The first film did us the favour of establishing the character, so this time we can cut quickly to the chase. "Max" (Mel Gibson) is now a fully fledged drifter. He still has a semblance of decency, comparatively speaking, as he travels the Australian wastelands trying to stay alive and keep himself fuelled. Along the way he meets up with the slightly wacky "Gyro Captain" (Bruce Spence) but it's when he encounters a besieged oil facility that things start to hot up. He agrees to try and help them fend off the menacing, mask-wearing, "Humungus" (Kjell Nilsson) and his menacing sidekick "Wez" (Vernon Wells) who has a distinctly Achilles/Patroclus style relationship with his cute, blonde, friend. These bandits are ruthless, violent, and determined to seize this most precious of assets so "Max" proposes to his allies a straight swap - in return for enough gas, he will deliver them a large truck for use to travel to the coast and safety. What follows are a series of quickly paced, perilous escapades that culminate in a cracking chase with what looked very much like the front of a snowplough (in the desert?) playing a crucial role as they try to force their way out. Emil Minty is pretty effective as the aptly named, boomerang-bearing, "Feral Kid" and once we see why Spence has his moniker, the whole thing quite literally takes off. This is so much better than the original. The story is much more substantial, it has plenty of gore yes, but there is also some dark humour and Gibson has loads of charisma as his character develops. Director George Miller offers quite a potent lesson to other film makers too - ninety minutes is quite long enough to pack in plenty and keep the attention of the audience.
