Rating: 
Summary: Better than _Mad Max_, maybe better than Thunderdome
Review: This _may_ be the best movie of the Mad Max trilogy.I like a good postapocalyptic thriller as well as the next guy, but _Mad Max_ just wasn't it. In order to pull off a movie along those lines within the constraints of a tight budget, you pretty much have to be John Carpenter (whose _Escape from New York_ is, to my mind at least, a much more appealing movie than the one that launched this trilogy). It was a very cool idea, but too many of the seams showed and there wasn't enough cool stuff to sustain it in spite of its flaws. _The Road Warrior_ is a different deal. It's a _much_ better movie than its predecessor, and it's sufficiently self-contained that you don't have to have seen the earlier one in order to enjoy it. You probably already know the story here. After a nuclear war, what remains of human society is teetering on the edge between civilization and barbarism. Max (Mel Gibson in his pre-_Lethal Weapon_ breakout role) is a tormented loner in this world, hovering somewhere between hero and anti-hero as he wanders aimlessly around the Australian Outback in search of 'guzzline' to keep his car running. (You'll have to watch the first film to find out exactly why he's so tormented, but the first few minutes will give you the general idea.) The plot itself revolves around that selfsame guzzline, of which there's (naturally enough) a widespread shortage. I won't tell you anything else in case you haven't seen it yet. It's well done. Sure, there's quite a bit here that's designed to appeal to the sensibilities of fans of monster truck rallies and professional wrestling. But there's also a pretty well-realized view of a postapocalyptic civilization and of what it would take to keep that civilization from falling completely apart. I remember reading somewhere that the film relies heavily on Joseph Campbell's writings on myth; I think that's an accurate call. Watch for Bruce Spence as the Gyro Captain. _Matrix_ fans will recognize him as the Trainman from M3. I'd also be remiss if I failed to mention that this movie, like the first one, was nicely scored by Brian May (of Queen). I think the third film, _Mad Max Beyond Thuderdome_, has higher production values, more swashbuckling, and a better score. But _The Road Warrior_ is still, in my not entirely humble opinion, the best of the three.
Rating:
Summary: Almost the way it should be, butnot quite.
Review: Despite what one reviewer said, the widescreen version on this disc is true widescreen. I am guessing that the reviewer did not watch beyond the first five menutes, which is in reduced full-screen mode as it was originally shot for the cinema. One the down side, this is not the full-length European version which is around a minute longer and has a more graphic boomerang scene, rape/murder scene, and chase scene at the end. It's worth the $10 I paid for it, even though it is the original US release version.
Rating:
Summary: Now this is Heavy Metal
Review: "The Road Warrior" is the fast paced action thriller that got Mel Gibson noticed. Yes, "Leathel Weapon" is his star making role, but this is the movie that helped make it happen. Gibson is burned out cop Max who is roaming the post-apoclyptic landscape of Austrailia. There is a group of refuges protecting a oil reserve. They are under attack by a group of thugs and killers lead by a man in a hocky mask (this was before Jason from "Friday the 13th" found his). Max volenteers to take the refuges to, well, somewhere. There is little diolgue in this movie, and it plays like a western with muscle cars. But it makes up for all that in speed and fury and a very bleak world where civilization has fallen. I highly recomend it to any guy who likes action flicks.
Rating: 
Summary: A Classic & A Must Have For Action Fans
Review: This 1981 action/adventure is an absolute must have for the true movie lover. It's the second of three in a series, and although I've never seen the first one, I can say that this one puts the third one to shame. The Road Warrior is Max, played by a young Mel Gibson, an ex-cop struggling to survive in the post-apocalyptic backroads of Australia. Civilization as we know it is on the brink of perishing, as gangs of men terrorize the highways in pursuit of the most valuable commodity in these times: gasoline. Max happens upon what appears to be the last of the civilized world, a group of 20 people banded together raising chickens who also happen to be producing petroleum. While producing this petroleum, this group find themselves forced to live barricaded from a savage group of motorists that surround their fort-like community and the petroleum producing facility it contains. Max makes a deal to help them find a way out of this home that has become a prison, but his life is on the line if he can't complete his mission. The casting is perfect, as is the story, dialogue, plot, script, wardrobe, and cinematography. Even after twenty years, it is still one of the best action movies you'll find out there. On a side note, after its release, it won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards for best foreign film. It was also France's Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival winner for 1982, and in 1982, the Australian Film Institute awarded it for Best Direction, Best Achievement in Sound, Best Achievement in Production Design, Best Achievement in Editing, and Best Achievement in Costume Design. It was, of course, also the movie that made Gibson an international star.
Rating: 
Summary: GREAT movie... HORRIBLE dvd.
Review: road warrior is a GREAT MOVIE, one of my all-time favorites. top-notch, AMAZING action and stunt sequences and max, in road warrior, is every bit as good as any of clint's man-w/-no-names. BUT..! THIS DVD RELEASE IS BOTTOM SCUM! i give it one star because negative ratings aren't an option. first, you've got a fullscreen version on one side and a 'widescreen' on the other. what's so bad about THAT? you prob'ly ask. the 'WIDESCREEN' is the FULLSCREEN REDUCED for a 'letterbox' effect. only you get 'LETTERBOX' on ALL FOUR SIDES! and to describe the additional features as junk would be to compliment them! i would rather be sitting here, this many years into dvds, wondering and bemoaning NO road warrior on dvd than having paid money for such a disrespectful handling of a classic. GREAT MOVIE..? OF COURSE... but that's not what we're discussing here. BOTTOM LINE: WAIT FOR A PROPER DVD TREATMENT, like the se mad max dvd. if you CAN'T wait and HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE IT... buy it used... CHEAP!
