What makes The Road Warrior superior to Mad Max?

[dcampbell007]

The original Mad Max, that is. Let me be one to stress that the first film is underrated, while The Road Warrior is pretty overrated. Maybe not overrated, but surely it can't be better than the original. Don't give me all that rubbish about the dubbed American voices, since you can't blame that on the film itself but rather on the American distributor. The dubbing shouldn't ruin it any. Merit should be based on the quality of the finished product, which had been complete and released in Australia long before it was dubbed in the States. Dubbing aside, what else about Mad Max makes it so flawed compared to its successor? I've always happened to like Mad Max more than The Road Warrior. Mind you, I really did enjoy the performances of Bruce Spence and sexy Mick Jagger lookalike Mike Preston as Pappagallo. Does anyone else pick up on Preston's uncanny resemblance to that Rock God? I just wish more time had been spent establishing Preston's worldly figure and all other characters, including Max. There seems to be far less dialogue and character development in The Road Warrior than in the original, but I suppose that's the point. Since the characters and themes have already been established in the original, there's no need for further development. I still say the film could've worked better if it at least contained more interesting, believable villains. The Toecutter gang are far more interesting than Wez and company as it consisted of unique individuals exuding a lot of menace. Wez and his crew seem like such unintelligable bores by comparison, and yet there are more fans of the sequel. They must dig the cool vehicles, stunts, costumes, etc., more than the actual story and characters. The Road Warrior may contain more spectacular action, stunts and special effects, but that hardly makes it superior to Mad Max. Keep in mind that The Road Warrior was released around the time of the Star Wars trilogy (1977-1983), and it arguably borrows many elements of success from those films.

[Copwatch]

Actually, I disagree. If anything, the second film really shows Miller comfortable with how he develops his characters - through sparse interactions in a sparse landscape, bare and weathered emotions, and in the case of the relationship between Max and the Feral Kid, completely nonverbal. This, compared to the way the characters in the first film seem to move - it's a little clunky, a little too quick, at times - which is fine, because it is his first film.

As stories go, the initial arc of the Max character in the first film wasn't anything new, by itself - and, for a time, Miller and co., were going to just forget him and move on to other things. What's intriguing is what they do with it next, in the second film, by moving beyond those events and bringing him out of his closed-off, inhuman state.

I don't know that it borrows anything from the Star Wars films, though - Miller paid a lot of compliments to Lucas at the time for preserving the Campbellian arc in modern cinema, but stylistically and aesthetically they're two entirely different types of films.

[PursuitSpecial]

Answer...opinion...

[zykotec]

Road Warrior isn't superior, but it's visually stunning, even today. And even if it's a sequel it works perfectly by itself, and if you (like me) only see the original years later, Mad Max gives Road Warrior a little more meaning, providing a backstory for this 'hollowed shell of a man' . Even if the characters and dialogue is a bit more interesting in the first, it does have some flat spots and uneven pacing, but it's a great revenge movie, with a heart. Road Warrior does have a flawed plot(borderline ridiculous) , but it's so visually driven, and I'm impressed by the way it works so well with so little dialogue (as if it's meant to show a society grown backwards into more animal like behaviour) To me I need both movies, but would miss RW more if I lost them Same goes for the two Terminator movies IMO. T2 is a visual and action-masterpiece, but it would not be complete without T1. In both cases all sequels are wasted time from a story telling point of view. But IMO thunderdome was ruined by the soundtrack, keeping with Brian Mays timeless music would have helped a lot.

[Copwatch]

I'm not sure I understand how the plot in The Road Warrior could be called 'flawed' or 'ridiculous,' really.

[MadMatt]

The only way RW plot could be flawed is by the fact that i think the vermin on machine could have got into the compound with more determination instead it looks like they waste more fuel just circling the compound at times. Why dident they attack at the back side instead of the more heavily armoured front bus gate with flamethrower? Oh im not suppose to notice that! LOL I like both movies the same it just depends on my mood. I agree that i need both movies togther. I saw the RW first and reconised the clips of the first movie and it woke up a forgoten memory of my Dad watching the movie when i was like 4-5 years old and i had to find the first movie! Now i have my very own bOb in my garage 10 feet away!! I think the 3rd movie is compeling to the story line but im a car guy so its just not a good car movie but a good sequal i think i kinda like the music too its universal to the all the movies. Every now and then its funny to hear "We dont need another hero" on the soft rock station when im at the dentist office!!! LOL

[zykotec]

I'm not sure I understand how the plot in The Road Warrior could be called 'flawed' or 'ridiculous,' really.

