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The mad continues! - Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
28 Plays25 days ago
In the second episode of Mad Mayx Matthew and Mitch travel further down the road and deep dive into the infamous sequel to the Ozploitation classic.
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Transcript
00:00:04
Speaker
I am the night rain. You're a terrible Muriel. Talk to me. You gonna do that Pogger Pogger? You've been talking to the cops. Today is a brand new No, that's it. It's the
Introduction to 'Under Southern Screens'
00:00:16
Speaker
vibe.
00:00:16
Speaker
Witness me, fellow Aussie film lovers, and welcome to another episode of Under Southern Screens, the most max Australian cinema podcast. I'm Mitch.
00:00:28
Speaker
And I'm Matthew, and I'm ready for a rip-roaring time through Broken Hill. whoa And we want to welcome you to the second episode of Mad Makes. Roll that intro. Three, two, one. Rrrr, rrrr, rrrr, rrrr, r
00:00:46
Speaker
Mad Max Eats a makess es
00:00:57
Speaker
That's the downside of doing these things over over like a web-based thing is that the delay. causes for some funny things. That wasn't delay. That was just me being slow.
00:01:08
Speaker
I was slow to the uptake. so But this movie isn't slow. This movie is high octane. No, it's quick. High octane.
Blu-ray Naming Humor and Mad Max Themes
00:01:17
Speaker
Just like, you know, the um Blu-ray collection that I spoke of last week is called the Magmax High Octane Collection.
00:01:25
Speaker
That's like naming your collection the Mad Max Premium 595 unleaded collection, bro. Mad Max, the auto gas collection. What are we doing and in this fuel crisis? Come on, that just dated the episode so hard. you know what? We actually forgot to mention that the last episode, too. How just on brand the whole fuel thing. By the way, spoilers for Mad Max 2, The Road
'Mad Max 2' Overview and Fan Demands
00:01:45
Speaker
Warrior. Welcome.
00:01:46
Speaker
to the second episode of Mad Max where we were looking at the second movie in the Mad Max quadrilogy. No, we're not doing Furiosa. Please stop asking us. Yeah, like we we will do it. We'll do it. And just for the record, we're recording this back to back in Max 1. We're acting as if people have been asking for it. but So we're preempting people maybe asking us to do Furiosa at some point. Mad Max 2.
00:02:11
Speaker
two the What a movie. It's like... It's good. It's insane. like I love this movie so much. like I was a bit... like I like Mad Max 1 a lot. I think it's pretty great. Mad Max 2, The Road Warrior, in the best... It's up there in the echelon of the best Australian films ever.
00:02:35
Speaker
and this is This is where the franchise obtains the rest of its identity. Yeah. So the first one has a lot of the groundwork due to figure out what they're doing with this franchise. Yes. But then this movie, this
Nuclear Wasteland Setting and Design
00:02:51
Speaker
is where it actually becomes a nuclear wasteland. It's not a nuclear wasteland in the first movie, but this is where they finally go out to the nuclear wasteland, aka Broken Hill, or Silverton. Yeah. The general area. That general area. And everything's dirty. All the cars. The cars in the last one are kind of kooky. it They're kooky in the way that like they probably got like a five for one deal on these like old Fords. And yeah they were already like probably painted yellow from the outset. So they're like, oh, well, yeah these are that this is the police force colors. You know what? You want to do your intro? oh Yeah, yes i yeah. So we'll get there. We'll absolutely get into it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's do your intro before we really get into it. Into the nitty gritty.
00:03:30
Speaker
Yeah. Here we go. Mad Max is back and this time he's come down to Broken Hill for some more crazy gallivanting adventures that aren't shot in the Melbourne Uni car park in Mad Max 2 The Road Warrior.
00:03:43
Speaker
The sequel to the massively successful Mad Max film from 1979, The Road Warrior sees Mel Gibson return as Max Rokotansky as he gets caught in a war for gasoline between a community of settlers who are the good guys because they wear white and the marauders who are bad because one of them has a mohawk.
00:04:00
Speaker
This film is an upgrade from the first film in almost every way and swaps the green lush aesthetic of Victoria's rural roads for the orange wastelands of Broken Hill.
