Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior leaned into the gonzo absurdity of George Millers post-apocalyptic wasteland, realizing the vision that he didnt have the money to pull off the first time. While the original Mad Max is a timeless gem, the series didnt become the uniquely bleak, surreal, high-octane action franchise it is today until Miller expanded the wasteland in The Road Warrior. The first film is a dystopian police thriller set in a world on the brink of a gas-guzzling apocalypse, but the second film took it way past the brink to the desolate badlands that remain.