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Should I watch older Mad Max movies before Fury Road?

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BearPawB

Banned
I am super excited for Fury Road, but haven't seen the previous movies really.
Maybe a bit of Thunderdome (two men enter on man leaves is just a part of culture at this point).

Do they hold up at all? Are they worth going back to?
Does Fury Road build off of anything from the previous movies?
 

A Human Becoming

More than a Member
I found the dialect in the first movie so hard to understand I couldn't watch it. Besides that, I didn't find it particularly interesting.
 

Ithil

Member
Mad Max 1 is not exactly what you might expect. It's a very slow, low key film, more of a crime drama than the post-apocalyptic road film you'd expect. It's not for everyone but worth watching for the unique atmosphere.

Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior is what everyone thinks of with Max, it's easily one of the most influential post-apocalyptic films in history. Absolutely a must-see, it's great fun.

Thunderdome...hurm.
 

Currygan

at last, for christ's sake
it's gonna be a reboot of sorts, so you can happily avoid them

I'd watch at least Road Warrior, tho. Best of the bunch
 

BearPawB

Banned
Yeah, I just watched a trailer for the first one. It seems like a completely different type of movie. Definitely gonna watch some road warrior though. Thanks yall
 

Clockwork

Member
If you haven't seen the previous movies what is it that makes you super excited for this one? That seems like unusual behavior to me.

I mean I'm sure its possible (good action, Tom Hardy is pretty cool, and who doesn't like a story taking place in a post-apocalyptic future), but I can't imagine it having the same appeal as it would to those who are actually a fan of the series.

Anyway, I echo the sentiment above. The original and The Road Warrior are vastly different movies but each have their own merits to which I wholeheartedly recommend a viewing. I would even recommend giving Thunderdome a watch, but it's nowhere near as good as the former films.
 

Ithil

Member
If you haven't seen the previous movies what is it that makes you super excited for this one? That seems like unusual behavior to me.

I mean I'm sure its possible (good action, Tom Hardy is pretty cool, and who doesn't like a story taking place in a post-apocalyptic future), but I can't imagine it having the same appeal as it would to those who are actually a fan of the series.

Anyway, I echo the sentiment above. The original and The Road Warrior are vastly different movies but each have their own merits to which I wholeheartedly recommend a viewing. I would even recommend giving Thunderdome a watch, but it's nowhere near as good as the former films.

Probably the insane car chases shown in the posters and trailers.
 
I actually watched the first two for the first time today. The first one was OK, had good chases, doesn't really get good until the last part of the movie. The second one is spectacular for the convoy scene alone. Will watch Beyond Thunderdome tomorrow.
 
I might skip Thunderdome (dumb kids...), but Mad Max 1 and 2 are very unique movies, and completely different. They're like Alien and Aliens in a way.
 

butalala

Member
The Road Warrior is the one you want. Check out the others if you really like Road Warrior, but they're not essential. I'm basing this on the 10+ year old impressions I made as a teenager, so your milage may vary.
 
People will tell you that you shouldn't watch Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, but they're wrong. Sure, the parts with the kids drag, and it can get silly at times, but it's easily the most ambitious of the three and it has several of the series' most iconic touchstones: Master Blaster, Bartertown, and the motherfucking Thunderdome. All that plus a loving tribute to Tina Turner's legs.

It's a solid film and unfairly chided in my opinion. Certainly much better than the very, very rough first film, where you can see the low budget ozploitation cracks at every turn.
 

FStop7

Banned
The first two are worth watching. The Road Warrior (#2) is really the most like what we've come to think of being as a "Mad Max" movie.

Thunder Road was terrible 80's cheese but it's kind of worth watching if you keep that in mind.
 

Blader

Member
Fury Road sounds like it'll be its own standalone thing so you likely don't *need* to see any of the earlier films. But Road Warrior is pretty good and probably also a nice way of setting yourself up for what to expect from Fury Road -- not so much in terms of story continuity but in style, tone, setting, etc.
 

dekline

Member
Whatever you do, don't skip the first one. If you find it not to your liking then skip to road warrior. I haven't seen Thunderdome so I can't comment on that.
 

Foggy

Member
As a prerequisite for Fury Road? Nope, probably not. As a prerequisite for living a charmed life? Absolutely.
 

BearPawB

Banned
If you haven't seen the previous movies what is it that makes you super excited for this one? That seems like unusual behavior to me.

I mean I'm sure its possible (good action, Tom Hardy is pretty cool, and who doesn't like a story taking place in a post-apocalyptic future), but I can't imagine it having the same appeal as it would to those who are actually a fan of the series.

that is like saying why would any kid born in the last five years care about a new star wars movie?
Because it looks cool?
 

