Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome: Okay, but... the kids, man.

Okay, so I just finished watching Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and honestly? It's... fine. Like, not bad, but not Fury Road levels of face-melting awesome. Tina Turner is absolutely amazing as Auntie Entity, that's just a given. I was kinda hoping for MORE of her. The whole Bartertown setup is pretty cool, too. Pig-shit-powered energy? Genius! And the Thunderdome itself? Two men enter, one man leaves! Classic. The bungee cords definitely inspired a lot of wrestling matches later on, I just know it. But here's where it kinda loses me. The whole kid colony thing? It's... weird. Like, are we really buying Mel Gibson as a surrogate dad to a bunch of feral children who speak in broken English and worship a cargo plane pilot? It feels like a totally different movie plopped down in the middle of the wasteland. I get the whole 'adult tasked with saving a vulnerable population' trope, but it just didn't quite click for me in this one. Maybe it's the acting, maybe it's the script, I dunno. Jedediah the pilot and his son were cool additions, though. I like that they got Max out of a sticky spot. And the ending? A bit saccharine, right? Like, they reach Tomorrow-morrow Land (or whatever it was called), and everything's gonna be sunshine and rainbows? After everything they've been through? I'm not saying it needed to be all doom and gloom, but a little more grit wouldn't have hurt. Still, overall, a solid enough entry in the Mad Max franchise. Not my favorite, but entertaining enough for a late-night watch when you're craving some post-apocalyptic action. I wonder if that kid with the boomerang ever became a decent shot... Anyway, what did you guys think? Am I being too harsh on the Lost Boys of the Outback? Let me know!