Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome was a 1985 film, the second sequel to the action movie Mad Max. The film was directed by George Miller and George Ogilvie, and starred Mel Gibson and Tina Turner.

Taglines:

• Two men enter. One man leaves.
• Hold out for Mad Max. This is his greatest adventure.
• A lone warrior searching for his destiny...a tribe of lost children waiting for a hero...in a world battling to survive, they face a woman determined to rule.

Synopsis

Driving a camel-powered truck across the desert (his destination is not specified) Max is stalked and attacked from the air by an aircraft pilot, who manages to steal his vehicle and belongings. Max walks and stumbles upon the only nearby human outpost in the wasteland that remains — the seedy community of "Bartertown," founded and nominally run by villainous Aunty Entity (Turner).

In Bartertown, electricity, vehicles, functioning technology — all almost unheard of in this post-apocalyptic world — are made possible by a crude methane refinery, fueled by pig feces, using a weathered semi tractor as the electricity generator. The refinery is located under Bartertown and is operated by the smart, diminutive "Master," who is harnessed to his enormously strong, but dim-witted bodyguard known as "Blaster." Together, "Master Blaster" hold an uneasy power-truce with Entity for control of Bartertown; however, Master is beginning to exploit his position with energy "embargoes," challenging Auntie's leadership. She is furious with him but cannot challenge him publicly, as Master is the only one with the technical know-how to operate the machinery that powers Bartertown. The controlled chaos of Bartertown is maintained by one inflexible law that states that no deal can be broken, for any reason. The punishment for breaking this law is equally inflexible and invoked with the simple phrase, "bust a deal, face the wheel."

Entity recognizes Max as a resourceful (if disposable) fighter, and strikes a deal with him to provoke a duel with and kill Blaster in the "Thunderdome," a gladiatorial-esque arena where conflicts are resolved, turning what is arguably a political assassination into a lawful act. The rules of the match, as chanted by onlookers crowding the arena, are simple and singular — "two men enter, one man leaves." Max defeats Blaster, but refuses to kill him when he discovers that Blaster is a mentally retarded simpleton, innocent as a child. An enraged Entity kills Blaster herself and then invokes their single law since Max broke his deal with her. The wheel, which serves as a judge and jury, turns out to be a large, spinning metal disc with an arrow pointing to one of several consequences. Possible consequences include banishment, death, and acquittal. When it is spun for Max, it lands on "Gulag." He is cast out of Bartertown and exiled to the desert wastes.

The story radically shifts gears at this point. Some time later, Max, near death due to exposure to the hostile conditions, is saved by a group of children. The children, hardened to the desert environment, are survivors (or the children of survivors) of a nearby plane crash, and have formed a sort of tribal community in the sheltered desert oasis in which they live. Clinging to their hopes of rescue, they keep their fading memories of the past civilization alive in the form of ritualistic spoken "tells" which hinge on the return of a messianic "Captain Walker" who will repair their shattered aircraft and return them to civilization. Max's appearance and physical resemblance to Walker make the children believe that he has indeed returned to take them to "Tomorrow-morrow Land," or back to civilization as it once was.

After nursing him back to health, they are shocked to hear Max's account of the dystopic state of the world and become angry at his insistence that they all remain living in the relative safety of the oasis, knowing that the only "civilization" within reach is Bartertown.

Some of the children decide to leave anyway, determined to find "Tomorrow-morrow land," the mythic place they believe their parents left them to find. Max goes after them.

The third act begins as Max catches up with them at the outskirts of Bartertown. They sneak in, intent on finding Master. Without Blaster to protect him, the dwarfish Master is little more than Entity's slave. Max and the children free him, but alert the guards, and a frenetic chase ensues, ending at the hideout of the recurring "pilot" character (apparently the Gyro Captain from The Road Warrior). Max coerces him to help them escape in a Transavia PL-12 Airtruk, but there is not enough room for them all. Max stays behind, heroically clearing a path through the pursuing vehicles so the plane has enough runway to take off. Rather than killing Max, Aunty spares him, but leaves the desert to decide his fate.

The story shifts to many years later, when the much older children are seen in the ruins of a decimated Sydney, lit up by thousands of fires. Savannah, the leader of the children, recites a final "tell" of their journey.

