10 Movies That Don't Deserve Their 100% Rotten Tomatoes Rating
9. Mad Max 2
George Miller proved with Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior that sequels can often be considerably better than the originals - the first Mad Max film was a noble effort, but watching the second in the series and it was immediately apparent that he'd learned a great deal from his debut and managed to pick up a new bag of tricks to boot.
Bringing back Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) once again to take on another horde of punked up marauding hoodlums, Mad Max 2 upped the ante over the original and delivered one of the most effective, pared down action movies of the 1980s. Its minimalistic approach to characterisation and dialogue might be something that would be considered a drawback in many films but here allows Miller to focus on setting up a string of exhilarating set pieces which just keep getting bigger and bigger.
And the action certainly delivers - Mad Max 2 still holds its own in the car chase department after all these decades, with the 40 minute finale a masterclass in shooting elaborate stunt work complimented by expansive cinematography and tight, efficient editing.
But Mad Max 2 isn't without its flaws. Gibson's performance is pared down and restrained, clearly influenced by the silent, stoic action heroes in the mould of Clint Eastwood and Toshiro Mifune, but he doesn't quite muster the same gravitas these true legends managed to bring to the screen.
Miller should clearly be praised for taking the likes of Akira Kurosawa and Sam Peckinpah as points of influence, but when comparisons with these filmmakers are made and the film is held up against their similar explorations of masculinity and heroism, its inferiority to real classics and comparative lack of depth becomes apparent. A classic action movie Mad Max 2 certainly may be, but others films with lower ratings have done it more effectively.
Editor's Note: Since this article was initially published, a new negative review has put Mad Max 2's Rotten Tomatoes score down to 98%.
What It Deserves: 93%