Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome - Plot

Plot

Max Rockatansky rides a camel-drawn wagon across the Australian desert when he is attacked by Jedediah, a pilot flying a Transavia PL-12 Airtruk, who steals his belongings and vehicle. Max continues on foot and stumbles upon the only nearby human outpost in the wasteland—the seedy community of Bartertown, founded and run by the ruthless Aunty Entity.

In Bartertown, electricity, vehicles, functioning technology are made possible by a crude methane refinery, fueled by pig feces. The refinery is located under Bartertown and is operated by the diminutive Master, who is carried around by his enormously strong bodyguard, Blaster. "Master Blaster" holds an uneasy truce with Aunty for control of Bartertown. Master, however, is beginning to exploit his position with energy "embargoes," challenging Aunty's leadership. She is furious with him but cannot challenge him publicly, as Master is the only one with the technical know-how to operate the machinery that powers Bartertown. The controlled chaos of Bartertown is maintained by a set of inflexible laws, including one that states that no contract can be broken, for any reason. The punishment for breaking this law is equally inflexible and invoked with the simple phrase, "bust a deal, face the wheel."

Upon entering Bartertown Max meets the Collector who recommends his talents to Aunty Entity. After being tested in a difficult audition, Aunty recognises Max as a resourceful fighter, and strikes a deal with him to provoke a duel with Blaster in the "Thunderdome," a gladiatorial arena where conflicts are resolved by a duel to the death. On his request so he can get a glimpse of Master Blaster, Max goes into Underworld, where he befriends a convict who was imprisoned for killing a pig in order to feed his children, and thus nicknamed Pig Killer (Robert Grubb). While there, Max discovers that Blaster is exceptionally strong, but is extremely sensitive to high pitched noises. Max finds his stolen vehicle in Master Blaster's possession and in an effort to size-up Blaster's fighting strengths, confronts them both, resulting in the necessary challenge to enter Thunderdome.

The rules of Thunderdome, as chanted by onlookers crowding the arena, are simple—"two men enter, one man leaves." After a difficult match, Max defeats Blaster, with the aid of a high pitched whistle, but refuses to kill him when he discovers that Blaster is little more than a man-child with developmental disabilities. An enraged Aunty has Blaster executed and invokes the law since Max broke his deal with her. They wheel out a large, spinning metal disc (similar to a Wheel of Fortune) with several consequences. Possible outcomes include Death, Hard Labour (slavery), Complete Acquittal (freedom), Gulag (exile), Aunty's Choice, Spin Again, Forfeit Goods, Underworld (torture prison), Amputation, and Life Imprisonment. When spun for Max, it lands on "Gulag," resulting in his exile to the desert wasteland, strapped to the back of a horse. The horse runs after a bottle of water strapped in front of its face.

Some time later, Max is near death due to exposure. He is saved, though, by a group of children led by Savannah Nix. The children, hardened to the desert environment, are descendants of the survivors of a nearby crashed Qantas Boeing 747. They have formed a tribe in the sheltered oasis. Clinging to the hope of rescue, they keep their memories of the past civilization alive in the form of spoken "tells", including the return of the messianic "Captain Walker" who will repair the aircraft and return them to civilization. The "tell" explains that Flight Captain G.L. Walker at one point took the adults to seek help, promising they would be back to rescue the rest, but never returned. One of the kids is seen with a "sonic", a record attached to a stick. Max looks so much like Walker, the children believe that he has indeed returned to take them to "Tomorrow-morrow Land." After nursing him back to health, they are shocked that Max insists that they remain in the relative safety of the oasis, knowing that the only "civilization" within reach is the rough and hellish Bartertown. Some of the children decide to leave anyway, determined to find "Tomorrow-morrow land," so Max goes after them.

Max catches up with them at the outskirts of Bartertown. They sneak in, intent on finding Master. Without Blaster to protect him, Master is little more than Aunty's slave. Max and the children free him (with the assistance of Pig Killer, who also escapes), but alert the guards, and a chase ensues, resulting in Bartertown's methane factory being rocked with a number of explosions, ending at the hideout of Jedediah. The kids then find out that the "sonic" is just an old French learning record. Max coerces Jedediah to help them escape in his plane, but there is too much weight and not enough runway between them and the attackers' vehicles, so Max takes a truck and drives it in front of the airplane, smashing through the roadblock, allowing the plane to take off. Max is found by Aunty, but having earned her respect, she spares his life and leaves.

Some time later, the children are in the ruins of a destroyed Sydney, lit up by thousands of fires and lights. Savannah, the leader of the children, recites a nightly "tell" of their journey and the man who saved them.