Tribalism Themes and Bruce Spence's Role
00:04:09
Speaker
Thus setting the classic Mad Max aesthetic we all know and love from a different movie in the series released 33 years later. It's an action romp with larger vehicular stunts, deeper themes regarding tribalism, and Bruce Spence kind of stealing the show as a helicopter pilot pilot who immediately calls Max his friend and partner despite Max showing no reciprocal feelings whatsoever. He's so me for real.
00:04:32
Speaker
In developing the concept of this film, Miller went full on film bro and studied the works of Akira Kurosawa, Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung for a film where the lead villain is named Lord Humongous and they say Aussies can't make it in this business.
00:04:46
Speaker
While nowhere near as financially successful as the first, Mad Max 2 gained significant recognition overseas in the US where it was really popular in the VHS rental space with the title being shortened to The Road Warrior. Sounds like me on the way
Production Value Enhancements
00:05:00
Speaker
to work. Haha. Mitch, that was funny. Mitch, don't leave. We still need to get to Fury Road, also known as this film, but with wackier editing and more intense saturation. I'm just kidding, but Mad Max 2 is pretty fantastic. So as i was saying...
00:05:13
Speaker
just restart from before the intro yeah this this film mad max 2 like it actually feels like a cohesive production design team worked on the movie yeah this this this has obviously got some money to it this is so the budget i'm looking at this on the wikipedes um this has a 4.5 million dollar budget which is like 10 times more than what they had last time crazy um But weight made way less money, though. Only $36 million at the box office. But you mentioned rentals, though, and I think that is where it made a lot of its money is in the rental space. Yeah, yes because it is it does seem like the perfect like rental movie. it is It's action-packed. It's a late-night show.
00:05:56
Speaker
ah I'm not sure if this will be the best like date night VHS rental. Can't you imagine but getting get the Misso or the Mister, snuggling up with them, it Under a blankie. Chuck it on Lord Humongous. And then watching um Lord Humongous choke out a guy with assless chaps who has a morrow. It's so impossible to talk about this movie without continuously referencing Fury Road, right? I know. I like i think just yeah from the outset, everyone's talked about the comparisons. This is proto-Fury Road, but I think there are some elements of this that are...
Max's Character Evolution
00:06:33
Speaker
better think do you want to pop off right now gonna spit some hot takes firstly i think max's character is better in this film exponentially than in fury road in that fury road is furiosus movie i think and here like we actually see the impacts of mad max one on max in this film you know he's He doesn't trust anyone. He's like closed off. And this whole movie is about him coming back to this sense of community, coming back to, he's learning to trust again. And I think that's a great arc for his character in this film. Or he's also, he's relearning to be a protector of people, a police officer, which is a lesson he will learn in every other movie going forward. I see what you're saying. I do, I do agree that Max has more character in this, but something I think will go probably more,
00:07:27
Speaker
i Maybe I'll leave this for when we go to Fury Road. Because actually have something to say on that. Hopefully I'll remember to actually bring it up when we get to it. That's it. Clock this now. If forgets it in Fury Road, bully Mitch.
00:07:40
Speaker
Okay. In case I do forget to bring it up and talk about the mobile. Basically, view Max in Fury Road more as a force of nature than character. Sure, sure. So I think he works as that role in Fury Road. But yeah, in this, he's definitely more of a character. They even open up the movie with a bit of a montage of previously on Mad Max. I know, in footage. Which, yeah, you and I, both of these back-to-back. It starts off in like a 4x3 previously of aspect ratio. Yeah. And both me and Mitch were like, did we put on the wrong version of the movie?
00:08:12
Speaker
Some Blu-rays have like the you know the the distribution cut or like the theatrical cut or like you know maybe there was some difference. Because know that that this film, some versions of this film in home media were censored. like they They cut stuff out of it because it was a bit vile for the Australian audience. There is blatant rape in this film. it's and' intense. Yeah, it's really fun. Full on. And it, don't know if we actually, do we need to talk about it? don't think I have anything to say about it. Like I, there's, there's a purpose for it, but I think that other harmful acts that don't, I find it really hard to justify using it as anything in a,
00:08:55
Speaker
story it's I'm not saying there's no place for it I just think you
Controversial Scenes and Reception
00:08:59
Speaker
have to be really sure is what you need to do and this is what has to happen exactly exactly yeah maybe that's as fantastical as this this feels a bit too real Do you know what I mean? It really does. It's like everyone's crazy, everyone's insane.
