What if Prometheus doesn’t have anything to do with anything after Alien?

MoviesJune 3, 2013April 28, 2016

I have a question; what exactly is the life cycle of the creature in the movie Alien? From the movies and to a lesser extent the Alien comic books I thought the life cycle was pretty clear, but after the events of Prometheus I’m not so sure.

In the original version of Alien to Aliens and even Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection as well as the Dark Horse comics it seemed as if the alien was a creature native to some far-off planet in our galaxy that lived within some kind of natural ecosystem it was a part of.

The alien lived in a hive like ants or bees, built domes for protection at the center of which lived a queen that ruled the hive. In their natural ecosystem there were predators that preyed on the alien and vise versa.

The alien starts its life with the queen laying an egg. Some other unsuspecting creature is infected with an spore via a “facehugger” contained in the egg. Then, some sort of miniature alien is implanted in this creature via the facehugger. After a short time of incubation, a juvenile alien “chestburster” literally erupts from the creature and eventually grows into an adult alien.

Sometime in the past time of the movies, a queen alien was taken from its home planet by other aliens possessing interstellar travel technology. These other aliens have become known as the “Engineers.” Somewhere in flight among the stars, these Engineers were overwhelmed by the alien, infected and their ship crashed on the world LV-426 which would be found by the crew of the Nostromo in the movie Alien. While exploring the crashed ship, crewmember Kane would find a hold full of the queen’s eggs, become infected himself and deliver an alien aboard the Nostromo in flight.

The idea of the egg, facehugger, chestburster and adult alien came from Alien. The idea of the hive and queen were from Aliens.

This all was cannon in the series until 2003 and the release of the director’s cut of Alien.

Here, a scene was added to Alien that fans had known about for some time. Characters of Dallas and Brett, who had been taken by the alien and presumed killed during the course of the movie, are found by Ripley hidden away in some darkened corridor on the ship. Both have been trapped and cocooned and are slowly being transformed into two alien eggs. Brett, who was captured first, is a long way gone and is almost totally turned into an egg. Dallas is a little less transformed and is coherent enough to beg Ripley to kill him, which she does.

The question of the crewmembers turned to eggs raises is what, if any, role does the alien queen play in things? Or, is this some sort of way of the alien “kick starting” a hive when no queen is present?

And again, even with this inconsistency (do queens make eggs, or are eggs transformed beings?) things were mostly fine until 2012 and Prometheus.

Prometheus explored the race of Engineers that were somewhat introduced in Alien and in the comics. Here, they were shown as seeding life on the Earth and using the far off planet LV-223, in the same system as LV-426, to house bunkers full of weird and dangerous bio-weapons. The crew of the ship Prometheus visits this planet and on exploring one of these bunkers one crew member is infected by black “goo” and another is sprayed with the blood of a worm also infected with this goo.

Infected crewmember Fifield in Prometheus

It takes some time but each begins to turn into something monstrous. One of these man-creature-things attacks the Prometheus and ends up killing several other crew members of the ship. Before turning, the other infected person has sex with scientist Elizabeth Shaw and impregnates her with something that starts out as looking like a fish crossed with an octopus crossed with a dildo but grows into a massive mostly octopus-looking thing. This thing captures one of the Engineers and implants something into him. This something grows much like the chestburster of Alien and when born comes out looking much like the alien of the original films abet with a few minor physical differences – different color, different jaw, etc.

What’s going on here? Are the things of the Alien films supposed to be different than the things of Prometheus, or are they supposed to be related? In some ways they seem to be related, but in others not so much.

I have a few theories:

The alien of the Alien movies and the creatures of Prometheus are both bio-weapons, but different if somewhat related ones. Maybe the alien is some natural creature the Engineers found on some far off planet and took some of the eggs of to use as one of their weapons? And maybe during one of these shipments of these eggs one got out, infected an Engineer which caused the ship to crash land on LV-426 en-route to LV-223?

Still, this doesn’t quite explain things. Like why does being “infected” cause the births of the alien from Alien and the octopus-thing infecting the Engineer in Prometheus? They seem too related to just be coincidence.

