Max left me cold. Nothing about his character reminded me of Max. Mel was cool, calm, and badass in the role. Hardy seemed like a mess. Furiosa felt more like the Max that I knew from the original trilogy. To me, Hardy's performance is the film's only flaw. Not being able to fully get behind a portrayal of one of my favorite movie characters would normally be a death knell, but the other strengths were so powerful that they easily outweighed this one problem, which really speaks volumes about how great Fury Road was.

1. The Road Warrior - 9.5/10
2. Fury Road - 9/10
3. Beyond Thunderdome - 9/10
4. Mad Max - 7/10

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Interesting.
I've not yet seen the movie (hopefully next week), but in Empire's five-star review, they say Hardy's Max Rockatansky actually improves upon Gibson's. They can be a bit hyperbolic at times, though.


"A little nonsense now and then
Is relished by the wisest men."

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[deleted]

To be fair, they rate within context; just because one movie got a higher star rating than another, it isn't to say that the magazine's official stance is that the former is the 'better' movie.
... also, AotC does rule... 😜


"A little nonsense now and then
Is relished by the wisest men."

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[deleted]

They're both great but I have to go with Fury Road as my favorite. I hadn't seen any of the films so in preparation for the new one coming out I watched the original trilogy. Now I'm basically obsessed with the series. I watched Mad Max a second time, watched Mad Max 2 like three or four times, and I've seen the new one four times already. I understand why people would argue the second film is the best but for me the fourth is just such a powerful piece of cinema that it takes the prize. I'm sure I'm somewhat influenced by the fact that I've never seen the other three on the big screen, so the experience I had watching those wasn't as all encompassing as seeing the new film. Either way, great series.

Mad Max 7/10
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior 9/10
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome 7/10
Mad Max: Fury Road 10/10

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Now I'm basically obsessed with the series. I watched Mad Max a second time, watched Mad Max 2 like three or four times, and I've seen the new one four times already. I understand why people would argue the second film is the best but for me the fourth is just such a powerful piece of cinema that it takes the prize. I'm sure I'm somewhat influenced by the fact that I've never seen the other three on the big screen, so the experience I had watching those wasn't as all encompassing as seeing the new film. Either way, great series.


LOL, that's funny. I have seen FR twice and want to see it again on the big screen. Yea, I saw The Road Warrior on the big screen many times when I worked at a theater. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before and loved it so much.

The new one has so much to offer being 30+ years later, so it's no surprise the action scenes are incredible. But, this one has a little place etched up on my heart that ups it.

I'm SO glad Miller is showing his talent for the new fans.


"Men like you don't die on toilets." Mel Gibson-Riggs, Lethal Weapon

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I am with you on this. Spot on bruv.

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I’m with you 115%, mate. I saw MM2 at the theatre 12 times in 1981-82, then have been watching it at least twice a year ever since on VHS, laserdisc and DVD. Its barebones storytelling totally works for the film which is basically a futuristic western on wheels (a la Yojimbo / A Fistful of Dollars) with some of the most colourful characters to ever grace the silver screen, i.e. the Gyro Captain, the Feral Kid, Wez and the Dog! I must admit I really like Fury Road too but I highly doubt either Nux or Furiosa will be etched in my mind for so many years... but in their defense, they're much more memorable than any character in Thunderdome.

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This is the best Mad Max movie


Max is Mel





If it's all the same to you, I'll drive that tanker

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[deleted]

I don't feel "Fury Road" holds up to the other three. EVEN "Beyond Thunderdome" But yeah, just saw "Road Warrior" again yesterday. It's amazing.It's clearly the best.

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You've got it right. "Fury Road" was, for me, a big letdown, overheated and empty, with elaborate but hard-to-follow stunt action and not a single character worth caring about. (All those pathetic white-caked slaves, and those poor dumb out-of-place fashion models standing around... Even the major "villains" emerged as sort of pitiable, one essentially an overgrown child, the other an overweight old retiree on his last legs.)

I'd put "The Road Warrior" at the top of the heap -- to my mind it's the only really great film in the entire series -- and "Fury" at the bottom. Simply compare the latter's ending -- Tom Hardy, with half a nod, wordlessly losing himself in the crowd -- with the dramatic, memorable, and beautifully moving final narrations that graced Mad Max 2 and 3. Both those films left me with a lump in my throat.

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with not a single character worth caring about


Spot on. The Road Warrior is never going to be in anyone's top movies if they just want character development but what it did incredibly well was to present them in such a way, and give you enough little moments for each of them so that you cared about them and got invested in their journey.

The Gyro Captain, the blonde woman he got with, Warrior woman, Toadie, the mechanics... they were likeable/relatable.

Frankly I didn't care about anyone in Fury Road.


I reckon you got a bargain don't you?

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I wouldn't call the movie empty at all, there's a lot of character development and symbolism. The movie simply relies on "show, don't tell" approach.

Why weren't you able to care about the characters?

Also, you found the action hard to follow? Really?

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