00:09:15
Speaker
oh crap. Here's a sexual assault. It breaches the comfort of the audience in a way that is yeah it isn't replicated again for the rest of the film. And so it feels just a bit out of place in the wider context of it. But yeah, so we just wanted to to lay that out there from the get-go. Yeah, this is one of the aspects of the film that hasn't aged the best.
00:09:34
Speaker
um And... Yeah, I think that's... We missed talking about in the last movie, but the last movie is way more grounded as a film. And also, it's interesting because in that movie, it's they imply that both the man and the woman are sexually assaulted in that film. Whereas in this one they go out of their way to show that the man is shot and the woman is sexually assaulted. it's just feels a bit more exploitative, I think, in this one than the last one. I do actually agree with that. No, honestly, i I think because it's implied in Mad Max 1 as well. i yeah You don't see any of it, yeah. Whereas is this one, you see acts of like it occurring. like It cuts away at certain points, but yeah, I think we've talked enough about it. um yeah But the rest of the movie, it's so good. It's good movie. Yeah, I think the action in this is leagues better than the first one. i like It feels planned. It's
Action Sequences and Cinematography
00:10:31
Speaker
so good. like it's It is the
00:10:34
Speaker
Blueprint for action, cinematography, editing, production design, set pieces, mise-en-scene. Oh, my dude. Audio. Audio. Lighting. Every single coding convention. Colour grading. Editing.
00:10:48
Speaker
Directing. Well, we were going through my cinema studies textbook, like flipping to the next page. yeah each catches It's a masterclass, man, genuinely. And George Miller, he popped off, honestly. George and Byron Kennedy, right? We need yeah we do need to mention we need to mention Byron Kennedy because his absence is going to be important when we talk about the next film. ah That's it. yeah because yeah yeah yeah um Byron Kennedy is the producer and also someone I think who helped George Miller create the character of Mad Max. Exactly. He worked on ah Violence in the Cinema, which was George Miller's very, very first movie, and then worked on the first few Mad Maxes as well as a bunch of other TV serials and that type of thing. um And yeah, he's instrumental to the success of the film as well as the iconography.
00:11:32
Speaker
And he, yeah, like instrumental. It's like Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin, I think George Miller and Byron Kennedy, at least in these these early stages, yeah has is the duo that set the ground running. You know what I mean? If that's even a phrase. And unfortunately, Byron Kennedy did pass away in a helicopter crash. A helicopter accident. Yeah. yeah yeah That he was flying. And I think there was a family, a 15-year-old was in the copter too. Oh, wow. 15 actually managed to survive, though, um and they rescued them, as far as I'm aware. We watched a little intro by a like a film historian before. Yeah, he's like a timeless film historian. I forget his name now, but um yeah. yeah he's
00:12:17
Speaker
I recognized his face. I know him, even though his name... He was the movie He's almost like, who's the Australian guy who died recently? David Stratton. He's like an American David Stratton. David Stratton's the goat, by the way. I just want to say that right now. And Margaret Pomerantz. We'll get Margaret on the show, hopefully, one day. Margaret, please. Margaret, please. He mentions at the start that they were pulling stunts that actually had never been attempted before, like the rolling of the tanker ah turned at the end of the movie. Dude.
00:12:47
Speaker
It looks so good. And he made a comment that I'm a little bit like about, but understand where he's coming from, where he said that, oh, and there's no VFX in this or anything like that. And I think the no VFX thing frustrates me because it's just a tool. He is right, though. It's so tactile and it's so... Yeah, and it's i mean it's obviously something that's carried through this whole franchise, and that's what actually makes three your
Ensemble Cast Appreciation
00:13:14
Speaker
Fury Road one of the- like everyone loves it because of it. like it's It's the appeal of of the franchise, for sure, and it's felt so hard in 2. The other thing I love about this film that I didn't really feel in 1 is I love the ensemble cast here. I think in Mad Max 1, some characters come in and out, like the police guys come in and they get shot and then his wife's like relatives come in at like the last moment and it's a bit sort of like, okay, you're here now.