Or…

prometheus_deacon — The “deacon” creator of Prometheus

It’s just that director Ridley Scott of Alien and director James Cameron of Aliens had different visions of the alien life cycle and that’s what we’re seeing play out on the big screen.

If you take out everything that happened after Alien in regards to the alien life cycle – mostly that a queen alien is the one who lays the eggs that creates little aliens – Alien fits nicely into the Prometheus mythos. With Ridley Scott, the alien is just another bio weapon that, like the creatures from Prometheus, are created by the Engineers. I think in Ridley’s mind the movies go Prometheus to Alien and everything else that’s happened after really isn’t his concern.

The Evil Dead Movies Part 3: Army of Darkness, Hail to the king!

MoviesApril 5, 2013December 25, 2018

Part 1: The Evil Dead, Join Us!
Part 2: Evil Dead II, Dead by Dawn!
Part 3: Army of Darkness, Hail to the king!

Ash (Bruce Campbell) and his “boom stick”

Over the last few years Hollywood has become remake crazy, and it seems as if one of the more popular types of movies to be remade are horror films. One of the movies that’s in the process of being remade for good or ill is The Evil Dead.

What would become a trilogy of movies began with The Evil Dead in 1981, continued with Evil Dead II in 1987 and was completed with Army of Darkness in 1993. While The Evil Dead was for the most part a straight horror movie and Evil Dead II a crazy mix of comedy and horror, Army of Darkness was a comedy with a bit of action and a few elements of horror thrown in for good measure.

Army of Darkness was a movie that came along at the perfect time for me. I first saw it on VHS as a teen and its mix of comedy, humor and downright goofiness totally clicked with my sensibilities back then. In fact, I only sought out and saw Evil Dead II then watched The Evil Dead again for the first time in years after seeing Army of Darkness.

The chin that launched 1,000 ships

Army of Darkness begins right where Evil Dead II ends; Ash (Bruce Campbell) finds himself transported back in time to the 14^th century where he’s seen as a prophesied hero that will destroy the evil forces that are plaguing that time. Ash, along with his car, chainsaw and shotgun that were also accidentally magically sent back the centuries, are seen as a sort of savior by the locals. But he doesn’t want to have anything to do with the natives and just wants to go home.

To get back to the 20^th century Ash must retrieve the Necronomicon Ex Mortis, the book of the dead from a graveyard. But when he messes up a magical incantation he’s supposed to speak before taking the book and accidentally unleashes the deadite army of darkness, it’s up to Ash to stop the army before it takes over the world. (In fact the on-screen title of the film is really Bruce Campbell vs Army of Darkness.)

The army of darkness

Compared to The Evil Dead and even Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness feels like a much bigger, though not quite epic, action-comedy with Ash constantly spouting t-shirt slogan ready catch-phrases like “groovy,” “hail to the king” and “gimme some sugar, baby.” In any other movie lines like that would come off as a dumb joke, but in the goofy Three Stooges/Looney Tunes inspired Evil Dead universe this works. It makes the Ash character like some sort of reluctant comic book hero who’s not nearly as smart as he thinks he is.

Ash and Shelia (Embeth Davidtz)

While most horror movies constantly go for the scare – and become less and less watchable with each outing since after the first time know the twists and turns – the goofy sense of humor that permeates all the Evil Dead films separates those movies from almost every other horror flick. And I think because of all the humor and action and horror is why we’re still talking about the Army of Darkness and the other two Evil Dead movies 30+ years after the first one was released.

And this is precisely what worries me most about the Evil Dead remake now in theaters. From the look of the trailers and marketing materials that’s been released from that movie, the simply titled Evil Dead is horror first, terror second and humor not at all. Which, to me anyways, makes Evil Dead look like just another 21^st century horror remake like The Hills Have Eyes or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that might make a splash at the box office one week but will all but be forgotten a month or two later.

A deadite

After Army of Darkness, Evil Dead franchise director Sam Raimi would go onto direct the Spider-Man trilogy of films and would become a prolific producer of TV and movies along with co-Evil Dead franchise producer Robert G. Tapert. Star Bruce Campbell would spend the years after the Evil Dead trilogy as a working actor who bounced around between various TV and film roles. Recently, though, Campbell has found success co-starring in the long-running TV series Burn Notice. Grade: A-.