The final shot of the movie is of a figure in the desert (obviously Max) walking toward the horizon and an uncertain future. The staff carried by Max appears to be representative/symbolic of him being a "shepherd" to the lost tribe.

Reaction

Critical reaction to the film was generally positive, although reviewers were mixed regarding whether they considered the film the highest or lowest point of the Mad Max trilogy. Most of the criticism was focused on the children in the second half of the film, which many felt was a ripoff of the lost children from Peter Pan. [1] On the other hand, critics praised the Thunderdome scene in particular; critic Roger Ebert called the Thunderdome "the first really original movie idea about how to stage a fight since we got the first karate movies" and praised the fight between Max and Blaster as "one of the great creative action scenes in the movies." [2]

Influences in other media

• The film has since entered into the realm of popular culture, particularly treasured in fiction for the concepts of a vagrant, post-apocalyptic society and the Thunderdome itself. Although a caged arena is sometimes featured within full-fledged parodies of the film, the film is more often invoked through its most popular quotes ("Welcome to Thunderdome" and "Two men enter, one man leaves"), oftentimes in humorous or sarcastic reference to a lawless field of battle between two opponents.
• In the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft, the goblin-run town Gadgetzan in the Tanaris desert zone bears many similarities to the Bartertown from this film. The most obvious similarity, though, is the inclusion of a ring-type structure that bears a striking resemblence to the Thunderdome.
• In the online game Kingdom of Loathing, a zone called the Thugnderdome parodies the film with the following introduction: "[...] two gnomes enter here and one gnome leaves. We occasionally allow one gnome and one humagn to enter, and then either one gnome or one humagn to leave, but only when the humagn looks tough enough to actually entertaign the spectators."
• The TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer made a clear reference to this film. In the seventh season episode Showtime, Buffy says "Welcome to Thunderdome," to which Andrew responds "Two men enter. One man leaves."
• The South Park episode "The Wacky Molestation Adventure" features the children living in a primitive society similar to that of the children in Thunderdome. The South Park kids speak in a dialect obviously borrowed from Thunderdome, telling of events from "the long long ago" (a few days, in this case).
• In the Family Guy episode "Lethal Weapons", Lois taunts an opponent in a martial arts tournament by saying "Spin the wheel, raggedy man!"
• The computer game Marathon 2: Durandal has a multiplayer level called "Thunderdome," which is a relatively basic, open, square arena with an elevated ledge around the outside. The sequel, Marathon Infinity, has a revamped version, called "Beyond Thunderdome." Thunderdome was later reworked again to the Xbox FPS game Halo 2 under the name "Foundation."
• In the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "Unremarkable Voyage", Meatwad states in explanation of his inability to defecate: "It's like the Thunderdome in there - only two men enter, No man leaves".
• In the Seinfeld episode "The Dealership," George Costanza makes a reference to this movie when complaining about the dealership; "There’s no laws in this place. Anything goes! It’s Thunderdome!"
• In the film Waiting..., one of the cooks, Floyd (Dane Cook), welcomes the new busboy by brandishing a knife and taunting, "Welcome to Thunderdome, bitch!"
• The American band Disturbed often replays the introduction speech to the Thunderdome battle (In particular the quote "Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls; dying time's a-here!") prior to their live performances.

Trivia

• The theme song "We Don't Need Another Hero" was performed by Tina Turner, who also performed other songs in the film's soundtrack.
• The ritual and language of the children's tribe bear a strong, uncredited resemblance to those in Russell Hoban's novel Riddley Walker.^{[citation needed]} This may be the source of the name of their messiah, Captain Walker.
• The character of Captain Walker may also be a reference to Tommy's father, also Captain Walker, in The Who's album and movie Tommy (1975).^{[citation needed]} This appears even more likely when considering that Tina Turner, Bartertown's queen, also has an appearance in Tommy, as the Acid Queen.
• The twin boom sesquiplane aircraft used in the beginning of the film and for the rescue at the end of the movie was a Transavia PL-12 Airtruk.
• The film was dedicated to Byron Kennedy, who had perished in a helicopter crash on July 17, 1983 at Warragamba Dam, New South Wales while location-scouting for the film.
• The film served as the major inspiration for the 1996 music video for California Love, by 2Pac featuring Dr. Dre.

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