00:13:46
Speaker
But here we have constant figureheads. We have like the leader of the tribe who is the sort of the battle-worn, weary one. We have the the female warrior who is awesome in this film. She's very cool.
00:13:58
Speaker
The proto-furiosa. Yeah. I know. Well, yeah, exactly. and And she's got this awesome bow and arrow set. And then we have the feral child who like... dumb Dumb fan theory around the fer feral child being that he's the max in Fury Road. Yeah, I don't subscribe to that upon rewatch. I think it works if you ignore what George Miller has said. um If you disavow the director's wishes. If you completely ignore what George Miller has said about these movies. I have to make my own little headcanon about this too because i don't think it fully works. But George Miller has come out and said in interviews that these movies are kind of the same movie over and over. Sorry, same story over and over again being told in different iterations around a campfire. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah Which is very Australian, by the way. Very Australian. Very, Australian. Very cool. ah But the problem is that this obviously directly follows on from the first one, though. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it doesn't even feel like it. It just kind of is because it has the previously on. Yeah, and that's right. yeah Sorry, it's like... You can't deny that this is a continuation of the first one. Mad Max is its own movie, and then Mad Max 2 through 4 are the same movie. Yeah, the campfire story. I buy that. yeah Especially because 2 through 4, even though 3 has its ups and downs, it still has the same vibe as 2 and 4, while number 1 is its own story.
00:15:18
Speaker
beast number one is a big standalone in this whole franchise mad max one feels like the 2006 prequel movie that would have come out after a litany of like sequels and written reboots yeah well it's even got the part where they call him mad for the first time like it's like he finally earned the mad and he gets his interceptor for the first time and he does yeah it's literally solo Or Cassino Royale, which is what I was thinking of. But yeah, pretty much. But yeah, they' this this movie though, the one we're talking about right now. that's it I like the... Well, let's talk about Bruce Spence.
00:15:54
Speaker
I want to talk about Bruce Spence. Horrible segue, but want to about Bruce Spence. oh You love Bruce Spence, don't you, Mitch? I just like him. I like how he just appears in things. And then I that's Bruce Spence. He's the quintessential, like, Aussie out there character. He knows the characters he plays and he goes all out with it. He's just a great character actor, yeah.
00:16:16
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, and he plays the helicopter pilot in this. think you mean gyrocopter. Oh, I'm sorry. I love Bruce Bens. And he's got the sequence where he's like, I've never seen someone beat a snake before. It's just insane. he provides some great comic relief for this film, which I think was missing from Mad Max 1. I mean, obviously there bits of comedy in Mad Max 1 because of the toe cutter, but I think here it's purposeful comedy
Interactions and Motifs: Max's Shotgun Bluff
00:16:45
Speaker
and it works so well. I mean, yeah. He's a great ally to Max as well. He's very like, you know,
00:16:51
Speaker
I like said it in the intro. He's very accepting. He's very blindly. I like how at first Max doesn't trust him and then they grow to like trust each other and hang out with each other. i like the sequence where ah they first they first, well, this after they first meet, Max overpowers him with his dog. um Because Max is a dog in this movie for a good part. part Who's um so cute. We do possibly need to start a dead dog counter, though. oh Because the dog does die in this movie. that's ah Unfortunately.
00:17:23
Speaker
their kids died, though. No kids. The feral child remains intact in movie. But when we watch Red Dog, we will get the two dead dogs. um and Spoils for Red Dog. Oh yeah, sorry, Spoilers for Red Dog. I haven't even seen it and I know the dog dies. I have. thiss yeah Man, the soundtrack of Red Dog is so good. We'll get to it, we'll get to it. Spoilers for Red Dog. Did we see Spoilers for Mad Max 2?