Army of Darkness is available on home video and digital download.

The Evil Dead, Join Us!

Feature, MoviesApril 5, 2013June 17, 2018

What would become a trilogy of movies began with The Evil Dead in 1981, continued with Evil Dead II in 1987 and was completed with Army of Darkness in 1993. While The Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness would introduce varying degrees of slapstick humor and comedy into the Evil Dead mythos, the original The Evil Dead was instead a straight-up horror movie literally billed as “the ultimate experience in grueling terror.”

The story of The Evil Dead is simple and, I hate to say it, not that original. But it’s how the creators of The Evil Dead execute this simple story that separates this film from lesser ones and keeps people like me talking about it 30+ years after its release.

In The Evil Dead, a group of teens decide to spend part of their school vacation in a cabin in the woods partying. The cabin is spooky and creepy enough, but what the teens find within is even more scary. There, they find a book bound in skin and written in blood; the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, the book of the dead. While the teens can’t make out what’s written in the book they find a tape recording left behind by a professor who was translating the text and reading it aloud. And when the teens listen to the tape they unknowingly release an evil force into the woods around the cabin.

This force terrorizes the group one at a time before turning most into possessed “deadites.” Alone is Ash (Bruce Campell) who can’t escape to safety because of the things in the woods and must face his deadite friends who want him dead by dawn.

Shot on just $357,000 in the late 1970s and early 1980s, or a little less than $1 million today, the limited budget of The Evil Dead shows through with every bad monster makeup appliance or mismatched hairstyles between scenes .Yet how the film is shot and the overall creepiness of the real cabin location more than makes up for something that could have come off cheep and cheesy.

While similar horror movies rely on gore and guts for scares, The Evil Dead instead relies on clever editing and dynamic camerawork. In The Evil Dead, the camera swoops and dives through the woods chasing characters and, at one point, literally crashes through a window at someone. In one shot, Ash watches the clock hoping for morning and we watch him from behind the clock as the pendulum swings in and out of view.

That’s not to say that there isn’t gore in The Evil Dead, but it’s so over the top that it sometimes verges on humor. The blood here is a vibrant red and is so voluminous that at one point Ash literally falls into a deep pools of it. Humorous or not, some countries outright banned The Evil Dead from their lands for years. In fact, The Evil Dead wasn’t legally available for purchase in the UK in an uncensored version until 2001!

Banned or not, The Evil Dead would go onto become one of the most successful independent movies of all time. Ironically enough, it would take another movie about a group of teens who become lost in the woods and are terrorized by an unseen force, The Blair Witch Project (2000), to become an independent movie more successful than The Evil Dead.

I originally saw an edited version of The Evil Dead on cable TV in the mid-1980s during the cable show Commander USA’s Groovie Movies that used to air all sorts of genera movies Saturday afternoons. I in no way shape or form got what The Evil Dead was about back then and I didn’t like it. It would take many years for me to see it again on DVD to really appreciate The Evil Dead for all its over-the-top horror. Grade A.

Evil Dead II, Dead by Dawn!

Bruce Campbell in Evil Dead II

While The Evil Dead was mostly a straight horror movie Evil Dead II was a crazy mix of comedy and horror. But it’s horror by way of slapstick The Three Stooges.

Personally, I like Evil Dead II a lot, but it’s my least favorite of the trilogy. In many ways Evil Dead II seems like a bigger budget remake/ alternate take on The Evil Dead. In fact, the first half of Evil Dead II is a revised retelling of that first film.

In Evil Dead II, instead of Ash (Bruce Campbell) and his four college friends visiting a spooky cabin in the woods and discovering the tape left by the professor reading aloud passages from the Necronomicon Ex Mortis, the book of the dead, it’s just Ash and his girlfriend. But mostly the same stuff happens in Evil Dead II as it did in The Evil Dead; she becomes possessed by demons and no matter how many times Ash kills her she keeps coming back for more.

There are differences in how Evil Dead II tells The Evil Dead Story and its mix of a bigger budget and slapstick humor make the tone and feel of the two movies completely different from one and other. The beginning of Evil Dead II is much more over-the-top, goofy and is funnier than The Evil Dead and after this retelling Evil Dead II continues the story of The Evil Dead in some pretty interesting ways.

