Beyond Thunderdome is considered the black sheep of the Mad Max series. Coming off the pulse-pounding action of The Road Warrior, this film decides to pull back on the action but it does not necessarily focus on characters but rather develops the world. With mixed results.
The world of Bartertown is the strongest aspect of this movie. Everything to do with it is great. Performance from Tina Turner is a lot of fun and the location oozes charm and chaos. Mel Gibson as Max feels right at home here. The atmosphere built from the score and cinematography is great. The action is pretty good, even if there isn't that much. The final chase is a lot of fun even if it doesn't reach the level of The Road Warrior's action.
However, once Max leaves Bartertown, the film gets boring. The tribe of kids looking for a leader whom they assume to be Max is so dull. We spend what feels like hours with them and none of them are interesting. In contrast to Bartertown, it is a huge step-down. It's clear that the writers wanted to cater to younger audiences here and while some kids will find it entertaining, most will not. You could cut them from the film and lose nothing. Elements of this film's worldbuilding were done a lot better in Fury Road with the Citadel so at least the writers learnt from their mistakes.
Overall, Beyond Thunderdome feels experimental and fails more often than it succeeds. While the action and Bartertown are great, they make up just less than half of the movie. The other half is boring nonsense that even Max can't seem to give a damn about. Watch this for the first act if you must, sleep for the second and slowly wake up for the third.
The world of Bartertown is the strongest aspect of this movie. Everything to do with it is great. Performance from Tina Turner is a lot of fun and the location oozes charm and chaos. Mel Gibson as Max feels right at home here. The atmosphere built from the score and cinematography is great. The action is pretty good, even if there isn't that much. The final chase is a lot of fun even if it doesn't reach the level of The Road Warrior's action.
However, once Max leaves Bartertown, the film gets boring. The tribe of kids looking for a leader whom they assume to be Max is so dull. We spend what feels like hours with them and none of them are interesting. In contrast to Bartertown, it is a huge step-down. It's clear that the writers wanted to cater to younger audiences here and while some kids will find it entertaining, most will not. You could cut them from the film and lose nothing. Elements of this film's worldbuilding were done a lot better in Fury Road with the Citadel so at least the writers learnt from their mistakes.
Overall, Beyond Thunderdome feels experimental and fails more often than it succeeds. While the action and Bartertown are great, they make up just less than half of the movie. The other half is boring nonsense that even Max can't seem to give a damn about. Watch this for the first act if you must, sleep for the second and slowly wake up for the third.