00:17:44
Speaker
yeah we did. Okay, good. But I like the part where ah they're driving along and the dog has the bone that's attached to the the shotgun's are trigger. guy yeah And there's the part where the hair runs across the um thing and Bruce Spence kind of looks at the hair and then looks at the dog and the dog looks at the hair and looks at Bruce Spence. It's so good. It's like, thank God, you know. It's so good. And then it just turns out the whole time that the shotgun was empty, though, as well. um Yeah. Max was just um bluffing the whole time. And then the one time he actually pulls out the shotgun in this and shoots it, the shell is a dud as well. like, it misfires. And it's just, like, such a great payoff this whole time. It's so good. Does he ever...
00:18:23
Speaker
He never uses that shotgun properly, does he? I don't think so. I don't yeah remember. because i don't think I think i think the like that's a great sort of motif throughout the whole film. It's just this this overwhelming like desperation and lack of resources around the whole thing. Because like i mean in the first Mad Max, they're all like it's it's on the verge of collapse, but they they can still go for an ice cream. yeah They can still go for a meal at the start of the movie. You can still go down in your like minivan to the beach and hang out there. and yeah You can't do that in this world, though. can that they're They're fighting over oil tankers and like like little music boxes are like like the symbols of like innocence and the old world. and it's just like it's a complete And Max's Interceptor has two massive fuel tanks in the boot. It's like like that desperation in the production design. And I think the same thing goes here where it's like, Everyone's scrounging. They're like little rats. You what mean? awesome. It's so good.
00:19:19
Speaker
ah The vibe is so good. Oh,
Bandits Portrayal
00:19:21
Speaker
my goodness. i I love just how insane all the bandits are. It's very... It's not the same as the War Boys and all that in number four. It's definitely its own...
00:19:34
Speaker
thing It's possibly maybe like an evolution of the biker gang in the first movie. Yeah, yeah I think it's like i think it's a a good mix between the two. there's I mean, there's Mohawk Guy, which is crazy. I don't know his name. I forgot his name. I think it's like Rex, Dex or something. Wes. Wes?
00:19:53
Speaker
And then blonde Timothee Chalamet, who's his mate. yeah he that his's um his The S&M content in this film is kind of crazy. love Great representation, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that guy, he gets a bit of a haircut too low to the crown, you know what saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get boomerang, brother. The boomerang.
00:20:14
Speaker
Also insane boomerang. crazy I know I know guy chops off the guy's fingers yeah he tries to catch it with it it's razor sharp so that scene where you see the chi fingers chop off while like ew gross fingers being chopped off it's kind of satisfying to watch them go I know and like the sound design's good and there's like their blood that splurts out of it is it's like cutting chips you know what i mean There are like, you can see, I know this is cliche to say, there are hints of Fury Road, not just in that like its story structure, but then also in its iconography, they have like the stilts in that yeah and they have like the swings and the, the, um, yeah. Like when they use like the, um, the pole vault to go from one thing to the next. It's like, it's such a foreshadowing moment. Wasn't the pole vault at number one? No, there it was in both. Oh, was it? Okay.
00:21:02
Speaker
was It was in number one and then there was in number two
Broken Hill Setting and Mad Max Lore
00:21:05
Speaker
as well. Yeah. so the trouble check A.K.A. George Miller loves pole vaulting onto a big truck. He does. He loves it in the Olympics every four years. That's his go-to sport. His only thing is that he wants a truck to be involved somehow. That's true.
00:21:18
Speaker
Please, please, a truck, please. Oh my gosh. There's also the people tied to the front of the car, which Max spends like in the- Yes, the blood bags. The blood bag thing, which they're not blood bags in this, but the like the, it's the similar symbolism of like, it's kind Jesus-esque. It's kind of, um, like scarecrow-esque. And it's like what truckers do when they they put like little teddy bears on the front of their cars. Yeah, yeah, exactly. they The hood ordernament who ornament type thing or when, you know, if you want to go really mean about it when they kill like a deer and they put it on the front or whatever. or Yeah, but that's kind of sadistic. I don't know why you do that. I mean, on that, I love the location of this movie, like Broken Hill, Silverton. Just it sets the tone immediately, the desolate wasteland. You can see just like the lore behind this, you know, this whole world. In the first one, there's obviously a bit of history, but it kind of feels all connected. Whereas in this, it feels like these people had a history while this other insane thing over here was having a history. And you'll never... And that's what runs through like the rest of these movies.