Rating:
Summary: This Movie Wasn't released as the road warrior
Review: just a note to fans: in Australia, where this movie was made and first released, it wasn't (and isn't) called the road warrior...just Mad Max 2. Along the way it became Mad Max 2: Road Warrior. Seems that calling it The Road Warrior was a way of distinguishing it from the first movie, which was kind of flat. Personally, I felt this was always the strongest of the three. It centralized Max's character while dencetralizing the actor/Car and pushed him to the depths of almost destruction in a manner that was believable...yet, he still mannages to due 'his duty' to those he finds. This showcases gibson in a VERY positive light. And was probabliy the impetus for his career blosumming while his american accent did so as well. (see Gibson in Tim and see what I mean). A very good movie.
Rating:
Summary: ROCKS.
Review: This flick rocks. Twenty years later and counting THE ROAD WARRIOR is still at the top of my list for best action films of all time. I have yet to see in modern Hollywood a dude do a multiple spine-snapping flip sommersault like the mohawk sporting thug in this movie does. Amazing. The thirty minute truck chase at the end still raises my blood pressure to imeasuable heights. MEL as MAX is awesome, especially when he hammers the skull of a looting punk with a gigantic pair of bolt cutters without batting an eyelash. You know what I'm talking about. The unbridaled carnage that ensues in this film would be on the cutting room floor in this day and age. The kind of film you can literaly watch anytime for the thousanth time and still have to pause the DVD so you can go to the fridge to get more red meat. Great disc, it's nice to see this film in widescreen format and with cool sound. If you collect DVDs and you don't own THE ROAD WARRIOR then you are a sixty-three year old woman.
Rating:
Summary: Ruthless... Savage... Spectacular
Review: Ahhh, the classic post-apocolyptic thriller that sets the standard for post-apocolyptic thrillers. One tagline reads 'In the future, cities will become deserts, roads will become battlefields and the hope of mankind will appear as a stranger'. I remember skipping school in the early 80's to stay home and watch this one on cable, Such a great movie that has lost none of it's appeal even after 20 plus years. This is the story of a man, once an officer of the law, who now roams the highways of post-apocolyptic Australia searching for gasoline and maybe a reason to exist. In this time, gasoline is the most valuable commodity, so much so men kill for it. Mel Gibson plays Max, in the role that made him known worldwide. During his travels, he comes across a small settlement that is actually producing petroleum. This settlement is besieged by a group of motorized, murdering, mauraders who want all the fuel. Knowing that the fuel is life, the people in the settlement defend the fuel, but their strength and ability to hold out against this powerful force is becoming less and less each day. Max strikes a deal with them for all the fuel he can carry provided he can get a truck for them so they can haul their tanker of gas out of the wasteland and find a better life in a fabled coastal land. Max fufills his end of the bargin, and leaves the settlement with his fuel, but is attacked and left for dead. Having lost his car, he decides to drive the tanker. This sets up one of the most amazing highway battles ever filmed, as the settlers have turned the tanker into a moving fortess, and the marauders will stop at nothing to stop the tanker and get the gas. This movie is what I would call a nearly pefect example of excellent casting, story, dialogue, plot, script, wardrobe, etc. to make up a near perfect movie. Everything in the movie works so well that your entire attention is focused on the screen, even after multiple viewings. This is actually the second in a trilogy, Mad Max being the first and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome being the third, but, in my opinion, this one is the best. It's raw, gritty, sometimes humourous and competely enthralling. On a side note, what's up with Warner Brothers and their crummy cardboard packaging? It just seems so flimsy and cheap. And don't look for a lot of extras with this release, just the full and widescreen versions and some production notes. This just in...I heard George Miller and Mel Gibson are bringing Max back one more time in 2004 in Mad Max: Fury Road......
Rating:
Summary: The movie is great; the DVD transfer needs work.
Review: First, I'd like to say THANK YOU to all the reviewers who get on here and discuss DVD transfer quality instead of just frothing at the mouth about how great the movie is. (That comment especially applies to the film Blade Runner.)
Now, I don't know if there is an accepted name for it, but some Warner DVDs have a recurring transfer problem which is evident at many points in the film. The Road Warrior is one of those DVDs. Therefore I wait expectantly for a potential Special Edition of this film, with a cleaned-up transfer. My personal opinion is that a DVD is not supposed to look like it's been put together by amateurs. It's supposed to recreate the theatrical experience of the film. In other words, Warner needs to clean up its act.
My rating for the film itself is really a 5; the 4 is a "qualified 4", relating to the transfer. The film itself is great. At this point in the story, there don't seem to be any vestiges of normal civilization around, and the plot is all about a group of people who are defending a fuel refinery from hordes of encroaching wasteland dwellers. There's also a nice synopsis of Max's origin which contains a montage from the first film.
Despite the acclaim given to the first film's action sequences, there's more going on here, and the villains are more fearsome. Another thing about this movie is that the scenery ( Broken Hill, Australia ) is incredible; the unique essence of Australian geography is brought out.
Note for subtitle aficionados: If you keep an eye on the English subtitles all the way through, you'll see a subtitle or two that might be a little bit questionable. ( As in : where did they hear THAT? )
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie Junky DVD
Review: The road warrior is my favorite Mel Gibson film, I like all the action sequences and all. But the DVD is another cheap cardboard one. I really reccemend the DVD only because it's awesome and full of action. Even though i hated when Mel's car was blown up. But i fully reccemend it to any action movie person.
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