The last half of Evil Dead II introduces a group of new characters to the mix including the professor’s daughter who pays a visit the cabin looking for her father. There, they find a blood-covered Ash and assume the worst. But after they find the professor’s “deadite” wife hiding in the basement and as the woods around them literally begins to creep towards the cabin these new characters realize Ash is the least of their problems.

The hand flips the bird

There is gore and terror in Evil Dead II but there is also a lot of humor too. In one scene Ash’s hand becomes infected by some evil presence and he’s forced to cut it off, which is gruesome enough. But after the hand is detached it runs around the room on its own climbing through Looney Tunes-like mouse holes in walls and at one point flips Ash the bird. When Ash gets the upper hand (tee-hee) on things he mutters, “Who’s laughing now!?”

There are lots of these scenes like this in Evil Dead II that are so over the top (detached eyeballs fly across rooms, walls spew blood) they would would be gross in any other movie. But here they’re really funny. And that separates Evil Dead II from just about every other horror movie ever made. There are as many laughs in Evil Dead II as there are scares. If not more.

Superhero Ash

Evil Dead II also introduces a different, more action-hero like, version of the Ash character. Gone is the sensitive wimpy Ash of The Evil Dead and instead here is the catch-phrase muttering (one of his favorite lines is “groovy”) demonite killing Ash with a chainsaw attached where one hand used to be and a shotgun in the other. Evil Dead II and Ash are lot more comic book-like than The Evil Dead but they’re also a lot more fun too.

While Evil Dead II is kind’a sort’a a remake of The Evil Dead, it also directly sets up the third and final film of the trilogy; Army of Darkness. This last movie would take Ash from the creepy cabin in the woods to a medieval castle in the desert! Grade B+.

Part 3: Army of Darkness, Hail to the king

While The Evil Dead was for the most part a straight horror movie and Evil Dead II a crazy mix of comedy and horror, Army of Darkness was a comedy with a bit of action and a few elements of horror thrown in for good measure.

The army of darkness

Compared to The Evil Dead and even Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness feels like a much bigger, though not quite epic, action-comedy with Ash constantly spouting t-shirt slogan ready catch-phrases like “groovy,” “hail to the king” and “gimme some sugar, baby.” In any other movie lines like that would come off as a dumb joke, but in the goofy Three Stooges/Looney Tunes inspired Evil Dead universe this works. It makes the Ash character like some sort of reluctant comic book hero who’s not nearly as smart as he thinks he is.

And this is precisely what worries me most about the Evil Dead remake due in theaters April 5. From the look of the trailers and marketing materials that’s been released from that movie, the simply titled Evil Dead is horror first, terror second and humor not at all. Which, to me anyways, makes Evil Dead look like just another 21^st century horror remake like The Hills Have Eyes or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that might make a splash at the box office one week but will all but be forgotten a month or two later.

The Evil Dead trilogy is available on home video and digital download.

Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (2000) Movie Script Review

Feature, MoviesSeptember 3, 2012May 31, 2016

I recently had the chance to read a script for an unproduced Doc Savage movie that would be been directed by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Walking Dead) and star Arnold Schwarzenegger in the title role. The copy of the script I read is dated August 16, 2000 and was written by David Leslie Johnson with story credit to Johnson and Brett Z. Hill.

If you’re unfamiliar with the character, Doc Savage was originally a pulp action hero with the main bulk of his stories being written between the early 1930s and late 1940s by Kenneth Robeson (Lester Dent). Though Doc has never been as recognizable as contemporary comic book characters like Superman or Batman, the Doc Savage character has a fervent fanbase that has kept the character around in one form or other, be it in book reprints, comic books and even a line of new books, to present time.

The feature film version of Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze would have taken place in the late 1930s and would feature Doc along with compatriots Ham, Monk and youthful Jack racing Nazis and Japanese forces to the mythical city of Angkor Naga. Supposedly, Angkor Naga is a place filled with gold and other treasures including a Nazi sub that may or may not have some special technologies within that would make the Germans and Japanese practically unbeatable in the upcoming world war.