00:22:18
Speaker
You're never going to know about the history of these places, but... It's there though and you can feel it. Yeah. Except for when you watch Furiosa then you get the history of the places. Then you get the lore which is what we I was kind of wanting that to be honest. I am not unhappy we got it. I even liked it. Happy to never get it though. I didn't need that to be told to me. Well, I think the fact that it's kept pretty simple in two, it's just like this is one tribe. They're, you know, a community of, you know, and they just want to go up to the Queensland beaches. That's their dream. They just want to have little beach holiday in Queensland. They just want to go away. Oh, my God.
00:22:56
Speaker
It's kind of crazy that it turns out the guy telling the story is the feral kid, right? um Yeah, right. I know. yeah like You don't expect that to be who's telling the the narration, which kind of lends credence to this not being the guy who's Max. Exactly. I love the feral kid. ah He and, I mean, there's too many backflips in this movie, mate. I love how many. but No, it's like two or three, isn't there? It's awesome. It's like Bloody Matrix. It's like, you know. It's so cool. Another Australian film. The feral kid does some backflips and stuff and that's kind of like his thing. um Yeah, he's like super um ah acrobatic. But then Wes, the arseless chap mohawk wearing guy, um also does some backflips and then kills some guys in white. um Yeah.
00:23:40
Speaker
Backflips are sick, by the way. I'm just annoyed because I can't do a backflip. It's a pretty by the numbers story. like you know ah the story is pretty mid. Yeah. But you're there for the story. well i i i'm not there for the story but at the same time i like the story like it's a serviceable plot you know like i get invested in this community and max just sort of entering through and then he learns to to love again or whatever he learns the power of friendship yeah you know and and through that we get awesome action set pieces excellent car stunts which yeah we haven't even talked about the vehicular action properly we talked a little bit about it but yeah we haven't gone into it in detail it's bigger and better than than anything before and i love this film man it's more it's more sensical i think than mad max one and it feels more it feels more planned and i think that is good It's definitely got like this just kind of raw energy that we kind of lose in number three, but then we get back in number four. And in the slow bits of Mad Max 1, it's not really there either. Yeah. This one definitely is like a thrill a minute type thing. Whereas in the first one, it has these slower, more contemplative moments where Max is like, I'm going to be a family man. Look how good my family is. I'm going to hang out on the beach. I'm going to hang out on the beach and I'm going to go hang out in the forest. And it's going to be a good time. Where in this round, it's like, everything's going wrong. Oh my God. My dog is dead. What the hell? Oh my God. My interceptor has been blown up, which by the way, I think the interceptor gets blown up in every movie from now on. Yeah, man. RIP that interceptor, man. Rest in peace to a real one. Maybe the coolest version of the Interceptor, I think, in two with those fuel tanks on the back. Yeah, it's so neat. Yeah. In fact, all the cars in this are It gets blown up at the start the video game. Oh, right. Because Max is in it at the start of the video game and then he loses it. And that's like part of the progression is that you got to build a whole new car. Oh, right. Okay. Which is pretty cool, but it's pretty funny that you just lose.
00:25:44
Speaker
I think actually, no, it comes back at the end. Spoilers for Mad Max, the game. Maybe it's unlockable DLC. So, yeah. So, just going on to the like the cars as a whole. like They're so cool. Like the tanker. Like the school bus that's a door. There's like the bikey gang. And they're like... Yeah, they're blood bags. And this is going to... I'm going to move on to like a little bit of like real world trivia. Because I want to talk about...
00:26:09
Speaker
The Mad Max 2 Museum in Silverton, New South Wales.
Mad Max 2 Museum
00:26:14
Speaker
Have you heard about this before, Mitch? Not only have I heard about it, I'm pretty sure I've been. No, that's so funny. I think I was very young and I didn't really know what Mad Max was when I did go. Yeah, right. I'll fill delightful listeners That or drove past it. I know I've been to Broken Hill. Yeah, right. Well, it's in Silverton, actually. So you didn't go there. So the Mad Max 2 Museum is in Silverton, New South Wales.
