Mad Max 2 poster

Mad Max 2 (1981)

Film · 1h 36m · Rated R

Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

A lone hero defends a fuel encampment against bizarre warriors in a relentless, gritty, post-apocalyptic fight for survival.

Pulpy and epic. A full-attention watch at full speed. Emotionally it is heavy.

Streaming on YouTube (free).

Mad Max 2 parents guide

For an R, this one goes further: strong sex and nudity. Beyond that, brutal violence and some strong language.

Scare
Mildly scary
A few tense or eerie moments.
Jump scares
A couple
One or two sudden jolts.
Gore
Graphic gore
Blood and wounds shown clearly.
Violence
Brutal violence
Our top level for violence.
Sex and nudity
Strong
Strong means explicit or repeated sex, extended nudity, or sexual assault shown on screen, attempted or completed, even partly off screen. Any one of these is enough.
Language
Moderate
Some strong profanity, a few f-words.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is Mad Max 2 scary?
Only a little. Mad Max 2 has a few tense moments, nothing that follows you to bed.
How gory is Mad Max 2?
Graphic gore and brutal violence. If graphic gore is a dealbreaker, skip it.
What is Mad Max 2 rated, and is it OK for kids?
It is an R, with strong sex and nudity, brutal violence, and some strong language. Keep it for adults.

What is Mad Max 2 about?

Max Rockatansky returns as the heroic loner who drives the dusty roads of a postapocalyptic Australian Outback in an unending search for gasoline. Arrayed against him and the other scraggly defendants of a fuel-depot encampment are the bizarre warriors commanded by the charismatic Lord Humungus, a violent leader whose scruples are as barren as the surrounding landscape.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

Bittersweet. It earns its ending, but not everyone gets what they want.

Cast and crew

Directed byGeorge Miller
StarringMel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Michael Preston, Max Phipps, Vernon Wells, Kjell Nilsson

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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.