While there are some segments of Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze that do work, most of the first two acts of the script don’t work very well.

In these two acts, we meet Doc and compatriots in the trenches of the first world war, then jump to the late 1930s with Doc fighting giant robots and Nazis and traveling the world in search of kidnapped scientists and friends.Which is all good, except here the scriptwriters forgot one important thing; they didn’t introduce Doc Savage and his team to the audience that well. We never learn why Doc is rich, stronger than the average man, a brilliant inventor, etc. or anything about his friends. Instead, these details are glossed over at the expense of action AND MORE ACTION!

To be honest, the first two thirds of Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze read more like the first few episodes of a Doc Savage TV animated series than a feature film version, and that’s too bad because the last third of the script is actually really fun and in line as to what I’d expect a Doc Savage movie to be.

In the last act of the script, there are some unique set pieces that I don’t think I’ve ever seen on-screen before, namely two racing military trains on adjoining tracks blasting away at each other like sea galleons of old, and some giant monster action I wasn’t expecting too.

I also liked how certain aspects of the Doc Savage character were handled in the script; he’s a real life Boy Scout who abhors killing and is the smartest person on the planet who can accomplish literally anything if he puts his mind to it. I also liked how in Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze certain aspects of 1930s America were a hyper-real version of that time, with dirigibles landing at the Empire State Building, evil Nazi robots menacing the populous and weird inventions having the capabilities of turning the tide of war.

When the writers of Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze gets the story right the script is akin to both the comic and movie The Rocketeer. When they get it wrong it’s a bad riff on Indiana Jones.

But I’d argue that what doomed this version of a Doc Savage movie from hitting theaters wasn’t only this weak script, it’s Schwarzenegger in the starring role too. Here, he’d have been a man in his mid 50’s playing someone 20 years younger who’s supposed to be in peak, if not super-human, physical form. It wouldn’t have helped that Schwarzenegger was coming off a string of disappointing movies including Jingle All the Way (1996), Batman & Robin (1997), End Days (1999) and The 6th Day (2000) leading up to this role too.

Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze Script – Grade: C+

…Remember, He’s on Your Side

Feature, MoviesJune 18, 2010June 17, 2018

Mad Max When I was in high school my favorite film was Road Warrior (1981). I think the reason that film appealed to me is that it presented a sort of nihilistic view of the near-future that I’ve always found interesting that was also being explored in films like Escape from New York (1981), The Terminator (1984) and Alien (1979). The main theme of these films seemed to be that the future might not be as great as we might have once imagined and that this bleak time could be here before we know it.

At the time I didn’t realize that Road Warrior was actually a sequel to the movie Mad Max (1979). And though back in high school I didn’t much care for Mad Max, lately I’ve come to realize that between the two Max Max is actually the superior film.

Mad Max takes place just “a few years from now” in and around some sparsely populated hamlets across the Australian Outback. The audience is never quite sure as to what’s going on in the outside world but it’s clear that things just aren’t right. Be it the police officers of the film, the “Main Force Patrol” (MFP), working out of what looks like an abandoned factory or an ominous highway sign that list how many people have recently been killed on that particular stretch of road – the visuals alone make the world of Mad Max seems dangerous and uninviting.

Worst of all of Mad Max are the roaming “road trash” motorcycle gangs who terrorize the countryside in their quest for kicks and fuel. And the only thing standing between these gangs and total anarchy is the MFP and their best officer Max (Mel Gibson in his first starring role).

Though by day Max may chase down these gangs on the highways he’s able to keep his professional life separate from his personal with a wife and son. That is until the day Max and the MFP take out a biker who’s stolen a police car which causes the rest of the biker’s gang to swear vengeance on the MFP and Max in particular.

First they start with Max’s best friend Jim Goose whom they find on the highway, wreck then burn alive and then in a heartbreaking scene literally run down Max’s wife and child on a lonely stretch of road. Max leaves the force, takes his gear and then goes off to the roads to extract vengeance on these bikers one by one.

Mad Max Considering that at its core Max Max looks to be a cheap road/motorcycle movie designed to appeal to a drive-in audience craving blood and action, the film is actually quite surreal. The visuals of a world falling apart through neglect and lack of spare parts combined with an element of homoeroticism running through the film all adds to this surreal quality.