00:26:39
Speaker
and it so Yeah, someone's in New South. It's in Silverton, New South Wales. Yeah. And it's a not-for-profit museum where the owners have gone to Broken Hill and Silverton and the surrounding areas where they filmed Mad Max 2 and they've scrounged up anything they can relating to Mad Max 2. We're talking anything from like shells of cars that were used in the film to like gloves and You know what mean? And little props that are buried in the sand or that were given to the pub owner or something like that. That's so fun. And the funniest part of this is it's only for Mad Max 2. It's not for any other movie in the series. It's only for Mad Max 2, The Road Warrior. How does that make you feel? vision, you know?
00:27:31
Speaker
what a vision you know It's pretty funny to be so ultra specific on your museum. I know. I know. It's fantastic. But I get i guess I kind of get it because it's the area. like They didn't film number one there. So, you know, when did it open? You know, it was it officially opened in September of 2010. Ooh, that's actually pretty recent. Decades after the film released. So it has ah working replicas of the interceptors used in the film, obviously. Has original props like the some of the like the old cars and and the shells. And then a post-apocalyptic themed yard, which has more stuff in it.
00:28:12
Speaker
The outside of it looks like a proper Mad Max 2 settlement vibe. You know what mean? It's so funny. Yard really implies that there's one of those washing lines that spins around. Oh, like a hill's hoist? Yeah, exactly. It really implies there's a shed out the back or something. I wouldn't have it any other way. One of these days we'll make it down to Silverton and see this museum. Damn, it's up, brother. true. Oh, my God. That's so embarrassing me. Sorry. It's down for Yeah, you're Sydney. My bad. Yeah, true. Up for me. Down for you. true. Yeah, one of these days we'll make it to the Mad Max 2 Museum because it seems like the people working there are the most chill people. That sounds fun.
Mel Gibson's Performance Analysis
00:28:58
Speaker
I think I just really want to quickly talk about Mel Gibson again. That's true. We kind of have to just touch on him. Once again, horrible, horrible man. Hate him, hate him, hate He's fine in this. He's good. He's better in this than he was in the first one. I think he's obviously an older man than he was in the first one. Yeah, but I think he's grisly and disheveled, and I think that adds to his age, I guess. Well, I think he's more of a character in this one than in the first one. Honestly, Max in Mad Max 1 and Max in Fury Road are kind of similar in that they're not characters. Audience sorority. Not audience surrogates, but also just like forces of nature things of like catalysts of change or catalysts of plot, I think is maybe more of an appropriate term. But in this one, though, he is more of a character. So Mel Gibson actually does have to do some acting. I think this one where we were saying that he kind reminds us of Russell Crowe. Russell Crowe. Yeah. kind of reminds us of Russell Crowe. Yeah. Because he's just so cool.
00:30:06
Speaker
He's just so cool and he he's got, ah well, I'm reading here, he has an easy, unswaggering masculinity. um And he has a hint of that Charles mcnna McKenna from the Newsweek. And also he has a hint of down on the humor, maybe quintessentially Australian, but is also the stuff of an international male star.
00:30:26
Speaker
That's foreshadowing right there because he did Lethal Weapon two years later, I think. Matt, ah what can you please tell me what you believe the most Australian thing about this one is? The most Australian thing I believe about Mad Max 2 The Road Warrior is the insatiable need to do mad skids and donuts on your dirt bike.
00:30:45
Speaker
It's true. why i I have that feeling every day I wake up. Yeah, just go crazy with it Get some mad skills. BMX Bandits. Wouldn't it be funny if we did BMX Bandits as the fourth film in Mad Makes? Can we actually? Oh my God, i need to talk about BMX Bandits because that movie is so funny. But that would mean we don't talk about Fury Road.
00:31:05
Speaker
Okay, never mind then. I'd rather talk about Fury Road. they makes fan it It would piss off everyone, including us. People like BMX Bandits.