Simo

Member
WHO. RUN. BARTERTOWN???

"MASTER BLASTER".

"Two men enter. One man leaves."

OP watch The Road Warrior AKA Mad Max 2 and then Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. If you still want more then check out the first one but be warned the tone and style is pretty far removed from the other two movies and is more "dystopian" than post apocalyptic.
 
I dig the first movie, more or less . . . but it's certainly frustratingly uneven.

Some creepy, unsettling nature to the scenes, but some of it just goes too long or doesn't have much point beyond padding out the run time.

It's fun to see young Mel Gibson zipping around though.
 

Flo_Evans

Member
I would watch them in order.

The 1st one is great, you start to see society breaking down and anarchy taking over. It's very low budget and has Australian weirdness to it.
 

Simo

Member
I dig the first movie, more or less . . . but it's certainly frustratingly uneven.

Some creepy, unsettling nature to the scenes, but some of it just goes too long or doesn't have much point beyond padding out the run time.

It's fun to see young Mel Gibson zipping around though.

Yeah. Great opening and finish with some memorable characters but theres some needless crap in the middle that just drags the film to a crawl.

Hey! Society and the world has collapsed with anarchy on the roads so lets take a family vacation to get away from it all!"
 

mantidor

Member
If you haven't seen the previous movies what is it that makes you super excited for this one? That seems like unusual behavior to me.

Not OP but I also never saw them but I really want to. Probably because I'm an 80s kid and the movies seem so freaking familiar despite not having seen them, maybe I saw some sort of bad copy? Or maybe I did see them but I was too young... anyway I really want to see them and all the trailers of Fury Road make me feel a weird nostalgic vibe.
 
So I'm in the middle of the first Mad Max right now and... Well... It's something. Very cheesy, kind of all over the place

It strikes me as a movie that Mystery Science Theater 3000 would make fun of, actually
 

megamerican

Member
Yeah I think starting with Mad Max is a bad move. Start with Road Warrior and if you dig it go back and the original. Mad Max is kind of a jarring movie. The ending of Mad Max is probably my favorite part of the series though.
 

Matty77

Member
The Road Warrior is essential regardless of fury road, one of the best action movies of all time, probably the best when it comes to car chases.

Mad Max isn't bad but as others have noted it's slower, and all the important bits are recapped at the beginning of Road Warrior so that's a optional.

Thunderdome is the trickiest, it falls apart in the second half plus it's not only post apocalypse it's mostly post all the cool car shit.

And from what I have looked into and the fact he has the interceptor Fury Road must take place in the same timeframe as Road Warrior.
 
Recently watched Mad Max 1 for the first time and yeah. That movie is not what I expected.

Its your standard 70's almost B movie level car chase movie with some incredibly dark tones to it.

Its interesting to look at after the sequels basically defined what Mad Max is.


Need to watch 2 again which I haven't seen in 15+ years.
 
they're all worth watching (first is very b-movie but still it's the introduction, third veers off into some children's peter pan film but the design and world-building is cool) but road warrior would be essential to any action fan imo. stunt-work on that was phenomenal, and gibson's max is a G
 
Do you HAVE to? No.

Should you? Sure!

Mad Max: Sweaty, freaked-out, weird little revenge movie.
The Road Warrior: Grimy, weird, mean-spirited chase film.
Beyond Thunderdome: It's like a cinematic sandwich cookie: A rambling, meandering kids film smashed between two action movies.

Neither the first or the third movie reach the levels of the second, but they're worth watching, mostly because there's pretty much nothing like 'em. They may not succeed as often, or as strongly, as Road Warrior, but they're still unique enough that you should at least give 'em a go.

But you don't need to watch any of them before you watch Fury Road this weekend. You won't miss anything. Hell, you don't even need to watch them in order. It's the rare trilogy (or tetralogy, now, I guess) in which there's a chronological order, more or less, but the movies work essentially the same regardless what order you watch them in.
 
I can't see much special with it tbh

x3f.png
 

way more

Member
You absolutely need to start with On the Beach.

On-the-Beach-cover2.jpg


It is the basis for all that follows but most importantly it nails the themes of scarcity, post-civilization, and brutal, horrific violence.

The movie adopts the drama and day to day. It normalizes the onslaught of barbarism and the descent into anarchy yet never shows it. If you really want to know what led up to Mad Max the movie is a must.

When the Wind Blows. This was a comic released before Mad Max but then it became an animated movie afterwards. It depicts the first few days of the "''pocylapse" as it's known in Mad Max.

Here it is in it's entire length. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdtpvoOXn2o

And once you watch the movie get Fallout 2.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/38410/
 
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