In Mad Max, several of the motorcycle gang members are gay, the biggest and meanest looking MFP member smokes cigars and seemingly wears ladies sunglasses and the MFP uniform that consists of tight black leather pants, a black leather jacket and leather gloves. This element is completely unexpected yet adds to the overall tone of a movie where things are just a little bit off. And I think it’s these small differences that add to the overall feeling of unease that runs throughout the film.

Also interesting is the title of the film. It both refers to “mad” as in “angry” but also as in “crazy.” One really does have to be crazy to do the sorts of things Max does to the bikers in this film.

Mad Max

At it’s core, Mad Max asks the question of if a guy like Max does the right thing like killing a gang of bikers who’ve murdered their way across the countryside for the wrong reasons (cold-blooded revenge, going outside the bounds of a law he’s sworn to uphold…) is he still a good person? Can there ever be redemption for Max who’s essentially abandoned everything he’s once believed in and has adopted the “anything goes” code of the road?

Pray that he’s still out there—somewhere

The Road Warrior (Warrior) picks up a few years after the events of Mad Max. If the world of Mad Max was teetering on the brink of collapse then the world of Warrior has completely crumbled ruining whatever was left of civilization in the process.

The Road Warrior

In Warrior, the gangs who threatened travelers on the highways of the Australian Outback of Mad Max now completely control them and instead of Max (Mel Gibson) being the one who chases down the roving gangs the roles have been reversed and he’s the one who’s chased. After the collapse, the only thing left of real value is gasoline and the highways are littered with the wrecked evidence of little wars fought over a gallon or two of fuel.

The Road Warrior After a stunning ten minute opening sequence to the film where no words are spoken with Max driving for his life as he is is alternately chased, then chases a highway gang, Max stumbles upon a working oil refinery besieged by musclebound/hockey mask wearing “Humungus” and his hoards of minions all wanting into the refinery and at the gas. Max is able to sneak into the refinery and makes a deal with the people within. He’ll bring them back a semi that is capable of hauling the gasoline away if they’ll give him as much gas as he can carry in return.

They agree and Max delivers. But before he can escape into the wastes Humungus’ hoards run Max down, destroy his car, shoot his dog and leave him for dead. Max is rescued and is brought back to the refinery where he volunteers to drive the semi out. The semi and its cargo of fuel will act as a decoy allowing the people living at the refinery time to escape. But is Max a good enough driver to race and beat Humungus’ hoards out into the Outback before they’re able to stop him?

If Mad Max was all about a character loosing himself in revenge then Warrior is about redemption. In Warrior, Max is presented as a man who’s not that much different that the members of Humungus’ murderous hoard. Though I never got the sense that Max would kill or take advantage of people who weren’t trying to kill or take advantage of him first; woe is the person good or evil to cross Max. In Warrior, Max kills when it’s needed, leaves people for dead and at one point uses a man who tried to steal fuel out of Max’s car as a sort of human pack animal.

The Road Warrior Except things change for Max when two events occur. First he meets a young feral boy living who lives with the people at the refinery but I suspect Max almost being killed out on the road had the biggest effect on the character. It’s almost as if with the young boy he’s able to reconnect to his normal life pre-collapse with a wife and son while I think Max’s near death experience made him realize that one way or another, be it doing good or bad, the hostile elements of the post-collapse world will eventually catch up and kill him. And Max is made to realize that in the end it’s probably better to be on the side of good than evil.

In a bit of a twist at the end of Warrior it turns out that the people of the refinery aren’t all good in that the semi they’ve sent Max out in to lead Humungus and his hoards away from their escape attempt was not filled with gasoline but instead was full of sand. They needed the fuel themselves to escape away from the refinery and figured that an outsider like Max was more expendable than of sacrificing one of their own.

The Road Warrior Still, this doesn’t take away the fact that at the end of Warrior, the character of Max has redeemed himself from the events of the first film.