Hmm, where do I start, I don't really agree on myself here, as I can understand that the setting for the film may be a pure one-time incident, where loads of nomads suddenly started two groupings, while on their way somewhere else, and that would mean they were either escaping from or going to some organised society., but under the perceived circumstances of the movie (where we are led to believe it's all a wasteland, and society is completley crumbled) ;
-who would build a refinery in a desert,and if you did,why not just share it with other people instead of risking your life protecting it?...
-who would roam the apocalyptic wastelands in a dual v-8 engined car after an energy crisis , buggys and bikes, I can understand those?...
-who would build a twin turbo or supercharged v-8 to roam the apocalyptic wastelands in after an energy crisis? ...
-why go into a desert if you had a gyrocopter?...
-how did Wez and the Landau Marauders know that max wasn't one of them?
-Why didn't the stronger marauders kill off the weaker ones and stel their gas, they seem to haved plenty, the way they behave?..
-Do they only roam the wastelands to find more gas to roam the wastelands more, why don't they settle down next to a river or lake where there'd be water and food??

And BTW this is alongside Terminator 2 my favourite movie, so I don't care if the background makes no sense I just accept it as the setting for a great story, inT-2 I have to accept that a rase of robots are too incompetent to kill one man after annihilating most of teh worlds population, so they make a time machine , and why can't they set the exact time of the machine, if it's so easy for the humans to match their exact time to send help to, and don't get me started on Transformers or Star Wars.

[Copwatch]

Most of those complaints seem ultimately pretty trivial, though -

who would build a refinery in a desert,and if you did,why not just share it with other people instead of risking your life protecting it?...

If I remember correctly, Pappagallo didn't build the refinery - but, he did share it with other people. I'm not really sure what is meant here otherwise.

who would roam the apocalyptic wastelands in a dual v-8 engined car after an energy crisis , buggys and bikes, I can understand those?..

What, you want Max should've stopped somewhere and traded in his wheels?

who would build a twin turbo or supercharged v-8 to roam the apocalyptic wastelands in after an energy crisis?

Well, he didn't build it, and I'm not sure if it was built because of that purpose specifically - but, Max is your guy.

why go into a desert if you had a gyrocopter?

We never do learn the full details of the Gyro Captain's backstory, but I don't see how that makes his presence in the film 'ridiculous,' given what's made of the gyrocopter and himself later on in the film.

how did Wez and the Landau Marauders know that max wasn't one of them?

How would they not?

Why didn't the stronger marauders kill off the weaker ones and stel their gas, they seem to haved plenty, the way they behave?

...Wha?

Do they only roam the wastelands to find more gas to roam the wastelands more, why don't they settle down next to a river or lake where there'd be water and food??

I believe you answered that with your first statement:

I can understand that the setting for the film may be a pure one-time incident, where loads of nomads suddenly started two groupings, while on their way somewhere else, and that would mean they were either escaping from or going to some organised society

[zykotec]

^ Yep I did but to my knowledge that first statement is wrong (allthough it would help if I was right) And yes they are trivial, and as I said they are parts of the setting you just have to accept (and I do) to fully enjoy the movie. What I mean is that Mad Max is a much more realistic movie than RW, there is actually a chance of something like that happening. RW is just an awesome fairytale. And offcourse if every movie character used common sense most movies wouldn't be much fun...And I said borderline ridicoulous

PS , there are other cars in this movie that Max's, that are much more useless in a fuel starved desert invironment, I can understand that he kept his, especially as he was a wanted man for stealing it, and if he really was looking for trouble, just keeping the car would make it easier for people (MFP?) to find him just so he could fight more people

[aussie muscle]

I'm not sure I understand how the plot in The Road Warrior could be called 'flawed' or 'ridiculous,' really.

well it probably is ridiculous, but then again, it is 'sci-fi' (ie it's no more ridiculous than flying around in a space ship meeting weird aliens).