Cultural Motifs and Humor
00:31:14
Speaker
I think it's in that they're a weird mob area of a memeable Australian movie. But anyway. Now I'm actually less excited to watch it because I hate it. It's funny. It's funny though. It's Nicole Kidman on a BMX bike doing BMX tricks. that the one where she pretends to be a dude is that a different movie? Oh, well no, that's the movie where they have a male stunt double doing Nicole Kidman's stunts on a bike. okay. And it's very obvious. I was thinking of a different movie then. Going back to the whole point is that, yeah, so there's mad skids and flips and donuts on dirt bikes in Mad Max 2 and it's just it's very apropos to Australian culture. Hell
00:31:48
Speaker
Well, you can send us your dirt bike skids and other such things. Send us a cool dirt bike trick, mate. Hell yeah. Do it at undersouthernscreenspod at gmail.com. And you can also just, like, check out our stuff and our socials at...
00:32:04
Speaker
On the Sunland Screens pod at Threads, Instagram, and TikTok. On Threads, Instagram, and TikTok. Mate, you've been doing well. Oh, I'm flagging. He's fried. Well, you know what, man? I'll tag you in there, buddy. Don't worry. Thanks, baby. Thanks, babe.
00:32:21
Speaker
Rate our podcast, please. I mean, like if you're enduring Mad Makes so far, like, yeah, we've we've had so much fun doing this podcast. Rate and review, right yeah. Rate it five stars. We'd actually genuinely love it. We've been getting some good responses ah so far, which I'm really happy about. um And yeah, if you do it, we'll we love you If you don't like the podcast, can you give it five stars anyway? But you can give us a scathing review. That's okay. That's it. Yeah. You can do like ah a really sarcastic review.
00:32:49
Speaker
Yeah, be like, ooh, I rated this five stars because it's so good. And we'll be like, oh, this guy hates You should create a new Spotify account with like a specific Mad Max character as like your profile. And then you write the write your review in the comments as that Mad Max character. Like, hi, I'm the toe cutter. Depending on the character, would just be screaming. Yeah, true. Or the feral child. Yeah.
Feral Child Actor Trivia
00:33:17
Speaker
Was that a good feral child? that That was a good impression, mate. That was really, really good. that you that kid Oh, by the way, that guy, that feral child, he's now a jeweler.
00:33:25
Speaker
um That's a true fact. That's crazy. like like i want to i want to buy many a jewel from him now. And I'm not talking about vapes. you' He does Mad Max jewelry. I wish i genuinely want him to. Well, doesn't the feral child have like a necklace or something on it? I don't remember. Is that a Mandela effect thing? Anyway.
00:33:43
Speaker
now i Now he has one in my mind too, so I don't know. That's right. Yeah. Anyway, but like cool story. um but Also, this is the one where the guy broke his leg. We forgot to mention that. Oh, yeah. yeah True. let let' Play that clip right now. Ah!
00:33:55
Speaker
oh ahs it's You're welcome. Anyway, we'll see you next week for Mad Max Thunderdome, where we go on to the third episode. Beyond Thunderdome, actually. What did say? You just said Thunderdome. It's Mad Max 3 Beyond. I haven't even seen their movie and I know the title, Mitch. Come on. Well, it's not called Mad Max 3, though. It's just called Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. So both of us are stupid. We're both broads. We're both... Buxters, as I think you said before. It's time to end. We've embarrassed ourselves enough. We're flagging. We'll see you next week. Please enjoy.
00:34:28
Speaker
Vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom. Bye. Oh, and drive drive towards those southern screens. Thanks for listening to another episode of Under Southern Screens. We'll be back next week to talk more films down under.
00:34:41
Speaker
We just want to attribute that our opening title is Heavy Duty by Zoo and our closing title is Heavy Weight by Fell Creek. Thanks so much for listening and Mitch and I will see you in the next episode.
00:34:53
Speaker
See you next time.
00:34:56
Speaker
Under Southern Screens would like to acknowledge the stolen lands on which this podcast is recorded and produced and pay tribute to the Wurundjeri and Woiwurrung people of the Kulin Nation and Kamaragal people of the Eora Nation.
00:35:09
Speaker
Sovereignty was never ceded and we pay respect to all Indigenous Elders past, present and emerging. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.