Posted: 02/12/2011

The Road Warrior Review

by Robert Baum

Review: The Road Warrior (1982)

Like such films of recent years as Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Body Heat, the sequel to the Aussie actioner Mad Max is just an old plot, recycled but satisfying. Like old wine in a new wineskin. The Road Warrior continues the post-apocalypse odyssey of a former cop (Mel Gibson), now a nomad in a barren wasteland. George Miller’s film is a western with a gunslinger clad in tattered leather and outlaws dressed like glam rockers.
Max (Gibson) happens upon some peaceful folk who have some gasoline, one of—if not the—most prized of assets. The gasoline is sought by the hockey-masked menace known as the Humungus (Kjell Nilsson) whose horde of thugs make survival difficult for them. Max rescues a man who is near death thanks to the Humungus’ mohawked henchman Wez (Vernon Wells).
The man succumbs to his injuries just before he and Max enter the peaceniks’ compound. Max’s wheels are impounded and the folk don’t exactly trust him, particularly by a female referred to in the credits as Warrior Woman (Virginia Hey). At first a mercenary, Max becomes something of a savior. He soon earns their respect, if not their trust. All Max wants is some gas. The folk want his help. After losing his wheels, dog, and nearly his life, the former lawman gives in to the pleas of the peaceniks who attempt to find a Shangri-La beyond the barren landscape.
Judging by the prologue, what follows apparently takes place in the future but the landscape looks like it could be some god forsaken locale in a John Ford western. Miller’s work is a collage like his first Mad Max film, though the follow-up is done with a bit more care and not the crudely constructed hodgepodge the first opne—despite it being a lively, rousing entertainer—was. Well Miller clearly has a bigger budget to work with this time.
Here characterizations are rather thin. The marauding punks could be stormtroopers from Star Wars or cattle rustlers in a western. Still Miller gives us charcaters that are believable enough for us to actually root for or despise. Packed with pulse-pounding excitement, particularly the chase sequence in the film’s finale, you definitely will get quite a few thrills for your admission. It is an ultra-adrenal joyride much like the chase through the desert in Raiders of the Lost Ark but more potent.

Robert Baum is Currently a Bryn Mawr, PA-based film afficanado and pop culture junkie.

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