The Road Warrior (1981)

Mad Max returns as the Road Warrior, a lone wolf roaming the open countryside in an attempt to stay alive in a land devastated by the effects of nuclear blasts and the lack of their most precious natural resource, oil. Max fights to stay alive against a gang of S&M clad bikers led by the one known as Humangus. Due to circumstances beyond his control, Max is forced to assist a group of common citizens seeking refuge within their own oil refinery, unable to escape because of the ever growing threat of Humangus and his gang who wait to attack and procure their gasoline.

The Road Warrior packs double the punch of Mad Max, with twice the action and half the chatter, all within the same compact run-time. But the film also requires a little suspended belief as the somewhat normal atmosphere of the first film is completely turned around within a span of a few years as the entire Australian population appears to have reverted to barbarians. Combine the over embellished post apocalyptic atmosphere with the villains who roam the roads in S&M outfits complete with buttless chaps and chains, and you get a film that's a little hard to take too seriously yet still finds it's success in it's non-stop action. Overall, The Road Warrior is a little cornier than Mad Max, but turns out to be the best film of the quite diverse trilogy by being the most enjoyable and easiest to sit through.

8/10