Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

This is easily one of those cases where the sequel is in fact quite superior to the original. You don't necessarily have to have seen the first to get this one, as the opening scene fills in some of the gaps, though it wouldn't hurt because that one is a good film, and seeing it will also help make sense of why Max's outfit looks like it does. It's been five years since society collapsed and Max lsot his family and was pushed over the edge. The world has now officially become post apocalyptic, and gasoline is a rare, precious commodity. Max xis just an aimless drifter wandering around the wastelands searching for fragments of a life long gone, which includes a quest for fuel. He happens across a fuel depot guarded by a scraggly band of survivors, and he ends up joining forces with them in an attempt to fend off a violent band of bizarre warriors led by the fearsome Lord Humungus.Most of that quest (and indeed a large chunk of the running time) is devoted to a chase sequence wherein Max drives a truck containing a massive fuel tank the survivors had been hording. He drives it for them on their way to a spot 2,00 miles away: a place rumored ot be the last remaining paradise around. That's basically it for plot. Throughout the film, and especially during the epic chase, there's a pretty sparse amount of dialogue, and that's actually pretty awesome. There's a lack of strong character development and world building (which, had these been included I'd bump the rating up), but at the same time, the sparseness of the narrative let's you come to your own conclusions, which is cool Even then however, it still would have been nice to get details about certain things.I can easily overlook some of the shortcomings though, especially when, as I've said, most of the film is just one long, epic chase scene filled to the brim with tons of stunts, action, and not only is all of it done extremely well, it's all done practically too. If you want "adrenaline rush: the movie", this would definitely work. The cars and stunts are awesome, the art direction and costumes are quite stellar, even if, in retrospect, they're are gleefully corny 80s kitsch and more than a little homoerotic. The cinematography is raw, gritty, and really nails the post apocalyptic aesthetic. I'm pretty sure that this film is the one that really set the standard for the post apocalyptic genre. The first film sowed the seeds, but this one is where the full germination happened. I mentioned a few gripes earlier, but another thing that somewhat sullied my enjoyment of this film is the fact that not only did it take me way too long to finally get around to seeing this, but I had a harder time enjoying it as much as I could when I realized that Waterworld is basically a remake of this in a lot of ways, except with water instead of land as the setting. It's not a shot for shot remake, but more than just a couple of things get taken from this one into that one..enough that it would take me more time than I want to spend to list them all.Bottom line: this one easily earns its reputation as being one of the greatest stunt movies of all time, as well as one of the best action films (of the 80s and ever), and the gold standard for the post apocalypse genre. It's overwhelmingly got plot, story, and characters cast off for for everything else, but it's so damn entertaining that you really almost don't care at all. There is at least enough detail to keep the film from being totally pointless, and the ending is quite fitting too.So, what are you waiting for? I've praised this film enough already that to keep doing so is redundant. Go out and see it. NOW!!!!