Interestingly enough, both Mad Max and Warrior were originally released a bit differently for American audiences than international ones. For years, the only version of Mad Max that was available here in the US was one where all the voices of the Australian actors were redubbed with American voice actors while in most of the rest of the English speaking world The Road Warrior is known as Mad Max 2. It wasn’t until recently that the original voices in Mad Max were restored to the US version of the film and the original title was recently added to the US Blu-ray version of the film.

There’s been talk of a fourth Mad Max film for the last decade and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least that in this world of movie remakes and reboots that we don’t see another Max film sooner than later.

Two Men Enter, One Man Leaves

If Mad Max (1979) film was about a man lost in revenge and The Road Warrior (1981) was about redemption then Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) must’ve been about Tina Turner, her golden pipes and a band of roguish children.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

In Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (Thunderdome), the world is on its last few drops of gasoline and Max is left to wander the wastes on a pickup pulled by camel team. After his ride is stolen out from under him by a flying father and son team of thieves, Max follows the tracks of his vehicle to Bartertown, the only settlement of any size for some distance. At Bartertown, travelers from all over trade with one and other and with Aunty Entity (Tina Turner) who runs Bartertown and its stable of pigs producing the only fuel around; methane gas. Realizing that Max is the toughest guy in town, Entity makes a deal with him to kill “Blaster,” a gigantic hulk of a man who carries little person “Master,” an all around smart-guy and Entity’s only rival in Batertown, around on his shoulders. Without Blaster, Master would be defenseless against Entity.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome Max and Blaster face off in the caged Thunderdome, but after Max gets the upper hand and learns that Blaster is mentally disabled he refuses to finish the job and kill Blaster. Since Max has broken a deal with Entity, he’s banished to the desert wastes with no water and supplies.

Entity is really my first real problem with the Thunderdome. Both Mad Max and The Road Warrior (Warrior) have clearly defined and scary bad guys. I wouldn’t want to tangle with the disheveled and all-around weirdo Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne) from Mad Max and I’ve actually had nightmares over the hulking terror of the character Humungus (Kjell Nilsson) from Warrior. But in comparison, Aunty Entity isn’t nearly as menacing as either Keays-Byrne or Nilsson. In fact, one wonders if Turner’s role in the film isn’t more for her singing chops (arguably Turner’s song for the film “We Don’t Need Another Hero” was more of a hit than the film) than any acting chops.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome In the wastes, Max stumbles across an oasis inhabited by a group of feral children stranded there after a plane crash took the lives of all the adults. Left to their own devices, the kids have reverted to being a sort of primitive tribe and have made up their own mythos on the world using a mix of View-Master slides and the written etchings on a cliff-face left by the last dying adult. (Though how a group of “primitive” kids can read is another matter entirely.)

With the arrival of Max the kids believe that one of their prophecies have come true; that a man named Captain Walker, whom they assume to be Max, has come to take them home. But when Max can’t deliver, the kids expect that he can literally magically fly them away, some become disillusioned and decide it’s better to strike out on their own into the wastes rather than to wait for the return of Walker. But out in the wastes there’s really only Bartertown and Entity who’d be glad to add a few more laborers to her weird pig-mine and it’s up to Max to rescue them.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome This whole bit with Max stumbling on the weird mix of kids seemingly pulled from Lord of the Flies with an odd mix of the lost boys from Peter Pan thrown is is where the movie falters again. With Warrior, the creators of the Mad Max series have already established that Max is once again part of humanity and the addition of these kids does little to add to the character of Max than to add a few odd sight gags to the Mad Max series.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome Other than Turner as Entity and the kids, what hurts Thunderdome the most is that it’s clearing trying to take the best-bits of Warrior (the refinery people in Warrior in need of rescue/ the kids at bartertown in need of saving in Thunderdome, the feral kid of Warrior/the tribe of feral kids Thunderdome, each film ends with a massive chase between Max and the baddies…) and make those pieces a little more tame and Hollywood friendly. But what the creators of Thunderdome ended up doing instead was to water down all the rough bits of Warrior and replace them with something a little more palatable and a lot less interesting.

It doesn’t help matters with the film that in the end Max does fly a group of children away even if it’s under some clearly non-magical circumstances. Still, Thunderdome isn’t all bad. Where would we be without the most famous line from the film, “Two Men Enter, One Man Leaves?”

Category: Movies