Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior
Alternate European Version

After purchasing the European Region 2 DVD of Mad Max 2, Torstein Vee Haukvik noted that it had been severaly censored. For the benefit of the rest of us, Torstein has compiled a comprehensive list of what was censored in this version - I was actually quite surprised to see that a DVD release had been censored this much!

Anyway, here is Torstein's detailed comparison between the R1 and R2 DVD releases:


The Region 2 DVD is a Warner 'D2' release. Languages are English, German and Spanish, all in Dolby 5.1. Subtitles are in English, German, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Portugese, Hebrew, Polish, Greek, Czech, Turkish, Hungarian, Icelandic, Croatian, French, Italian and English and German for the hearing impaired.
The following timings are taken from my DVD player's display: The R2 runtime is 87:06 minutes, while the R1 release is 95:09 minutes long. Theoretical R2 runtime considering PAL speedup is 91:21 minutes. Based on these numbers it looks like the R2 version is cut about 4 minutes compared to the R1 disc.

The R2 DVD contains the same chapters as the R1, and some chapters differ in runtime (all timings are taking PAL speedup into account):
The chapters differing most in runtime are: 4: 30 seconds shorter 8: 40 seconds shorter 9: 30 seconds shorter 10:  4 seconds shorter 15:  4 seconds shorter 16: 40 seconds shorter 18: 15 seconds shorter 21:  5 seconds shorter 26: 15 seconds shorter 27: 30 seconds shorter 28: 20 seconds shorter 19: 20 seconds shorter
This adds up to about 4:13 minutes.

I have only one DVD-player, so I had to switch discs back and forth, so this comparison isn't as accurate as it could be. It looks as if the R2 version and the cut NBC TV-version has a lot in common, so I used the web-page describing the TV cuts as guidance when describing the R2 cuts.

Following is a summary of the most obvious cuts:
Chapter 4 - 'Loud scream, soft music': -Shot of Wez pulling out the arrow is cut. -Shot of bloody hand in the dune buggy is cut. -All shots of the truck driver falling out is cut.
Chapter 8 - 'Wez's arrows of death': -All the rape related scenes are cut.
Chapter 9 - 'A rescue - in vain': -The scene where Max kills the Mohawker with his tool is cut. -Some of the closeups of Nathan's bloody face seems to be missing.
Chapter 10 - 'Greetings from the Humungus': -Scene where Wez is headbutting one of the hostages is cut. -The scene where the Golden Youth is lying on the ground with the boomerang in his hesd is cut. -The slicing of Toadie's fingers is cut.
Chapter 15 - 'Hot pursuit': -The scene where a car falls on one of the Marauder's legs is cut.
Chapter 16 - 'Defending the compound': -Almost all the scenes involving flamethrowers are cut. (pink car exploding, guy burning, burning wrecks) -The killing of the drivers of the two cars which managed to enter the coumpound is missing. (one gets his throat slit, the other is shot in the back with an arrow) -Wez headbutting the Quiet Man is cut.
Chapter 18 - 'Nobody gets out of here alive': -The torture scene where the Marauders set fire to one of the victim's legs is cut.
Chapter 21 - 'The booby trap': -The scene where Max' car explodes is a bit shorter. We don't get to see Toadie and the Berserker during the explosion.
Chapter 26 - 'Attacked all around': -We see the grappling hook catching on Zetta's leg, and we see the car tip over, but the sequence where the car is dragged behind the truck and finally pulling Zetta off is cut.
Chapter 27 - 'Casualties of battle': -The scenes where Warrior Woman clutches the arrows and drools blood are cut. -We see Warrior Woman and the Mechanic being dragged off the truck, but we don't see them hitting road. -The 'Cannonball Stunt' is missing. -The scene where the guy on a motorcycle tries to shoot the tyre is cut. We see him aiming, but not being dragged under the wheels.
Chapter 28 - 'Chaos around the driver's seat': -The scene where Max shoots a guy trying to get in through the truck's door is slightly cut. -The scene where Max' shoulder is ripped open is missing. -We don't see Humungus crashing into the rear of the tanker. -We don't see the Pappagallo's being hit in the back by the 'fork'.
Chapter 29 - 'Unloading an unwanted passenger': -During the final head-on crash, we just briefly sees Wez' face when he tries to grab Feral Kid. All the closeups of his face before and during the crash with Humungus are cut. 


Back to Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior (1981)

Back to Mad Max Movies Home